I have this theory that the publishing business is its own worst enemy. It’s only my theory, and I could be wrong but I’ve come to the conclusion that publishers feel there’s nothing else to say.

I understand this is a very simplistic viewpoint, but as the internet is expanding, traditional media is contracting.
Why are newspapers in so much trouble? Popular thought says that you can get your news online and 24 seven on cable. So what do newspapers do? Cut back on content, cut back on reporting staff, but back on features and special sections. So there is nothing left to read. And since there is nothing left to read, the self fulfilling prophesy that spells doom for the newspaper business is happening. I suggest that more content, more features and more specials are exactly what people want. Certainly in modern form…electronic editions and formats no one has even considered yet, but more content. Not less.
And books…publishers lament the fact that only a handful of established authors are selling. So they’ve cut back on new authors, chopped b list authors until there’s very little except the big names, at the top of every bestseller list. Because apparently there is very little left to say.
And again, I contend that if the traditional book publishing business would get their heads out of the dark ages and band together to market the current fiction works…if they offered more, not less, in all formats, there would be a rebirth of new works and new writers. New ideas, new thoughts and new readers. But there seems to be no collective effort to save the book business. There is apparently very little left to say.
I suppose that with the Internet, Twitter, social networking and 24 cable news, with all of the specialty cable channels and new media that our needs for information and entertainment will be more than filled, but it still bothers me that traditional publsihing seems to have decided to throw in the towel. Apparently they think there’s nothing left to talk about.