Reasons to be cheerful

Thriller writer Jason Pinter recently wrote on the world famous Huffington Post blog.

Never before has it been easier to find a new release or an out-of-print backlist title, from the comfort of your local independent to the ease of an online retailer to the portability of an e-reader. And never has it been easier for a book lover to communicate with their fellow readers and even authors themselves.

Today author Andrew Croft was equally optimistic when asked at the United Authors meeting about the future for books.

Publishers and bookshops as we know them may disappear. What other commodity has shops exclusively devoted to them? Tescos and WH Smiths will survive - and the small independents which offer such a special service - but the High Street book shops will vanish. But writers will be the driving force. There will always be a need for people who can write vividly and with clarity.