Forbes released an article today online which speculated about a hot topic in today’s media world: the future of publishing. Many within the publishing world have tried to guess what the publishing industry will look like five, ten, fifteen years from now. Only one thing is certain, however. How readers discover, engage with and read books will likely go through some incredible changes in the years to come. Below are just a few predictions from thought leaders in publishing.

“Increasingly, books become brief online, downloadable ebooks, and this model proliferates wildly.  They satisfy our need for speed, instantly available and quickly read.  Not to mention easily updated and integrated with video.  Here’s the future:  New Word City.”

– Nick Morgan, Forbes, “What is the Future of Publishing?”

“Purely text stories are two-dimensional and déclassé. Neither kids nor adults will be satisfied or engaged unless you create movies, TV series, and online interactive games to flesh out alternative or supplemental story lines. You should also be thinking about developing theme parks, and buying islands (near Dubai), and developing theme parks on islands (near Dubai) to give your audience the real experience of your story world.”

– Jane Friedman, “The Future of Publishing: Enigma Variations”

“More publishing companies will form in-house transmedia groups. In April 2011, Random House launched Random House Worlds, a transmedia partnership with Los Angeles-based gaming software company THQ. Increasingly, publishing companies are looking at the intellectual property they own as extendable across more media platforms.”

– Digital Book World, “Ten Bold Predictions for Book Publishing in 2012”

“The role of literary agents is already starting to change, and this will continue. The role of many publishing employees will change too. The roles of writers have been changing in the last few years and will continue in that direction. Heck, people’s roles in countless industries have been changing rapidly as our technology changes, our economics change, and the role of marketing changes.”

– Rachelle Gardener, Books & Such Literary Agency, “Are [Literary] Agents Running Scared?”

So what do you think? Do you agree or disagree? What are your predictions for the future of publishing?