The Borders shakeup and the publishing industry

We've all been hearing about the struggles of the publishing industry lately. Apparently, booksellers are being hit hard, too — even the major ones.

Amid Slumping Sales, Borders Replaces CEO

Michael and I spend a lot of time in bookstores, frequenting their cafés as well as buying the occasional book. Admittedly, we're not Borders people — our bookstores of choice are usually Barnes & Noble or our local independent chain, Tattered Cover. However, reading about any big bookstore having problems interests me because of its implications for the publishing industry.

The story says that one of the reasons Borders is suffering is because of competition from online sellers such as Amazon. This is a trend I see in the writing industry in general — pretty much every writer I know does business primarily via the Internet. But combined with the growing interest in ebooks, I would say this is a sign that the industry is going virtual with a vengeance.