“

As international publishing trade executives convene at Frankfurt Book Fair, the universally recognized International Standard Book Number is being weakened by resistance to its use from self-publishers — meaning we no longer can “see” how big the books industry really is.

“

Even as publishing struggles to quantify its fortunes amid a hobbling lack of sales data, an interesting trend is discerned in the half-light.

“

Few watching the publishing events of the week would suggest that these developments aren’t compelling. We need to hear Amazon and other big tech talk more. And we need to ask better questions.

“

As Faber’s Henry Volans says, publishing has been taking its digital disruption very hard. What if we widen the debate to include more traditional voices?