On 18 March 2013, the Third If Book Then Conference, organized by Bookrepublic was held in Milan, Italy. The purpose of the annual event is to try to glimpse what is in store for the world of book publishing.
Various speakers sketched out the features of this sector, which is in a state of rapid and continual change. Book diffusion is becoming always more capillary, with book lovers and the general public opting more and more for e-readers and tablets. In fact the e-book market is steadily growing, as are related areas such as self-publishing, social reading, etc. All of this confirms the fact that the publishing world is in the midst of a true revolution.
As well as making an impact on book production and distribution, the new technologies are also strongly influencing and re-defining a whole chain of values. But even though ways of producing and reading books are changing, it is the figure of the publisher that is primarily affected in that he/she must discover how to carry out this role successfully in a world dominated by digital giants.