Rüdiger Wischenbart presented the Digital Consumer Book Barometer as he has been doing in every edition since 2016. This year everything was a little bit different because of the consequences of the personal distance and the impossibility of having the joyful experience in Madrid at the Fundación Germán Sánchez Ruipérez (FGSR) premises.
Nevertheless, many members of the international publishing community “gathered” around the online platform that FGSR and EDRLab (the organization in charge or The Digital Publishing Summit which joined efforts with Readmagine in 2020) had arranged in spring. As Porter Anderson wrote even there were some means for interaction: “Discussions (chat room) and contact options with colleagues are all in one blissfully simple spot.»
“When we look into the first indicators of the pandemic impact on the digital market, we realize quickly that the first thing it did was to reinforce development and changes and shifts that have been going on already for a while,” explained Wischenbart. “It’s not something entirely new, but it was a strong accelerator of change and transformation.”
Rüdiger Wischenbart, born in 1956 in Graz, Austria, is the founder of “Content and Consulting” (since 2003), and a writer specialized in culture, cultural industries, the global book markets, innovation in the book industry, literature, media, and communication.
Most recently, he researched and (co-) authored several reports on global publishing markets, notably the “Global eBook” report, the “Global Publishing Markets” survey for the International Publishers Association”, (IPA), and the “Global Ranking of the Publishing Industry”, updated annually since 2007 (initiated by Livres Hebdo, France, and co-published by The Bookseller, UK, buchreport, Germany, PublishNews Brazil, and Publishers Weekly, US). Wischenbart co-authored the “Diversity Reports” 2010, 2009 and 2008 mapping translation markets and cultures across Europe. He serves as director for international affairs to BookExpo America, coordinating its “Global Market Forum”, and he directs the program for the Publishers’ Forum in Berlin.
The Readmagine’s team asked her to propose a motto or a general statement linked to the cultural industries and she shared this idea: “For content creators to truly connect with consumers and leave a lasting impression, the impact of established human traits, habits and social constructs needs to be considered”.
Readmagine 2020 merged with Digital Publishing Summit and organized two weeks of presentations and debates around the innovation in the publishing industry. This event was designed and implemented by FGSR, EDRLab and IPDA. The event was adapted to the difficulties that arose for a physical event during the first wave of Covid-19 for a meeting very much based on the interaction of some professionals with others at the very beginning of June.
