Stark alternative, not plastic imitation, will be independent publishing’s future. Providing the reader with stories that aren’t meant to appeal to everyone, but certain someones. Niches. Taking risks, lowering costs, being different in the marketplace is where we need to go.
I predict that traditional publishing will go the way of Hollywood. Bigger budgets, more sequels, fewer original ideas. That’s how indie film makers first got started. At the margins. Telling the little story, the contrary story, the scary to produce-and-market story. While the big six print publishers go ever larger, flashier, rounding the corners more and more as to not offend the largest amount of people it can, I have one suggestion to other indies:
Go small. Find the book that is well-written, has something unique to say, the type that is seldom published anymore. And publish it.