The Protagonist: Very Important Predictions for the Literary World in 2013

Ebook sales will continue to spike now that Digital Book World has officially changed the spelling from "e-book" to "ebook." Self-publishing will be more of the norm and less about vanity as the proverbial literary pie continues to bloat. (Self-published books will even be seen on some major Top 10 lists.) We'll burn out on vampires and mainstream erotica. What will be next? The Protagonist's extremely modest amount of money is on paranormal pornographic fanfic with a gritty Western bent in live-blogged-style 140 character units. We hear Tao Lin's doing something weird again, possibly with drugs. As Penguin and Random House merge, we are sure to experience an omnipotent publishing house monopoly. Amazon will continue to have all the money ever and be a jerk about it. Let's talk about libraries. What will become of them? Nobody wants to sell them their ebooks. This is, in part, because ebooks have a shelf life of ... forever. The New York Public Library just finished a huge renovation-we hear it looks like a Barnes & Noble cafe. James Franco is releasing a book of poems with Graywolf Press. Everyone everywhere is reserving judgment. Graywolf Press will become entirely devoted to publishing "frank and illuminating" takes on celebrities, by celebrities. Read our predictions on [literature](http://nypress.com/the-protagonist-very-important-predictions-for-the-literary-world-in-2013/), [Broadway](http://nypress.com/2013-predictions-conjectures-on-the-great-white-way/), [politics](http://nypress.com/2013-predictions-two-dans-walk-into-a-fortune-teller/) and [fashion](http://nypress.com/lady-smarts-2013-the-year-of-the-megging/).