My first Seybold Seminars show was the first and last one that was held in the Javits Convention Center in New York four years ago. Booth after booth was demonstrating output devices, especially large format color printers. Imagesetters, high end scanners, platemakers and proofing devices made up the majority of the rest of the show. The amount of content produced by the publishing industry has grown substantially in the last four years, but the percentage of content that is being produced in print has declined. This has resulted in flat, or even slightly diminished demand for printed material.
Most publications now have a Web counterpart.
The usual approach used by print publications for a Web presence has been largely ineffective and unprofitable. Additionally, any print publication that posts their highest demand content to the Web, risks reducing their print publication circulation numbers. This side effect of a Web presence can actually reduce the number of print subscribers and, subsequently, the traditional ad revenue stream suffers. The theme of this year's Seybold Seminars Boston focuses on an emerging new paradigm for publishing. The excitement now revolves around deploying content dynamically to a range of devices and media.