Well, as Joss Whedon and Felicia Day (and to a far lesser extent my very small business Sentinel Angel Media) are proving out, it's become very, very easy to distribute traditional entertainment such as television shows and fiction through new channels such as iTunes (in the case of projects like "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" and "The Guild") and via simple web/email (for "print" fiction.) Additionally, there are self-publication solutions like WeBook (http://www.webook.com) for novelists who decide to go that route. I've also been talking to an indie producer friend of mine who has expressed a lot of interest in turning iTunes into a distribution channel for his short films, and although we're both still investigating this, it does seem especially easy for at least unsigned musical artists to do -- all one needs is a UPC provided by a firm like CDBaby for music, so presumably there is or soon will be a similar solution for DVDs. The benefits of digital-only distribution are easy to lay out: minimal financial overhead in manufacturing and distribution costs compared to traditional channels. The drawbacks of course are equally obvious: divestment from the massive and powerful "hype machine" provided by established publishing houses and studios. Too, while music and "print" are typically very portable media largely unaffected by a transition to digital foundations, with television making this transition a bit more slowly but steadily as portable media devices become more common, film is a more social medium; I highly doubt that the American theater is going anywhere, and its that initial appearance on a big screen that generates most of the interest in buying a DVD or digital copy for subsequent viewings at home.
The trick, of course, is figuring out which sources are legit and which ones are just vanity-press type scams...
Hmm. So cost, profit, and logistics used to be the gatekeepers to getting creative work out there. For a book you had to edit it, get it typeset and printed, do up a cover, and get it trucked to stores. You had to promote it. For a film you had the cost of film, editing, promotion, and distribution. Some of that is around still, but film, for example, you do the shooting digitally, you edit digitally. As "Sky Captain" showed, you can strip in a great deal of your effects digitally. So now your costs are actors and crew, lighting, props and costuming.
I frequently have 'Dr. Horrible' playing in the background while I'm on the computer. I knew Neil Patrick Harris was talented (saw him in 'Sweeney Todd' a few years back), I was surprised at Nathan Fillion's musical abilities (and he's PERFECT as Captain Hammer), and I think Felicia Day has a lovely, lovely voice. If Dr. Horrible is any indication, it should be possible to deliver first rate AND low budget programming through the Internet.
I'm planning a little apartment-type show for a public TV channel that should start here any day now. Of course they've been saying that for years now
And this, I think, is why literary sci-fi would be ebbing. You can ask around at work and get some idea of whether a new movie you're interested in is worth shelling out ten bucks and two hours of your time. Or you can listen to the radio or check the newspaper or find any number of large, obvious sites online that carry movie reviews. Books that aren't ridiculously widely popular . . . not so much. Or maybe the culture isn't there, to where discussing the latest Joe Shmoe novel while on coffee break isn't natural in the same way it would be with a TV episode or movie. And just look at Media Central here. How many times does someone post a link to a movie poster or a teaser or an interview or even just a review for an upcoming movie? Now, how many times does someone post a link to a cover or an excerpt or interview or review for an upcoming book? Not nearly as often, it seems like to me.
That's a shame, and something that can and should be turned around. I don't see that happening with traditional print fiction. I do see it happening with eFiction as eBook readers become more common, though not anytime soon, with short fiction becoming "hot" much sooner than novel-length works.
I'm inclined to agree. Eventually all media will be personalized, downloadable media. That will certainly increase access and quantity. Not sure what it will do to quality, but it'll certainly be fun to watch.
