Book Biz Guru Al Greco Writing a History of the Industry Since 1980

Publishing industry expert Albert N. Greco is in the process of writing a comprehensive history of the publishing industry since 1980, he said in an interview.

Mr. Greco, a professor at Fordham University's Graduate School of Business Administration who has written several influential books on the business already, most recently The Culture and Commerce of Publishing in the 21^st Century, said he will pick up where John Tebbel, author of the four-volume History of Book Publishing in the United States, left off. The last volume of Mr. Tebbel's series was published in 1980.

"The whole business has changed radically since 1980," Mr. Greco said. "In 1980 there was no Amazon. In 1980 there was no superstore. In 1980, there were independently owned publishing houses."

Mr. Greco said he took a semester away from his professorship at Fordham to write the book, which he expects to complete a year from now for publication in spring 2009. He said does not know yet who will publish the book, but that it will probably be an academic press.