The Return of Print? (Contemporary Australian Publishing)

This collection of essays by established and emerging scholars of Australian publishing examines the industry in the wake of both the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 and the various shocks and upheavals associated with the rise of ebooks. The authors here look beyond the digital, so prominent in many considerations of contemporary publishing, to questions of the book as a material artefact. As consumer trends increasingly suggest print will remain the central medium for the global publishing industry, it is asked if the messy state of affairs existing now, after the digital revolution, can be described as ‘post-digital’. With reference to a range of cultural, economic and technological issues, these essays examine how publishers are leveraging the possibilities afforded by multiple modes of dissemination.