August 9

So this weekend one of the major New York publishing houses (that has been used by certain authors to prove they are "better" writers than small press authors) announced it would no longer sell mass market paper back books and instead would sell electronic books and print on demand trade size paperback (just like The Wild Rose Press.) Wow- what a hit to those writer's collective egos. Now they are no different than many small press authors. The world is changing and I think to define a book as "better" then another by who the publisher is isn't valid any more. Very soon defining a "better" book by the New York Times or USA Today best seller lists will also go away as more and more books will be bought on-line and/or downloaded electronically. The best seller lists do not take into account books sold on-line, or electronically or even books sold at Walmart or book clubs or grocery stores. Right now someone can sell 800 copies and hit the NYT best seller list while another person sells 42,000 copies and doesn't. Crazy right? That will eventually go away as the market place changes and someone develops a new way of calculating which books sell best.
Anyway, I think it will be interesting to see what happens next. Cheers~