European publishing is developing in a highly competitive international environment. What innovating strategies should be adopted by those publishers who are concerned with maintaining the interest of their public and who wish to inject a new dynamism into their business operations? We shall evoke the principal theories of innovation to see how they can be applied to this particular subject. Firstly, the paper summarises the European political and economic contexts for electronic publishing. Secondly, it examines the factors that contribute to the publisher’s expertise and then looks at different strategic paths that combine to map out the way forward for the evolution of the publishing profession, especially in the European context. In conclusion, this paper will set out some recommendations concerning new services that could be offered by publishers to their users in order to improve the quality of their experience.