by Joseph T. Sin­clair

Hugh Howey has writ­ten a blog post enti­tled The State of the Indus­try post­ed on Feb­ru­ary 2, 2016, which mir­rors my own thoughts about where we’ve been and where we’re going. It is must read­ing for any­one who thinks he or she has a future in pub­lish­ing.

http://www.hughhowey.com/the-state-of-the-industry

There is enough var­ied evi­dence in the indus­try to sup­port just about any spec­u­la­tion about the future you wish to make. But there is evi­dence, and then there is com­pelling evi­dence. It’s clear to me and to Mr. Howey that the com­pelling evi­dence unfet­tered by neo-Lud­dite bias sup­ports the notions that dig­i­tal tech­nol­o­gy has dis­rupt­ed print in a rev­o­lu­tion­ary way, that big pub­lish­ers and retail­ers are scram­bling to stay in busi­ness, that most will not sur­vive, and that indie pub­lish­ing is the new norm.

As authors or pub­lish­ers, we are more like­ly to be suc­cess­ful if we adapt to the present and future rather than pine for the past. And that’s what my blog The Future of Books is about.