At one time, not so long ago, the idea of the ebook was frowned upon and even mocked by some of the (what I call) the "publishing elite." By publishing elite, I mean the big publishing houses like Random House, DoubleDay Publishing and most, if not all, the big time literary agents (of whom most have a place in hell reserved just for them). For decades, if not centuries, the idea of publishing changed little. For the longest time, you had to send the sainted "query letter" to a literary agent or publishing house, hoping they would at least look beyond the first page. I'd venture a guess and say most proposals wound up in the trash bin without so much as a cursory glance. So many good books, good stories have been lost to literature due to indifference from the so-called publishing world. That was then, this is now.

In January, Amazon announced for the first time in it's history, ebooks outsold paperbacks. In July 2010, ebooks outsold hardcover books for the first time. Suddenly, the laughter died down. Reality has set in for the publishing world of today. eBooks have taken over. You don't have to go through a literary agent and possibly pay a $20 or $30 reading fee for the honor to have them tell you thanks but no thanks. You no longer have to wait weeks, months or even years to hear back from a publisher. Now, you can create, design and upload your own work, whether it be fiction or non-fiction, short stories or novels. You are now literary agent and publisher combined.

I will have my novel (Diary: Alone on Earth), at long last, published in ebook format this April. I will have an eBook publisher proofread, do conversion format and distribute my novel to all the online ebook stores for the sum of $150. To many that seems foolhardy and like a waste of money. Consider the poor people who decided to self-publish, pay anywhere from $5K to as much, in some cases, as $30K for the privilege of selling less than a 100 books to family and friends. Now, my novel may not sell that many either. I think it will sell because people love an apocalyptic, supernatural thriller. eBooks are the wave of the future due to ereaders like Nook and Kindle. I didn't realize it at the time, but with the advent of Kindle, the old traditional method of publishing died. Traditional publishing is like the myth of dinosaurs; they walked around dead for an hour before their brain shutdown. Well, such is the future for the Publishing House and Literary Agent. The future is ebooks. Stories that might never have been told will now get their chance. Literature, as a whole, will vastly be better for it. I will announce when my novel, Diary: Alone on Earth, will be available in ebook format. Look for it, as I said, in April!

Finally, I leave you with this quote; Publishers are all cohorts of the devil; there must be a special hell for them somewhere. - Goethe