Interesting

We live in interesting times. No big revelation there, right?

Think of the last 600 years (actually a few decades less). Since Gutenberg invented that printing press we’ve gone from hand-copied books to electronic ink. The ability to own your own Bible, and other books beyond that, was not always an option. In the 21st century the printed word is everywhere, from the library to the airport news stand to the laptop to the Kindle. It’s an age of wonder.

Think about the last 200 years (actually a few decades more). Inflammatory pamphlets were printed in small batches and distrubuted to readers pre-Revolutionary War in what became the United States. That morphed into large-scale publishers a century later, and really snowballed by the middle of the 20th century. The scenery changed as publishers came, went, consolidated, and some persevered.

Now we live in a time where anybody can be a publisher. We’re no longer reliant on movable type or small-scale distribution systems or behemoth publishers. I can publish my own books, both electronically and in print, and I have. Independent, hybrid, and traditional publishers all play in the same space and have their reasons for existing and thriving. Think of how boring the world would be if everything still funneled through the big houses. Instead, people like me have a chance to be heard. It truly is an interesting time to be alive.