Everything you just said about books was once said about music. The difference is that the addressable market for books is much smaller and there is no alterna

Everything you just said about books was once said about music. The difference is that the addressable market for books is much smaller and there is no alternative revenue stream like live events or related merchandise to prop up the revenue decimation that is rolling downhill towards authors. If I were to make a prediction it would be that decreased production/distribution costs will increase the amount of mediocre crap cluttering up the marketplace by an order of magnitude (leaving an opening for good filter/recommendation services) and the better authors will retreat to essays and short-form works that are kept behind a paywall.