My, how things (don't) change

I happened to stumble across a brilliant article about the state of publishing--an article that also happens to be over three years old.

What were finding out is that the publishing industry is dying (has been dying)--perhaps (as suggested in the above article) that since publishers are now all under the umbrella of stock-owned megacorps, the pressure to keep profits high is reducing the number of titles released each year.

I know: There are (75,00o/180,000/215,000) titles published annually and that is too many already.

Spare me.

Where are they? My Borders doesn't have them. My B&N doesn't have them. My library sure doesn't have them. Even if that many are produced each year, we'd never know--because all of the energy goes to a handful of authors.

Am I squeezing sour grapes here? Sort of. Every author in the world wishes he/she had more promo. But this is more of a paradigm shift, if you will. And, thusly, why the incredible rise in POD titles has begun.

Back on point: the industry has been in a state of decay for years and years. There isn't an agent or editor around who won't tell you that this is the toughest time to try and get a book published. Something's gotta give. And my guess is that POD is going to play a role.