Scarcely a day goes by without yet another article announcing the death of 'legacy publishing' (the business I've been in for sixteen years I guess) and its replacement by digital self-publishing straight to ebook. <a href="http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2011/03/ebooks-and-self-publishing-dialog.html" target="_blank">Here's the latest entry</a>, a fascinating conversation between Joe Konrath, the digital evangelist, and Barry Eisler, who reveals he's taking the same path after turning down a half million dollar conventional publishing contract.

There's such a frenzy in this field at the moment that it behoves someone to pour a touch of cold water on things. Oh go on then. Let it be me. Here are a few things to consider before dissing that half million dollar deal yourself...
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	<li>First, this stuff is taking off big time in America. In case you hadn't noticed America (population 307 million) is a very big country with a very high take-up of new digital technologies. There are more potential customers  for ebooks in America than in the rest of the world put together. The UK (population 62 million) likes gadgets too but has nothing like the penetration of ereaders.  A few people can be big in self-pubbed ebooks in America and make a tidy living. You can be big in selebooks in the UK and do... well, ok. This isn</li>
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