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Originally Posted by khalleron
The only real difference nowadays is that the gatekeepers have been whacked over the head, and the READERS get to decide who's successful or not.
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How can readers decide who's successful? I can't know what I am going to like reading until I read it. While whether I finish the book is in my own hands, whether I start it is decided by acquisitions librarians and reviewers. One change is that people no longer let the Book of the Month Club decide on their reading, but, still, I have to rely on someone's advice.
Or are you are thinking of people who read the book at the library and then buy it? I can't imagine doing this myself.
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The writer of the article referenced in the original post is whining about not getting advances, nothing more. But that system was dying before ebooks - it was conglomeration and the reliance on blockbusters that was killing that model, not the Internet.
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Big publishers began coming out with eBooks ten years ago. Advances seems to have peaked four years ago.
If I have any criticism of blaming lower advances on eBooks, it's that the great recession could be a bigger factor. The rise of the 6 inch eInk reader, and the economic decline, came together, so it is hard to be sure which is more important.