This kind of feels like more of an interpolation to explain the current moment than it really seems to have meaningful predictions for the future. Would have liked it to be backed up by a bit more economic analysis and sources. Thanks for sharing.

“It’ll be even harder to launch debut fiction”???

I get what they’re trying to say, but they’re making this announcement literally ten years after amazon self-publishing cracked open the market to everybody with a typewriter and a dream.

It has literally never been easier to self-publish. People in the 80s paid for 1000-copy printing runs and sold their novels by mail order and out of trunks. And they’re saying it’s getting harder to launch debut fiction? Sure you’re not guaranteed an instant customer base but like, you were not guaranteed that before booktok and instagram, either. Feels like a weird point to start their list off with.

I hope its the end for books, at least the physical ones