However, I think all this will be changing. You can get the Kindle App FREE everywhere--smart phones, laptops, e-readers. It's so easy you can get it and buy a book and read it w/o ever leaving your comfy chair. And that's something all Americans love! I, the lover of turning pages and holding and even smelling real books, downloaded the free Kindle app last night to help in promoting my book. The time is near, my dears. I will never give up my hardbacks, but I have succumbed to Kindle fever (which has now surpassed scarlet fever and Beiber Fever as the most recent ailment sweeping the nation).
What this all means is still to be seen. Will traditional ebooks get cheaper to compete with all us shamefully low-priced self-published books? Maybe. Will tons of self-published, poorly written, unedited books get put out in ebook form? Undoubtedly. Will it be harder for readers to find good stuff amidst the slush? For sure. But at least everyone has a shot now, and that's a little more fair than it's been in the past.
Wait for Amazon to start cherry picking the best self published authors and offering them publishing deals. No more agents, no more rigid publishing houses. Its amazing!
ReplyDeleteIf I was a publisher I would be afraid, very afraid. but I'm an author so I am happy, very happy and really excited. The best time to get published has to be now...wait no its now...nope its now. Can this keep getting better, I wonder how long it will last before things start to swing back to the publishers?
I dont know. I dont think it will, unless they lower prices of published ebooks to under $5. I think the problem is that a lot of writers put stuff out that's in no way ready to get published. Readers buy it, feel they wasted money on a poor product, and are afraid to gamble on a self-pubbed writer. People will think it's an easy way to make a few bucks and put a lot of crap out there. I hope Amazon starts a quality-assurance sort of program.
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of exciting, isn't it? Being able to see the shift in the market and how technology is changing everything. It's crazy.
ReplyDeleteBut, I don't think I'll ever be able to give up my hard copies, either.
Jenna--Amen to that. I love hard copies. I even like the hardcopy of my ebook, haha.
ReplyDelete