Editor’s view – is self-reliance the new black?

“The news that John Locke has just sold his millionth Amazon e-book without using a conventional publisher, editor or agent will come as no surprise to anyone who has been monitoring the growth of social media. Internet connectivity seems to have reached a critical mass recently, and this is just the latest trend towards independence from conventional organisations. This comes in many forms – real-time Facebook commentary on TV programmes like Question Time or the X Factor, riots in London or country-wide uprisings organised through Twitter, or news reported by people at the scene, at the time it occurs, unedited and uncensored. Old-style news and publishing organisations are going to have to up their game quickly or get left for dead. Simply putting up a web site will not be enough – they are going to have to be a lot more dynamic than that.”