Submitted for consideration:
Salon interviews Preston:
http://www.salon.com/2015/07/14/auth...was_broken_up/
Naturally, Konrath has been all over it:
http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2015/0...s-preston.html
The interviewer, the oh-so-impartial author of this piece:
http://www.salon.com/2015/07/10/5_re...appy_birthday/
He too has been suitably critiqued:
http://www.thepassivevoice.com/07/20...appy-birthday/
Especially this one:
http://www.thepassivevoice.com/07/20...comment-313001
Quote:
It’s a frickin golden age for authors — more authors than ever because they are now making a much better cut of sales than the few and rare big-advance authors of the legacy system. There are no Manhattan gatekeepers sipping martinis keeping authors out of print or digital. The reader is the new gatekeeper and that is a good thing for everyone since it’s all really about the author and the reader.
As an indie author, I may be critical of Amazon’s requirement for exclusivity, but it has done more to allow authors to be published than at any other time. More and more indie authors are making money from sales of their books, some paying bills, making a decent living (for a change) or even making life-changing income, than ever.
Amazon made it a golden age for readers as well. Amazon has done more to bring books to the masses than anything. The person in East Podunk who has no Borders or Barnes and Noble, let alone small independent bookstore can get practically every book ever published online using an easy payment interface, at a great price and delivered right to their Kindle — or right to their doorstep with 2 day shipping with Prime. Reading books, both eBooks and print. Anywhere in the world. Who really cares about knocking elbows with some mucky mucks in a bookstore?
Readers want to read. Period.
Amazon makes that so much easier and THAT is why Amazon is the king of the book world.
If anything, it’s READERS who have chosen Amazon over the bookstore, indie or big box. If you are going to get mad over the loss of the bookstore, get mad at readers. They chose with their mouses and trackpads — Amazon.
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