Mike Cane at The eBook Test has published eleven aphorisms, all of which are sensible and all of which modern publishers should take note:
1 – All publishers are information engines, not producers of objects
2 – A book is no longer a thing in itself
3 – Connections between books add value to all books
4 – A non-fiction book is only the beginning of its story
5 – Even fiction books connect to all other books
6 – A book’s deep metadata is worth more than the book itself
7 – Every dollar invested in deep metadata is worth a hundred dollars in future sales
8 – A book’s function dictates its file container
9 – Readers are no longer passive customers
10 – Readers sell more books than any publisher
11 – To see only today is to forfeit tomorrow
Thanks to Hugh McGuire for the link.
Kate Eltham is a writer and creative industries professional based in Brisbane, Australia. She is Chief Executive Officer of 
kate.eltham {at} gmail.com
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Kate,
This is a very interesting set of axioms. I particularly like the first axiom which rings true with the mindset of the most successful publishers I work with who have adapted to this way of thinking.
Thanks
Will
Hi Will,
Yes! Print books sometimes get referred to as dead-tree editions, but recently I saw them called “blocks of wood” which I like better because it emphasises the “objectness” of print books. Which is all great, and there certainly are some beautiful and highly artistic ones out there, but when the container can be almost anything for the content it completely shifts the framework not only of what it is a publisher produces, but what a publisher’s role is all about in the first place.
Thanks for commenting,
Kate.