Brave new readers

It’s news to no one that we’re on the leading edge of a digital revolution. The rise of ereaders this past year is the most obvious sign of rapid changes in how we find, acquire, read and reflect on fiction.

I for one am excited! The changes coming should make things better for readers in the long run. But, it could get ugly for writers, for publishers, and for booksellers, especially in the short term. Rumors abound that Borders faces bankruptcy. This comes at a time when some book publishers are tightening belts. Should Borders fail, those publishers won’t just tighten belts, they’ll tighten nooses.

But, now writers facing a much tougher market have a new option that just wasn’t feasible even a few years ago. They can now publish digitally. They can work with innovative publishers, or maybe assemble themselves into publishing collectives, or even publish as individuals.

Digital media changes everything. Even readers who demand books the old fashioned way face changes in price, availability and selection in coming years. There’s no way to avoid it – the change will affect you somehow.

Digital infinity?

Geek culture – indeed, popular culture in general – is all about the consumption of media. We read books. We play video games, watch movies, listen to music, and collect merchandising that’s mostly spun off from some content. It’s the core of the hobby, genre fiction especially.

All of these things we consume can be digitized. And, that means that, at least in theory, the supply of these things is limitless. How many copies are there of an ebook? Effectively, as many as you like. Not only that, but the cost of hosting and distributing “as many as you like” copies of that ebook is so small anyone with ambition can try publishing.

In this new universe isn’t a matter of having enough media to consume. We have a supply of media so vast it may as well be infinite.

But, how much media can you consume? Not as much as you’d like. I have bookshelves full of unread books, for one. My Netflix instant queue keeps getting longer not shorter. There’s only so much time in the day.

Supply far exceeds demand. There is more fiction out there than you want to read. Or, at least than more fiction than you have time to read. Publishers will try all kinds of techniques to boost that demand, whether by often maligned Digital Rights Management (DRM), special editions, or the dreaded (for them) lower prices.

An army of readers

As more and more authors feel the squeeze, and more fiction gets distributed digitally, rather than the pretty presentation of handsome covers on display at bookstores, it becomes more challenging to wade through it all, to find that diamond in the rough.

That’s where something interesting happens, once again thanks to that digital revolution. Readers aren’t just browsing  around in the local bookstore or library anymore. They’re actively seeking out help to wade through all this surplus of stuff to read. They read reviews on Amazon.com, catch up with a favorite blogger, or seek recommendations from people they’ve never actually met on Twitter.

I have just a couple connections with other bloggers so far. That’s one of my goals this year – expand my network of fellow readers and authors. Taken alone, my reviews will be too few, too random to reliably help readers find their way to good fiction.

But I’m excited to see others doing already what I want to do – take part in an army of readers and reviewers that help people figure out how to survive the revolution.