Their struggles in the old model have been well documented (of course, we should have expected them to write about their experiences): the starving writer up in the garret who uses rejection letters from publishers for wallpaper is an established literary hack. In the new world of print on demand, e-books and social media marketing, the author takes center stage. Those with an appetite for it can really take control of their work and commercial fortune.

In Part 1, we looked at the three big waves crashing down on the traditional book publishing business: Google Search, e-books, and print on demand. In Part 2, we tried a bit of science fiction, speculating on how this might play out for all participants: readers, authors, printers, publishers, retailers, and e-book device vendors. In Part 3, we looked at the economics of returnability and the impact of the Espresso Book Machine on the supply chain. In Part 4 here, we focus on authors, without whom we would have nothing to read.

Narrative or Reference?

The impact of digitization depends on the type of book you're talking about:

1. Narrative books, such as novels, biographies and other stories. The printed book is an ideal format for narrative books. Amazon had to recreate the print-reading experience to make the Kindle work for narrative books. Using an e-book device scores on many counts: choice, delivery, price (possibly), storage; but whether it beats the experience of reading a good old fashioned book is still unclear. In any case, narrative books are not well suited to typical online or mobile devices. Reading a novel on a laptop browser or iPhone is a degraded experience.
2. Reference books, such as education, scientific/technical/medical, and business books. Historically, these have been squeezed into the book format because no better alternative existed. The online experience could be far better than print in this case. Online, you can search, link to related works, drill down into details, see and hear rich media, etc.

Thus, we expect the impact of digitization will be much bigger and more immediate on reference books than on narrative books. Both will be affected, but reference books may see a music industry-style wave of change, while the change to narrative books may be slower and more nuanced.

New or Established Author?

This is another huge factor. This quote from an excellent report by Gilbane on "Beyond E-Books" says a lot about the business from the author's perspective:

"During the 2009 O'Reilly TOC Conference, Jason Fried of 37signals described the book that he and his colleagues had written based on lessons learned from creating and servicing their successful project management and collaboration product named Basecamp. They published their book with Lulu.com and report sales of almost $500,000 in the last several years. This enabled them to reach number three on the Lulu bestseller list at one point. Ideally, this story would have a happy ending, and they would publish their next book with Lulu.com. Alas, the success of their previous book motivated a traditional publisher to offer them a significant advance for their second book. The offer was too tempting to refuse. They now have to hope that the traditional economic model, with 10 to 20% royalties, will generate more than Lulu.com's 80-20 split. In essence, they are wagering that the traditional publisher will be able to sell at least four times the number of books that Lulu.com would have sold.

"When asked about this, Young was nonplussed. He simply stated that his goal was to publish their third book and to make them loyal authors in the future. It is his number one goal to help his authors become successful."

This will be music to the ears of traditional publishers. They can leave first-time authors to self-publish via print on demand (POD), because once the authors are established, they will want the kudos, branding, and distribution that only traditional publishers can deliver.

Well, perhaps. We are still in the very early stages of this wave of change.

Get Me Into the Book Store

Publication doesn't feel real to an author until they see their book in a traditional bookstore. Seeing it on Amazon.com is nice, but everyone knows that shelf space is unlimited online. The real prize is occupying scarce shelf space at Barnes & Nobel and independent bookstores. What the author wants to know from their publisher is, "How are you going to get me into that bookstore?"

Pure online players will respond with something along the lines of, "Well, if a lot of readers find you online, then enough of them will buy your book for a traditional publisher to become interested in you, and then that publisher will get you into bookstores." That is a relatively weak answer.

But the traditional model of stuffing shelves with "returnable" books, many of which end up getting shredded by the publisher, is clearly unsustainable, as we explored in Part 3.

How this will play out is far from clear. But one thing is clear: the landscape will look quite different.

And Do It NOW!

If you are writing a timeless classic, then the traditional three- to four-month lag between the completion of the manuscript and the book's appearance in bookstores is fine. If you are writing about something timely, that just won't cut it anymore. Bloggers and online writers will steal your thunder before your book hits the shelves. The immediacy of print on demand and e-books eliminates this time lag.

Write About What You Know

Writers do love to write, so it is not surprising that some are starting to document their experiences in the new world of POD and e-books. One that caught our eye is Literary Adventures in POD, but there are many more.

Literary Agent 2.0

In the old model, first-time authors usually had to find an agent, who then found a publisher. This site has good FAQs on the process and on deals.

These relationships -- between author and agent, and agent and publisher -- are often very personal. As such, they can be totally wonderful or totally awful, and there are plenty of tales of both. They are typical "Let's do lunch" relationships. So, bringing Web technology to this match-making experience is logical; one venture that has done this is Creative Byline.

Four Big Changes for Authors

1. Fewer advances. The lack of an advance will be compensated for by...
2. A bigger share of the pie. We expect this to grow from 10% to 30% (or more) of the retail price. The retail price will likely drop, too, and so authors will have to...
3. Create the finished product themselves. Authors will have to pay for cover art and editing out of pocket, as well as...
4. Become savvier about online marketing. A lot of tools are out there: social media, affiliate networks, email lists, SEO/SEM, and so on. Some authors will leave this up to intermediaries (the next form of publishers), and some will do it themselves.

The future of authors can thus be summed up as: do more of the work, get a bigger percentage of the retail price (which will be lower), and hustle online.

We would love to hear from authors about their experiences.

How big is the Super Bowl? The Guardian summed it up this way:

"To put it into context, the American football showdown on 1 February between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals is America's equivalent of the World Cup, the FA Cup, Wimbledon, the Ashes and the Ryder Cup all rolled into one."

