Midnight Musings from a Maniac's Mind

[T] And so, they call it Progress

Amazon. Who hasn't heard of Amazon in recent days? Two-day shipping. Prime membership. Buy anything and everything cheaper, faster, and safer.

Recently, it's became a monster.

If you're as old as I am (not old at all), chances are you'll remember Amazon's dark days. The days when Amazon was just another small website, making a few dollars of profit each month, selling books. Mostly to broke college students. 

Ah, yes, are the memories flooding back now?

Let me give you a refresher. Amazon was started by Jeff Bezos in 1995. It found its main commercial success selling books as a third-party. These were the days when traditional bookstores like Barnes & Nobles, ruled the land. 

In 2007, the company launched its first Kindle. Three years later, in 2010, more people bought ebooks on Amazon than traditional books! 

Amazon has changed everything from the way we sell books, to the way we write and publish them, as well. Ebooks are more widely read and sold to audiences across the globe. Traditional publishing houses are quickly losing their advantage to indie and self-publishing. Why? Speed, efficiency, and the wide-spread use of technology. 

I saw something rather unusual today. I stood with my face pressed up against the store window of an Amazon Bookstore and peered in. Unlike most traditional bookstores, there were not hundreds of books, lining the store from top to bottom. No, this store only carried the very cream of the crop–the critically acclaimed, the NYT best-sellers, the Newberry-award winning books. 

Was I excited? Of course. Imagine going to a candy store, with only the best candy in the world. It's designed to attract and please. 

At the same time, I felt a little sad. This was progress. This was the future. There'd be no more "browsing" through an endless muck of books, hunting for the gold. Or picking up a book, just because it caught your eye among the hundreds on the shelf. Everything that was printed was stamped with a guarantee. 

Guaranteed satisfaction.

Satisfaction tastes a bit more sour these days. Like it's been canned, processed, and manufactured instead of organically grown. 

That's what I think anyway. 

Victor Hugo, the author of Les Miserables, once said, "No force on earth can stop an idea whose time has come."

I have a dream. I started writing my novel, Fleeter, dreaming of a day in the future when I could see my name embossed in curly, golden letters across a hardcover. When I could walk into a bookstore, and see my writing on the shelf. That's my goal as an author. 

Sadly, most of us amateur authors may never be fortunate enough to see our writing in print. The growing demand for ebooks and Kindle devices are enough evidence that a major shift is happening, right before our eyes. 

The only path forward is often the most difficult. And so, they call it Progress.

Hello, hello! This your Midnight Maniac here. ^^

I hope you liked this chapter. What do you think, are paperbacks and hardcovers in danger of going "extinct"? Let me know in the comments below!

UPDATE: So I've decided to change plans a little. I'll only be adding to this book on Monday, Wednesday, Sunday. The other days, I need to update Fleeter, so I'll be too busy to write this section, short as it is.