The digital transformation of the past fifty years has been widely chronicled, but the story of how the book industry went from print to digital has never been adequately told.
As a widely admired literary agent and the founder of one of the very first e-book publishers, Richard Curtis was present at the creation. He knows the whole story as only an insider can. Digital Inc. is the first book to recount in detail the conversion of printed books to digital and the struggles of publishers to embrace a new business and creative paradigm after five hundred years of dedication to print on paper. The upheaval changed not just books but the people who write, read, and publish them.
Digital Inc. blends a thoroughly researched history with an account of how Curtis and a team of hotshots built their electronic book company from scratch and turned it into a multimillion-dollar company in the vanguard of digital transformation, pioneering innovations that still shape the book business today. The story of how the e-book morphed from a an idle fantasy into an industry-shaping powerhouse is told against the backdrop of decades of tumult in publishing, from the birth of international media conglomerates and the explosion of social media to the rise of Amazon and the emergence of new business models unimaginable a generation ago.
In the tradition of Hackers, Fire in the Valley, and Soul of a New Machine, Digital Inc. explores the personal, social, and creative complexities—as well as the daunting technical and economic hurdles—that the progenitors of the e-book revolution had to overcome. Curtis’s wise and witty voice brings to life the colorful characters who revolutionized publishing and continue to transform it in the rapidly-dawning age of AI.
For everyone who cares about books and their continuing impact on our culture—from writers and publishing professionals to countless avid readers—Digital Inc. is an absorbing, eye-opening guide to today’s new world of books and how it came to be.
DIGITAL INC. by Richard Curtis
Richard Curtis is a leading New York literary agent, publishing authority, e-book pioneer, and authors’ advocate. While running his eponymous literary agency, he wrote numerous columns, blogs and articles for Publishers Weekly and other writers’ publications, leading to four information-packed books about writing, agenting and the book business. He was the first president of the Independent Literary Agents Association and subsequently president of the Association of Authors’ Representatives.
Curtis’s fascination with emerging media and technology led to his founding one of the first commercial e-book publishers – seven years prior to the introduction of the Kindle and the advent of the E-Book Revolution. He developed e-book business and royalty accounting models that are still in use today. His popular blog, Publishing in The Twenty-First Century, describing the wonders and challenges of the digital paradigm, was followed by both professionals and lay audiences.
Curtis is also author of dozens of works of fiction and nonfiction. His satirical end-of-year verses for Publishers Weekly, published over a span of 45 years, made him the unofficial poet laureate of the book industry. His plays have been performed in a variety of venues in New York. He has written, produced and directed a number of podcasts.