The Small Book Revolution

Posted by: Steve Hamm on January 05

My colleague, Steve Baker, and I have been talking quite a bit lately about the future of the journalism profession. What’s to be the fate of long-form journalism in an era where much is consumed in little digital bits and traditional books seem to be dying out? One thought I had was small books. These are print books (with easily digestible versions online, too)that present a single idea in a compact form that still retains the ability to explore complex subjects that benefit from context, examples, etc.

Other people have been thinking similar thoughts. I just got one of these in the mail today from Mark Kobayashi-Hillary, a British author and expert in outsourcing. It’s called “Who Moved My Job?” and it’s a story told through a dog parable about how Western techies can adapt to outsourcing. The 4X6 inch booklet has just 68 pages. It’s made to be read in an hour or so and then passed along. Mark is trying to build a community around the book at www.whomovedmyjob.com.

I’ve never been fond of dog parables (Animal Farm is an exception), but this publishing format works for me. Don’t know if it will catch on. I’ll try to help. By the way, the publisher is the pioneering Lulu.

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