Quote:
Originally Posted by Worldwalker
They're competing with everything. Whether they're a bestselling HC pbook or an obscure self-published ebook, they need to be a viable competitor to all of those other forms of entertainment and information, because unlike 100 years ago, it's no longer (and hasn't been for decades) "read a book or stare at the walls." Authors and publishers who think it is are setting themselves up to crash and burn.
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I agree. This is true for the majority of people, I think. The folks I know who read the most also consume the most fiction in general, so if there's a good TV show on that's more compelling than anything on their to read list, they'll go watch that instead. TV and movies also have the advantage of being (or perceived) to be more social than literature post-oral storytelling era.
I'm a bit of an anomaly, my media consumption is (1) Literature (2) The Internet (3) Podcasts. I watch movies maybe 2-3 times a year, and I watch a TV episode an average of once a month, but that's me just trying to finish Red Dwarf.
I just enjoy the solitude found in literature, and its portability. But that being said, even with a reader like me that's pretty much the ideal customer for an indie author (buys e-books only, doesn't look at books priced more than paperbacks, always on e-book forums and actively searching for indie SF), I still have a lot of other literature to read instead if I see nothing that interests me.
This discussion is reminding me of this cat and girl comic strip
http://catandgirl.com/?p=2035
Despite all this ranting, there is a reason why I still actively look for indie authors and read through the stuff submitted to me. I have faith that not everything's been done yet, but I still judge all literature at the same level all other literature I've been exposed to.