What's your Crystal Ball Say?

Tip of the Day: Check out Ally Carter's interesting post about how the industry has changed in the last six years.

Assuming you followed the tip and just read Ally's post, I thought we could share what our predictions for the future of YA are too. Ally first mentioned that ebooks are booming, and we've all noticed this too. Still, they keep saying it's only 10% of the industry. I'm wondering if this number is even valid anymore though. Considering Amazon says Kindle is the #1 selling product on their site, I'm thinking it's becoming more than 10% of books. And considering bookstores are closing around me and now we have to drive farther and farther to get to a store, well, yeah. I think ebooks are going to jump and take over more of the industry very fast.

And I'm seeing more and more traditional authors make the change to indie publishing as well. With fewer books being bought (publishers seem to be putting more money into acquiring fewer books in the hopes they will be big sellers) lots of authors are saying heck with it and making the switch to indie publishing. And doing pretty well with it. I've talked with a number of indie authors who are pulling in several thousand a month from the sales of their ebooks. On the flip side, Amazon is playing nice now and making it sweet for authors to put out their own books but they may not always play nice. Who knows, they may just be waiting until they have big enough control of the industry and then will flip the rules on the authors and cut their royalties. I do think they are the reason ebooks have suddenly taken off though. People think ebooks are a recent thing but there have been ebook publishers for a long time now. The first one I remember seeing was back in 1996-- Hard Shell Word Factory. But not many people responded to ebooks before Amazon and the Kindle.

And what about genre? Ally mentions that pink books are all but extinct (No! Say it ain't so!) and that even darker books seem to be winding down. Huh. But then what's next on the horizon? I refuse to believe that romance will ever die. People love to be in love. Love to read about love. It can't go away. And funny is, well funny! I can see darker books winding down a bit because the market is flooded but they won't disappear. The next big thing though? I can't figure it out. Any guesses?

Kristina, Miss Author in Action