Time Magazine published an article back in January, “Books Gone Wild: The Digital Age Reshapes Literature“.  Here’s a clip:

Fast-forward to the early 21st century: the publishing industry is in distress. Publishing houses–among them Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, HarperCollins, Doubleday and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt–are laying off staff left and right. Random House is in the midst of a drastic reorganization. Salaries are frozen across the industry. Whispers of bankruptcy are fluttering around Borders; Barnes & Noble just cut 100 jobs at its headquarters, a measure unprecedented in the company’s history. Publishers Weekly (PW) predicts that 2009 will be “the worst year for publishing in decades.”

To me, this is what the publishing industry has been waiting for.  Not the guys that want to continue what they’ve done for the past 20 years, but for the ones that believe it can be better.

To hold on to the current model as long as possible, some cling to the phrase “editorial integrity”.  The publishing establishment threatens that they are the gatekeepers for quality content.  Without them, the book world turns into a YouTube-esque amateur hour.  But what happened to that integrity when Lisa Genova (from the Time article) started racking up independent sales?   Simon & Schuster couldn’t get their hands on this amateur rubbish fast enough, that’s what!

Sure, there will be garbage that gets published independently.  Just like there’s garbage that gets published ‘professionally.’  Honestly, I’ve worked with editors in technology that got book ideas not from their scary insight and technical knowledge, but from flipping through the Amazon Hot 100 in Technology books.  My little brain tells me that there are “editors” from all disciplines, in all houses, doing the same thing.

The good news is that there’s a lot of change going on in the different houses.  Here and there are folks getting involved with “social networking” and are plugged in to what’s happening around them both online and in the “real world”.  They will be the new leaders, not the oddballs.  And they’ll reshape the process.

But for now, the curtain is pulled back.  There’s nothing stopping you from building your audience, and writing a book, and becoming a leader in your field.

And for those “in the business”, this is the perfect time for you to do the same!