I have been thinking lately about the ways in which ebooks have changed the book market. There was a recent article in the New York Times about Apple’s iBookstore and their recent launch of a “Breakout Books” tab. This banner will showcase books from popular self- published authors. My first experience with a self- published book was when I was nine at a yard sale. I remember picking up an odd sci- fi novel about aliens and the end of the world. My dad inspected it and then told me that the author himself had paid to publish it and jokingly told me that it was definitely a “rare” find. However, thanks to ebooks, self – published books have more of a chance of receiving notice and much less of a chance of ending up at a garage sale.

The medium of ebooks allows writers to bypass the cost of hiring a publisher in a revolutionarily profitable manner. Most importantly, on an ebook there is unlimited shelf space. Bookstores can only hold so many books. In the past, writers would depend on the status of their publisher and marketing campaign to reach the shelf. Additionally, ebooks are immortal. In the old world of publishing, if a book sold poorly at first, the retailers would have to return them to the publisher. From an economic standpoint, if the quality of these “indie” books is up to par, then the ability to bypass the cost of the publisher leads to lower prices. According to the article publishers pay authors 25 percent for retail sails while self- published authors earn 60- 70 percent of the list price. I have noticed more and more self- published books appearing on my kindle and there is a recent surge in self- published ebooks becoming best sellers.