It’s the content, Stupid, to paraphrase a slogan. This week Carl Wolf wrote an article about Book Expo that he calls “Call It Gutenberg 2.0,” which focuses on what he perceived as the essential message of the trade show held in New York last week. (The article can be read at www.boston.com). Books will survive in various forms; whether print or digital, it is all about content.Authors and publishers must begin to think of themselves as content producers, not print producers. When that central concept becomes the main impetus, everything changes, especially as it regards production, publishing, and distribution.

But the change impacts, not only those more commercial areas, but the creative act of writing itself because filling the role of content producer asks the author to think also about the various forms in which content can and will be transmitted while crafting content. Excerpts, tables of contents, stand alone chapters, cover art and copy - all content - take on new meaning and opportunities when thoughts of as content that may eventually take on various forms.

Right now digital books make up only 1.6 percent of publishing book sales. Nevertheless consumers are taking them seriously. Portable readers generate a great deal of attention, and even though the percentage of digital books is small, it has increased 131 percent in the last year while overall book sales have dropped precipitously. The future is in the midst of becoming, and we can only imagine all the forms publishing content will take.