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, Broadway, politics and fashion.