Could the big publishers be closed out or marginalized?

Question by “Vet”: Could the big publishers be closed out or marginalized?
With digital reading now looking like the immediate future of the book industry are the big traditional publishers going to be able to stay on top?

Digital distribution of books will cut the overhead costs of publishing and distributing books drastically. New publishers offering only digital prints will start popping up left and right, and there will inevitably be a new class of literary all stars who are strictly digital. Will this increase in competition and talent diminish the long standing reign the big publishers have had over the industry?

Given, authors probably won’t be able to make as much money, however with a lower overhead royalties will become significantly higher and that will appeal to a lot of high output, already-working-two-jobs writers, it is very conceivable that plenty of writers would jump ship to the new format.

What are your thoughts?

(Keep in mind that I’m not talking about tomorrow, but it will be much faster than people seem to be thinking. Remember how quickly the iPod became the standard for personal music?)
Good answers.

Reader, as usual I agree with you, excellent answer.

Best answer:

Answer by bailey michelle<3
I think that there need to be major steps taken to move into the digital age (with the rest of the world), but I think it will take more than a few pushes to make them really fall.

Do you read agent and editor blogs? Just curious. They address this topic often.

Even as we speak, though, the big publishers are taking great strides to prevent this. Right now they’re having to cut people right and left to make ends meet, which is so terribly unfortunate, but they’re going to come back up. We’re all learning that there is going to be much more to the book world than physical books in the very near future, and with the advent of ereaders this is becoming an ever-present reality. However, they’re starting to embrace this. Ebooks are becoming a new standard for publishers, just as film companies are starting to sell digital copies with the DVDs/Bluerays.

I predict that within the next two years, we’ll see much more digital publishing from the big publishers. They’ll adapt, and quickly. It’s going to take more than a new way to make oodles of money to take them down.

It is going to make authors’ work different. Publishers are going to have to tackle the beast of making sales when it’s so easy to put stories up online.

I feel melodramatic saying this, but I think everything about the publishing industry is going to change in the next ten years. It’s going to get uprooted and turned into an entirely new industry. I’m personally thrilled about going into an industry that’s going to have to be on the edge of innovation, and I can’t wait to see where it goes.

EDIT
I hope not to offend, but in my opinion, the publishing industry has desperately held onto the statement that Bolt has made. They insist that real books will always be the standard and that ebooks are a passing fad. I respectfully disagree. Everything is going digital now, as much as everyone, including myself, hates to admit it.

It would be wonderful if physical books could remain forever, but this isn’t going to happen. The older generations will stick to physical books, but even children now are much more interested in technology than in collecting books. I’m only 10 years older than my little brother and he has already mastered the home computer and saved up his money to buy an iPod touch.

I don’t mean to shoot anyone down, honestly, but I just can’t agree that books will remain the gold standard for new generations, not with the growth of ereaders. The Kindle 2, while still not ideal, is a vast improvement over the first, and I predict ereaders will become more like physical books and more desirable even within the next year.

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