When I first began studying literature in college, I thought of literature as something pure – far removed from the superficial world of pop culture. I had read a lot of popular fiction in my life, but all that went out the window when I began dissecting literature at the college level. Looking back now I realize that I was a tad bit too idealistic in my thinking and I now realize that yes, even literature is subject to the whims of pop culture.

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I’m back! I returned last night from my annual summer vacation – this year we were off to Washington state to visit family. What made this trip stand out from the others, however, is that it was virtually paperless for me. Unlike trips in the past, I packed no print books and went all digital.

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I never really know what to think of most literary awards. Usually, the prestigious awards are voted on by a small committee of experts. And most of the time, they tend to pick obscure works with little mass market appeal. But at the other end of the spectrum, we have the science fiction Hugo award, where the finalists were decided by letting sci-fi fans vote for their favorite novels. The results were a little more mainstream, maybe too mainstream, according to one author.

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The debacle over Amazon and their decision to remotely remove several George Orwell titles from their Kindle device, from customers who had paid for the books, has sparked a pretty fierce debate online. I’m actually a little surprised at the number of people who have come to Amazon’s defense and even applauded Jeff Bezo’s generic apology.

A lot of people, it seems, are getting hung up on the idea that the ebooks in question were illegally uploaded to Amazon’s system, and therefore, Amazon had every right to delete them from the Kindles and issue a refund. But I think there’s a deeper problem, and a danger lurking in the shadows if something isn’t done.

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Romance is not a genre I read, much less write about on this blog. But the romance genre is fairly large and has a fiercely loyal following, so it’s no surprise that romance is still doing well, despite a grim economy. Thus this is a genre that cannot be easily ignored or shunned aside.

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Amazon set off a firestorm of criticism across the web the other day when they decided to remotely delete several Orwell titles off of customers’ Kindles because the ‘publisher’ didn’t have permission to to sell those titles as ebooks. The tactic shows how ruthless Amazon can be with their ebook business, on top of their already draconian DRM tactics.

The question I keep asking myself is: “What will it take for Amazon to change their ways?” Yes, a big enough lawsuit might do the trick. And yes, action on the part of the government (i.e. FTC), might also do the trick. But there’s a simpler way to force Amazon to change – competition.

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Back when I very first started writing short fiction for fun (sometime in the early to mid-90s) the short story was in a sad state. Most writers no longer made a living off writing just short stories, and the reading public was in the mood for something longer – the novel. And today the novel continues to dominate the literary scene, while short stories are relegated to small press literary magazines and maybe a few collections published as a book.

However, could we be seeing a revival of the short story, due in large part, to the internet and digital distribution? While short fiction still doesn’t come close to the popularity of the novel, in the next few years that might begin to change.

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Imagine this for a moment: You download a book onto your ereading device (lets use the Kindle) because the ebook was either free or pretty darn cheap. As you begin reading, you notice more than just text fills each page. There are ads in the ebook! They are non-intrusive, but still, books are generally thought to be sacred ground from any type of ad placement. How would you react?

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Yesterday I finally gave in and joined the book-lovers social media site LibraryThing. In a nutshell, this site lets you post information about the books you’re reading, rate them, write reviews, connect with others reading the same books, get recommendations, join groups and a whole lot more. View my LibraryThing profile to see the books I’ve already added to my library, and in the future, read my reviews, ratings and all that other good stuff.

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Self-publishing is getting a whole lot easier for authors who prefer to go the ‘indie’ route and avoid the hassles of trying to get the ever-more-evasive traditional publishing contract. Espresso Book Machines (EBM) are paving the way not only for indie authors, but also indie bookstores as well – who must compete with the likes of Barnes & Noble, Borders, and Amazon.

The EBM is basically a mini-self publisher all wrapped up into one machine. You select the book you want printed, and it prints the entire book (nifty covers included!), binds, trims and spits the newly printed book out for you to enjoy.

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