By Edward Nawotka

Today’s feature story discusses how the Book Industry Study Group works to improve the professional lives of those in the publishing industry and establish a set of standards and best practices. This Thursday, BISG is hosting the latest in its series of NEXT conferences. Entitled “Developing the 2020 Publishing Program,” it focuses on innovation and the issues that publishers are going to confront over the next ten years, such as coming up with a mobile strategy and how to get closer to customers.

So, now is your turn to play “futurist.” Tell us, what do you think is the key problem for publishing to solve by 2020? Is it how to avoid being subsumed by Internet companies who merely want to turn publishers into “content farms,” like those sci-fi movies where computers raise humans to use them as living batteries? Is it becoming even more relevant to the mass market by promoting reading as a more attractive pass-time than playing video games or surfing Web video? Is it trying to stay ahead of the curve on technology and device development so writers and editors can devise stories and formats for the new ways in which people will read?

Let us know what you think in the comments.