Today was supposed to be a work day and started well enough. That was until I decided I needed to do some research, out went my plan for the day and I spent the rest of my time reading articles forecasting the end of publishing as we know it.

Well not really the end end, I personally believe the book will always be around. It will just become another commodity only a few will be able to afford, or only aficionados will collect. We’ll all be using some form of eReader and the book will be no longer.

A part of me wants to hold on to the physicality of the book. The smell of a brand new book, the mustiness you get from old ones, the sheer joy of turning pages or hurling a book across a room when upset about the contents. I don’t want to let go of any of these things, however the burgeoning green aware me is conscious of the reality of chopping down trees and our ever shrinking forestry. At some point we will run out; so maybe not in my time. But is it right for us to squander the resources without a care for future generations?

Now if it does happen that publishing undergoes this revolution, what will this new world look like and where will I as an author fit. Technology has made it possible for writers to self-publish, however it is still very difficult for a self-published book to make it into mainstream unless it is subsequently bought by one of the big houses. Will this be any different in the future? The cynic in my doubts it, but I’d loved to be proved wrong.