A couple of days ago, I took issue with those who whine that ebooks are killing publishing. In fact, I argued, “The Golden Era Of Books Isn’t Over. The Golden Era Of Books Is Now“. Apparently, though, not everyone agrees.
In an interview with the BBC’s World At One radio program, Booker Prize winning author Graham Swift claimed (with a straight face) that ebooks might actually discourage new writers from writing. He said:
“I think the tendency will be that writers will get even less than they get now for their work and sadly that could mean that some potential writers will see that they can’t make a living, they will give up and the world would be poorer for the books they might have written, so in that way it is quite a serious prospect.”
You can read my response here, on The Awl. Spoiler alert: I don’t agree. At all.