|
This same attitude is less prevalent in the video game industry than it used to be, where indie developers used to be told they're not real developers and their games automatically are low quality because they're low budget. And then Minecraft and Amnesia happened, indie games were permitted on the online stores of the two main consoles, and cropped up all over Steam. Maybe indie authors simply need a similar phenomenon? An independent and self-published novel that outsells enough "real published novels" to make a big splash and make indie writing legitimate in the eyes of the public.
Either way, I predict this industry is going to go in the same direction as music and video games. With the internet and new digital formats making it easier for both authors and smaller publishers to stay in business and stay competitive, the big behemoth publishers will gradually be pushed aside. They won't go away, they may not even be marginalized, but there will be a lot of very good material that will never be under their control.
|