The global book industry is changing beyond all recognition. Just ask Vikram Seth, author of the bestseller A Suitable Boy, who this month was reported to have been asked by Penguin Random House to return his $1.7m advance for failing to deliver a manuscript. In September 2012 Penguin sued several of its writers over failures to deliver.
These cases are a sign that writers are having to quickly adapt to the new economics of publishing. There are more opportunities for authors than ever before but fewer commercial reasons to indulge them.
Across the world, more people are reading: print sales may be slightly down but those of ebooks are growing strongly. This is the fundamental context in the book business. In any discussion about publishing, the names Amazon, Google, Apple and increasingly Samsung occur just as regularly as Penguin, HarperCollins and Hachette. The technology companies are the new entrants with the muscle, money and easy distribution.