Seth Godin's mini-guide to publishing, selling and marketing books now | The Bookseller

Book sales are up, and they're up because a few people are buying more books, not because a lot of people are buying some books. And that is a symptom of an industry in dramatic decline. These are really good people who make a product they can be proud of. They keep their promises, they don't cheat, they don't steal, and they're not always chasing the next stupid bright light. All of those things are great. But I've been watching for thirty years and they keep shooting themselves in the foot, over and over again. And they're not going to get too many more chances to be able to do this, because as soon as Penguin Random House or Simon & Schuster or whoever goes from making a little bit every day to losing a little bit every day, they're just going to fire everybody. The backlist keeps it moving, but the backlist is threatened because, as we've seen with Spotify hurting the backlist for music, once you've got access to the six paragraphs you need from that book, you don't have to buy the book again.