Quite possibly, says Tracy Chevalier, author of Girl with a Pearl Earring and chair of the London-based Society of Authors. A recent piece in the Times quotes her as saying that the traditional model for compensating authors with a combination of cash advances and royalties is "a dam that's cracking" as we progress further into the internet age. "It’s hitting hardest the writers who write books that you dip in and out of: poetry, cookbooks, travel guides, short stories--books where you don't have to read the whole thing," she continues. “For a while it will be great for readers because they will pay less and less but in the long run it’s going to ruin the information. People will stop writing. There’s a lot of ‘wait and see what the technology brings’ but the trouble is if you wait and see too long then it’s gone. That’s what happened to the music industry.”

Comments:

• Salas in Philadelphia, Mon 4/14/2008 5:22 PM:
  I couldn't disagree more--more authors than ever are getting an audience thanks to the efficient distribution of the Internet.