Along with the use of new media such as blogs, Twitter accounts or Facebook pages, most book publishers have stopped taking "unagented" submissions, so the role of literary agents has become more important. Some publishers have started Wiki-projects for books, so that fans can make digital notes to the book.
In the early 1960s, a number of book publishers consolidated. Knopf was purchased by and became an imprint of Random House, which was purchased by the RCA Corporation. As a benefit of this corporate association, new financial resources were introduced into publishing. However, those resources were coupled with expectations for greater profits. By the 1990s publishers were gambling big, offering huge advances on unproven novelists.
Chris Anderson, in his book “The Long Tail,” described how the Internet offers book buyers advantages over traditional book stores. Web sellers, including Amazon, can sell fewer books while carrying a greater selection and remain viable. With the increasing popularity of mobile devices, Internet book sales are on the rise. According to the "Wall Street Journal," Amazon has a unique opportunity to monopolize book sales on the iPad, as well as the Kindle.
In 2008, the Book Industry Study Group found that industry revenue was underestimated by over $14 million. The report “Under the Radar” suggested one of the reasons for the incorrect estimates is that retailers do not report their book sales numbers to publishers accurately.
Boris Kachka in “The End,” says the long-term future of book publishing does not seem promising. Kachka details how Internet publishing and stagnant sales have led to a crisis in book publishing. Though novels like “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and “Twilight” gain large readerships, book sales have steadily dropped since the late 1990s.