Here at ReadWriteWeb, we're all for using the Web to make any experience better. So, we've gathered some of the best resources from around the Web to help you get the most out of your Super Bowl experience.

The Basics

The most obvious place to start is the official site for Super Bowl XLIII, hosted by the National Football League. This is by far the most comprehensive resource for the game. You can find additional details at NBC Sports Super Bowl XLIII.

More interested in the teams? Then head over to the official sites for the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals.

Who's going to win is anyone's guess, but the experts have weighed in with their Super Bowl predictions. Knowing you, we're assuming you're much more trusting of the bloggers. So we'd also suggest you spend some time reading some fan predictions before the big game. Blogs.com has gathered the Bloggers' Guide to Super Bowl XLIII.

Of course, we're all interested in the technology associated with the show. And that makes Daily Wireless' detailed roundup of cameras, mobile coverage, wireless access, and more a great place to get an idea of all the tech at play during the game.

Getting Social with the Play by Play

Twitter will be full of Super Bowl tweets on Sunday. You can follow the official Super Bowl Twitter stream. If you're more interested in following your favorite team, then watch the mentions of the Steelers or the Cardinals as they stream in. Or watch the tweets side-by-side on the Twitter Bowl 2009

Interested in a more dynamic flow of comments? The real-time Friendfeed room for the Super Bowl is sure to gather in intensity as the game goes on.

Or if Facebook is more your style, you can install official apps for Super Bowl XLIII, the Steelers, and the Cardinals.

And Now a Word from Our Sponsors

Often discussion of the game itself is dwarfed by the discussion about the ads that run during the game. In fact, there's already been a great deal of hubbub about the first 3D ad to be aired during the Super Bowl, Hulu launching an ad campaign, and the fact that Monster is returning to the ad line-up for the show.

So we wanted to make sure that you were up to speed on all the Super Bowl Ads.

As with anything else, these days, there's the pre-requisite Twitter account for Super Bowl ads. Or for more than 140 characters at a time, the folks over at Mahalo will be live blogging the Super Bowl ads. They've also provided a number of links to the advertisers to help get you ready.

Interested in a higher level of criticism? Then get analytical about this year's ads with the Kellogg School of Management's Super Bowl Advertising Review blog. Or revel in the glory of Super Bowl ads past with MSNBC's Top 10 Super Bowl ads of all time or by voting CBS favorite Super Bowl ads of all time.

Walk Down Memory Lane

Speaking of nostalgia, there's no shortage of Super Bowl history at your disposal. Maybe this is your first time tuning into the Super Bowl. Or, maybe you'd just like a little more context for the game in general. Why not use the resources on the Web to give you that kind of context?

Who won Super Bowl I? What was the final score of Super Bowl XVI? When was the first Super Bowl played in February? Ask and the Internet delivers. Visit the NFL's site to review the scores, stats, and recaps for every one of the 42 previous Super Bowls.

Maybe you're more interested in the "Halftime Show" than the game itself. Dive into the history of one of the most watched performances in the world by visiting Rolling Stone. They've gathered details on this year's music and a look back at musical acts of past games.

And what historical review would be complete without the worst teams in Super Bowl history?

Snacks

What's the spectacle of the Super Bowl without snacks? If you're having trouble figuring out what to serve for the big day, the Web will help.

Wired provides some tips on making scientific Super Bowl snacks, including beer ice cream and puffed sauerkraut. Looking to keep in a little healthier? Try these green Super Bowl snacks.

And no matter how healthy you're trying to be, it's difficult to resist marveling at the Greatest Snack Food Stadium ever built.

... And All the Rest

Need more TV to watch the game? Obsessable has some tips on how to grab an HDTV for Super Bowl. Because "trying to watch the Super Bowl on a tiny television is the equivalent of sitting in the last row of Raymond James Stadium, with the Goodyear Blimp buzzing inches from your head."

Watching the game doesn't have to be hard on the earth, especially if you follow Supereco's 5 tips to green your Super Bowl.

And with the strangest Super Bowl addition - next to the Snack Food Stadium above - we close out with Smule's Sonic Lighter Super Bowl, where fans are encouraged to choose the lighter color of their respective team to show their support. Judging by the map, we'd say the Smule fans are pulling for the Steelers.

Enjoy the Game

That's just a smattering of some of the resources out there, but that's certainly enough to keep you busy until kickoff - and likely beyond. Enjoy the game.

In response to one of the questions posed on the homepage, project partner R. David Lankes explained the difference between this and an online directory like DMOZ.org. Instead of building out a directory of sites, the Reference Extract project will instead focus on answering "real questions around the world." By answering a lot of questions, the service scales up and generates a lot of "semantic richness" with which a search engine and other services can be built, says Lankes.

He also notes that the engine isn't really trying to compete directly with Google, Microsoft, or Yahoo as an everyday search tool. Although some people might begin searches directly from the Reference Extract homepage, the other search engines will end up returning results from the project and thus leading new users to click through for the answers they need.

That last bit sounds a lot like the model Wikipedia uses. Sure, you can search Wikipedia from its homepage, but you're more likely to Google something and end up on a Wikipedia page that appeared at the top of the search results.

However, unlike Wikipedia, Reference Extract won't simply focus on basic facts about people, places, or things, but will answer questions on a wide range of topics, just as librarians do today. In the end, the project may not out-Google Google, but it will lend something to search results that we've never had before: credibility.