In terms of pure numbers, the argument that the publishing world has changed is as flawed as the chart that started the thread.
There is no question that authors do have an increasing ability to go around the mainstream publishing filter. But the problem is again one of base line. The base line against which we're comparing is close to zero. (Not zero itself, because there have always been self-published or tiny press books that caught on.) We've seen a huge increase in that number. But we're still at the stage where every single instance of such a success gets noticed. There may be hundreds total, but hundreds are still less than 1% of all the books published by mainstream publishers in a single year. They are probably a smaller proportion of books than hybrid cars are of cars sold in a year. Both get undue attention because they are the supposed vision of the future but the overall model has not really changed at all. Steve -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "R-SPEC: The Rochester Speculative Literature Association" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/r-spec?hl=en.
