A recent Salon article [PREMIUM] chronicles the sad but all too familiar story of one of the legions of authors who struggle to make a living writing fiction and general interest books. Given that it's written by a pretty capable author, it turns out to be an engrossing and touching story: a promising first book falls short of the mark commercially, dooming the author to years of semi-success and heart-wrenching anguish, finally culminating in - gulp! - getting a real job to pay the bills. Hey, it happens. In the meantime, as outlined at the eBooks in the Public Libraries Conference [PREMIUM WEBLOG COVERAGE - REGISTRATION REQUIRED], publishers are beginning to explore the E-P-E cycle for releasing titles: start electronically, go to print when volumes warrant, cut back to electronic and on-demand printing when they start to fade. So much more sensible - and less frustrating for authors who want to make progress in the marketplace. Instead of trying to get PR attention in the general media, then, authors will find themselves using libraries as the minor leagues needed to gain the notoriety that they need to get their much-desired stardom. Publishing is about to undergo some very welcome and overdue transformations thanks to eBooks and library outlets, providing a correction of supply and demand that better meets the needs of both the marketplace and authors eager to make their mark. It may be that editors will be able to get back to the real work of getting talent developed for commercial exploitation, rather than sweating which mega-hit is going to make the quarterly earnings look flush.