London Book Fair: the quest for digital innovation

Industry must do more than turn books into PDFs to capture readers’ imaginations, says head of trade body on opening day

The search for the next publishing sensation, and digital business model, dominated the agenda at the opening day of the annual London Book Fair on Tuesday.

The head of the industry trade body warned that simply “turning a book into a PDF” was not innovative enough to capture readers’ imaginations and sales. “In any sector, in any industry, stagnation is death. If you stand still, you are probably in danger because someone will come along and take your consumers from you,” said Richard Mollet, chief executive of the Publishers Association.