While browsing the last surviving chain bookstore in our area, the supposed largest selling genre (54% of the market), Romance, was housed on shelf space only slightly larger than the bookcase in my living room.  And the selection of titles at the big box stores have dwindled to near nothing as well. 

Most readers realize the entire  publishing industry is in a huge transition.  According to a recent article in Publisher’s Weekly, consumers are demanding more electronic reads, yet publishers keep e-titles at the same price as paperbacks.   Whether or not it’s due to the publishers, the readers or the authors, it is glaringly obvious that paperback Romance is well on the way to extinction.

Don’t get me wrong, I love e-books, but shouldn’t consumers get a better price on them?  I don’t believe their rant that e-books cost just as much to produce as bound copies and comments from small e-presses support my opinion.  The music industry already went down this road and learned the hard way to sell music at a reasonable price to keep piracy down and attract more sales.    

Drop the price of e-books or give readers more bang for their buck.  Take a look at Mike Matas’ next generation e-book at TED. http://www.ted.com/talks/mike_matas.html  

TV may not have killed radio, but the paperback will end up as a dinosaur…or at best at high-priced collectable.