[jaxx6166]

I'm the farthest thing from an expert. I'm not a paid published author. I'm not an editor. I don't have my own company. I'm just a consumer with a credit card.

So, this is my opinion. And you all can take my statements with a grain of salt. =)

But, I've been thinking for a while now on the future of the industry. I think it's in turmoil. The big houses in NY are confused. They're trying to come up with a way to save their bottom line and somehow keep up with the Joneses. Digital distribution is gaining ground. Print on Demand is getting a bit of a market share. And it's getting even more as the days go by. We've got Smashwords and Feedbooks. LuLu and CreateSpace.

It's getting so easy to get your work out there. We're going through an almost new renaissance. Sure, there's a lot of crap out there. A LOT of crap. But, for every three hundred schmucks with a typewriter, we get one JC Hutchins, Scott Siegler, or Jeremy Robinson.

JC Hutchins was an author who was turned down by just about every publishing house. They didn't want to hear his story. So, he took to the internet. He started podcasting. His podcast novel (7th Son) was downloaded and listened to so damn many times that the publishers decided they needed a piece of the pie. So, St. Martin's offers him a publishing contract.

But what's changed since he submitted the first time? Nothing.

Jeremy Robinson self published his book The Didymus Chronicles thru LuLu. He is still one of the biggest successes that the store has seen. I'm pretty sure he was another repeat denial. Now, he's got a 3 book deal, including a reprint MMPB of Didymus.

Independent bookstores and publishers are springing up all over teh interwebs. New book critics are taking the blogosphere by storm. Just look through this forum for all the new and great indies we have floating around.

I think that the next five years will be very, very interesting. Especially with the increased use of digital readers and the many more that are coming out soon. CES was pretty much swamped with new digital readers.

Everyone's trying to get a piece of the pie. Some do an excellent job (Baen) others are kind of pussyfooting around (Harper Collins)

But, I don't think I could be more grateful that some of the big publishers are screwing around. With every release they delay digitally, several more indies reach out to fill the void. We have publishers like Pyr, Riadin, Wild Child, Apex, Bear Mountain, and Neil's publishing house among several others..

We're kind of a niche market. I think that the future of publishing houses will be just like what we are seeing now. We'll see people like Neil posting and letting us know what's up. Communication is key. I think in the future, we'll see more and more authors posting on forums and blogging. I think that given time, we may see the blogosphere gain more credibility and be comparable in New York Book Review.

I know I consult Pat's Fantasy Hotlist and A Dribble of Ink almost every day to find new things to read. It's amazing.

I think that the greed of the bigger houses and companies will result in a crazy new future.

If I get the publishing bug, I know where I want to be. And it's not at Random House. =)


And it's not just publishing. How many of you still buy and play the crap Wizards of the Coast puts out? How many of you go thru DriveThruRPG or use the new open source gaming system. How many of you buy computer games to play from a big house? How many get your stuff thru Steam or Apple?

Same with iTunes. While, I still purchase the majority of signed big name bands, I've discovered more and more indie artists through their webpages, social networking sites, or satellite radio.

Case in point: Hollywood Undead, who got the majority of their following through networking in Myspace.

Video games: Braid, and Machinarium. Both were indie releases that went on to win media awards.

Prepare for the digital revolution.

Anyone else have any thoughts on the future?