Has publishing changed in the last 600 years?

Wisprings Co.

Picture this – a young German scribe 600 years ago was assigned to the task of copying out the list of a nobleman’s ancestors. He makes the tedious job more enjoyable by incorporating tales of floods and desert odysseys, serpents and lions, passion and punishment. Then he is abruptly summoned to bring his manuscript down the road to Johannes Gutenberg’s house.

The scribe stands back while Gutenberg and his friends admire the first book. Not only is this an awe-inspiring moment in history, they also recognise the financial potential. The other men all agree that Gutenberg deserves the largest portion of profits, then Hans the distributor points out that he should be paid handsomely for the effort of carrying and storing these heavy precious books.

“What about me?” asks the scribe. “I wrote it.”

Gutenberg and the others stare at him. They had forgotten he was there, and for a…

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