2014 Book Publishing Industry Predictions -- Increased Competition Between Traditional Publishers and Indie Authors | Mark Coker

4. Competition increases dramatically - With hundreds of thousands of new books published annually, and with retailer catalogs swelling to carry millions of ebook titles, it may come across as no surprise that completion will increase in 2014. Yet in 2014, the competition faced by authors and publishers will increase by an order of magnitude, and will make some players wish it was 2013 again. The ebook publishing playing field, which until recently was significantly tilted in the indies' favor, has now leveled a bit. Yet indies still enjoy a number of competitive advantages, including faster time to market, greater creative freedom, closer relationships with readers and thus a better understanding of reader desires, higher royalties rates and ultra-low pricing flexibility including FREE.