It strikes me that today it’s necessary to be a dynamic thinker, to not only think outside the box, but recycle the box. Dynamic thinking most especially applies to publishing, which is directly affected by the rapidly evolving world of communication.

You’ve read my enthusiasm about the new Espresso printing machine. There’s some fascinating reading about the Espresso and what’s happening right now in publishing in a reproduced speech Mike Shatzkin, savvy publishing visionary, gave to the Danish Book Trade conference in Copenhagen.

In a nutshell Shatzkin illustrates very real proof the publishing world as we know it is rapidly changing to accommodate not only demand, but cost, and along with publishers changing tactics, the entire marketing and promotion industry is shifting its thinking, as are innovative book-sellers.

Here in Canada the University of Alberta book store purchased an Espresso in the fall of 2007 and within six months the Espresso has already half paid for itself.

Dynamic thinking like that also seems to have caught on at Chapters/Indigo with the creation of their Community network. Like Facebook or MySpace, Chapters’ Community allows you to create your own profile and communicate with others; however, the entire discussion in that community is about books and publishing and every facet related to that. The community is growing explosively, with the most recent members being representatives from not only Chapters/Indigo itself, but legacy publishers like Harper-Collins and Simon and Schuster Canada.

Now I won’t for a moment attempt to persuade you these publishing giants and Chapters itself are part of Chapters’ Community for anything but a marketing strategy. However, it also puts small, independent authors like me in the same room as these giants, something that could only previously possibly happen at a book convention. It’s creating a very interesting forum.

If you love books as I do, and enjoy lively and varied discussion, I highly recommend you join Chapter’s Community. If you do, look me up and add me to your friends list.