The publishing industry has been undergoing a metamorphosis over the past few years. It is now much easier for small authors to publish their own books because online marketing and sale of their books has become very easy. The publishing industry has many sectors and one of the sectors that are bound to change significantly is digital publishing. Some speculators say that print books might soon be memories in people’s minds but this is not at all close to the truth.

It seems that the market still has enough room for print books as well as eBooks. However, the changes being experienced in the publishing industry indicate that print books will soon begin to suffer. For instance, in the four-year period between 2008 and 2012, the sale of print books declined from $5.2 billion to $5 billion while eBook sales rose from $64 million to a whopping $3 billion. What makes digital publishing a more viable option than traditional publishing is that costs are usually much lower for digital publishing hence higher profit margins.

Digital content is thriving more than it ever has. Amazon has been at the forefront of the eBook revolution. They are succeeding at marketing eBooks because instead of relying on traditional marketing channels, they are providing authors with an avenue to reach their audience directly and sell books to them. The following are some of the changes that we should expect in the digital publishing industry.

Twitter is the tip of the iceberg

In just 140 characters, authors are able to reach their audience and let them know about their newly released books as well as those still in the works. The free publicity that authors get on Twitter will most probably benefit eBook sales because users are now looking for more convenience when shopping for books. By being able to contact readers directly and selling their books online, authors stand to benefit greatly from digital publishing.

More book discovery venues

Although traditional publishers can help authors to meet their audiences physically and form special interest groups, the Internet is a much more convenient way to do those things. People can easily create special interest groups on the Internet. In these communities, authors get platforms to introduce their books and readers discover new books that they could potentially buy.

Increased advertising

The rapid growth of the digital publishing industry has caused the market to become saturated with self-published books. Even though it is still easy for authors to sell their books on the internet, competition is increasing and we are more likely to see authors spending money to promote their books.

Traditional publishers will start publishing digitally

Ever since the eBook revolution, people who have been selling their books online are mostly self-published authors. These authors are starting to attract customers that usually buy traditionally published books, thanks to their competitive pricing strategies. Traditional publishers should not be expected to take this lying down. We have already seen attempts by traditional publishers to reclaim the business they lost to Amazon and other online sellers by establishing eBook selling platforms of their own. This fight for readers’ attention and money is still far from over.