At the London Book Fair I attended many presentations on self-publishing. The companies sounded great and one purported an 80% return. That’s music to my ears.
At one point during a presentation I remembered a time when one of my friends attended a presentation on selling knives. I don’t know if many of you remember seeing commercials in the 90s about amazing knives that could cut through aluminum cans and such.
I am all for social and technological change that helps us move in the right direction. The term "social media" means that the media is now in the hands of the masses. That being said, that doesn't mean that the physical ability to publish makes one's work any good. The same principles which make one's work successful will always remain the same: ingenuity, execution, creativity, timeliness, etc. etc.
The cream rises to the top, whether under the old, crumbling system of traditional publishing and physical books, or the new system of self-publishing and e-books. What makes you successful as an author hasn't changed a bit: the ability to write well.
