Changes in Publishing by Christine Duncan

Some of the buzz this week appears to be about a decision by Barnes and Noble. They have decided not to stock books published by Amazon Those of us who have been e-published a while thought we could side step the war between giants. Ebooks, or so the theory went, would always be available, did not depend on big publishing houses, were not as subject to things like recession. The theory failed to take into account the sheer mind-boggling amount of stuff out there on the internet. Ebooks, are many times, lost in the huge vastness of the information age. I keep having this discussion with one of my sons, who is in a band. He sees all of this as the "artist" taking back his own. The music industry was fundamentally changed, he says, by the internet, the iPhone, the MP3. Bands can go around the big recording companies and get exposure. They can find an audience. The question is, in my mind, is it a good change? Do those bands finding an audience make any money at it? Can I as a writer in a ever changing industry do so? So does it matter that one big titan is battling another big titan in the book industry? Will it make any difference to those of us who are writing today? You tell me.