Jason Epstein, a powerhouse in the literary industry, looks at the crisis facing the book industry and anticaptes the tremendous changes that will arise.  "Many valuable books - most, in fact - are not meant to be best-sellers, and these tend to be slighted in the triage of contemporary publishing and bookselling" (13).  In other words, with the increasing attention to blockbuster publishing, even though a wide variety of books continues to be published, only those with great selling potential receive much specialized attention from the publishing house.  There has been a critical shift from the days in which publishing a best seller was a rare event (Epstein likens it to winning the lottery) to today's market, in which major publishing houses are bestseller factories. 

Epstein recounts his role in the transformation of paperbacks, from cheaply made drugstore pulp fiction, to the higher quality editions of old favorites that we are familiar with today. A key moment in the changing nature of book covers occurred in 1944, when Kathleen Windsor's best-selling Forever Amber was promoted by adorning the book with a glamorous portrait of the author.

Technology, of course, is the impetus for change in almost any industry, and the publishing world is no different.  Epstein describes the shifts in business practices as a result of technology - specifically, the internet.  It was a big step when stores' inventories could be linked to computers; but now the computers are the only interface for many stores, such as Amazon.com.  Epstein and his peers in publishing try to anticipate the next step.