Here's a traveller's tip. If you're ever in Stuttgart try to get a room at the not-very-posh but very stylish Der Zauberlehrling. Click on hotel, then XXL, and then on the room of your choice. The restaurant is also very good.

I'm here for a board meeting and to catch up with several of my German colleagues. The pace of change in the infrastructure and politics of Germany may not be particularly rapid but the speed with which digital technology is being adopted is awesome.

Our owners, the Holtzbrinck Group, have been investing strongly in fast-growing, innovative, technology-driven media businesses and the success is palpable. Social websites such as StudiVZ (which I'm only very gradually learning how to pronounce) are attracting millions of registrants and tens of millions of visits. The trick book publishers must learn is how to persuade these visitors to read (and pay for) books and other high-quality information rather than simply communicating with each other. It won't be easy but the prize will be great.

Sites such as Lovely Books in the UK and in Germany are just the beginning of a new approach to making people aware of books and sharing opinions. While this is happening we must also work closely with our traditional partners, the bookshops (see yesterday's posting), to ensure that this new generation of readers can also enjoy physical as well as digital browsing. I've yet to be convinced by any of the current crop of e-book readers (why woud anyone want yet another lump of metal to carry around?) but there is little doubt that the Internet as a marketing tool is vital and that we'd better learn how to use it fast.