Is the Indie world headed for a literary Armaddeon?

There are titans vying for control and Indie authors are like the David's of our time. The titans don't go by the names of HarperCollins or Penguin Random House. Those folks are still in shock that we dared to, with the help of Amazon and Smashwords, come forth like a dark horse and break every fence that exists with the e-book phenomena, but they may have the last laugh. Anything that builds too fast can have weak legs and the sheer weight may bring it tumbling down.

Thousands of writers have been walking in the desert for years with no home for their novels. Finally, they had a mechanism to share their hard work that had been shunned by the old guard. Even insightful authors who wrote for big houses saw the opportunity. They took their backlists and tried again in the new frontier. Their fans followed. No more waiting two years for a book to be presented into the hands of their readers, and the authors earned most of the marbles.

In September, I attended a conference where Mark Coker, the creator of Smashwords, presented an eye-opening speech. Sitting amongst many authors, I listened to an ominous warning: only the best will survive. The Moses (Mark) of the E-publishing world had a few commandments to share, but he also said something far more daunting. The signs are already evident. The time is coming when there will be more books than readers. Only the hum of the air conditioner broke the hush in the room.

Like the Gold Rush, the first who jumped onboard had a greater chance of success than those scrambling to get their suspenders up and catch the last train. The number of books, good, bad and downright horrendous, flooded Amazon's storage drives. The Big Six, at the time, laughed at the little people. Guys like Mark and Jeff Bezos strode into the marketplace and turned it upside down. "Follow us," they said. The Pied Piper had nothing on them.

That was only a few short years ago, but where are we now? All structures need a solid foundation, but there were no boundaries. The thunderous trample of authors uploading their manuscripts created a tremendous mushroom effect. Guess what happens after an atomic bomb goes off? There's a blast effect and it knocks everyone on their behinds. Who walks out of the destruction? Not everyone, that's for sure. Authors will fall. Why? Only the most innovative and creative will stay the course. How do you walk out of the ashes of burning pages and battle weary writers? Determination. Excellence and creativity.

See you soon as we research the revelations you should consider during what could be challenging days ahead.

Love, hope & faith

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