“While the threat of eBook format dominance, and the price deflation that comes with it, has largely passed, digitization continues to drive significant book buyer behavior changes, and market fragmentation.” Peter Hildick-Smith, CEO of Codex-Group, tells Digital Book World in an interview, where he spoke about what he believes are the biggest issues currently affecting the publishing world.

“More of book buyers’ leisure time is distracted by mobile device ‘entertainment snacking’, and what free time is left over has an unprecedented number of new titles competing for it.” What Hildick-Smith means is that the book market is flooded by new books, thanks to how easy eBooks make publishing and reading now. If you look at Amazon’s Kindle department right now, you’ll find an immeasurable amount of discounted eBooks priced at $3 or less (or even free!).

The majority of readers are overwhelmed by all the new books constantly being released, and rightly so, as no one could possibly keep up with all the tide of new releases. As a result, it’s harder for new authors to make an impact and a name for themselves, as most stick with established authors who’ve already made their splash.

It’s definitely an issue that publishers are pondering as the climate of the industry is constantly shifting thanks to new technology and formats. All in all, it just leads back to one of the biggest issues in publishing that still leaves experts shaking their heads: optimizing and figuring out how to best maximize book discovery.

Read more about Hildick-Smith’s interview at the Digital Book World.

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