With all the big news floating around this week, first about Barnes and Noble being on the sale block and possibly affecting Fictionwise and the Nook, now we hear that Dorchester, a mainstream publisher and the achievement dream to many POD authors, is changing over to POD and ebooks.
While you can consider this positive news for those of us who have been in the e-pubbing industry for years, what looms ahead can be viewed in a different light. Right now, consider all the loops and groups you promote on. Now stop and think about your competition. How many excerpts do you see roll across your digested loops because you haven't time to read them all? Consider how many reviews flash by. How many e-book publishers are there, and how many new books are launched into that competitive field every day? Have your eyes rolled back in your head yet?
Now consider mainstream dumping their "now" contracted and future authors into the pool. Harlequin has already introduced their "Carina" line in digital format, and now Dorchester is cutting its mass market paperback line and focusing on ebooks. according to Joe Konrath, an author with a great following, Medallion announced the same a few months back. I must have missed that.
http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2010/08/beginning-of-end.html
Regardless, if you consider all the time required for promotion to keep your name in the public light, adding a big influx of "bigger names" to the mix is going to make things more difficult for those of us already struggling. I welcome competition, I just don't like it when it comes in a tidal wave.
Watching the turn of the tides washes away the dream of those who always wanted to see one of our books in a real brick and mortar store. I've always told readers that as an e-pubbed author, I'm on the cutting edge of technology. I guess I should have believed myself.
