Here are a few snippets of information gleaned from the floor and panels of Thrillerfest over the last few days. They give some insight into the uncertain state of publishing in the US, and a pointer about how rapidly things are changing.

First, the market. There seems to be a genuine belief that the days of the huge book megastore may be numbered. The number of people walking through the doors of the big chains appears to have fallen in line with the general slump in mall shopping. Some publishers say the number of people shopping in the big chains may have fallen by as much as 25 per cent.

At the same time people seem to have decided that hardback books have had the day, certainly as far as mainstream popular fiction is concerned. Sales of expensive hardbacks have plummeted - again 25 per cent is one figure being bandied around.

Some other ground-breaking news. Amazon gave a presentation yesterday at which they apparently revealed that in the US their sales of thriller and crime titles in Kindle format have equalled the sales of the same titles as conventional books for several months. Ebooks are losing the gimmick factor.

What was that old Chinese curse? The one about living in interesting times? I should say, by the way, that this picture applies only to the US market. A couple of European publishers I've spoken to say that their sales are much healthier. In fact the sense of gloom in the US seems generally much more marked than anywhere else I've visited in the past few months.