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With any luck, books should be around for a long time. Books have lasted centuries because of their physicality, ease of sharing, and permanence. It is also an ideal learning platform.

As the video subtly suggests, the quantity and artistic quality of books are skewing from mass to niche, kind of like Taschen books. The pricing and accessibility of electronic books is fueling the trend. You can purchase leeclowsbeard new marketing book at Barnes and Noble for $25, or you can order it from Amazon for $16, but the electronic versions usually sell for $10.

More and more the book buyer is purchasing admission into the club of ideals, norms, cultures, and status represented in the book. The book becomes a representation or extension of self. That’s why the Domino Project can easily sell a ~100 page, limited edition book for $80.

The conundrum for book publishers is that their business structure and plan serves the masses, not the niche.

[Thanks to @ToughloveforX for discovering the video!]