Electronic publishing can be an attractive alternative for new writers frustrated by the difficulty of breaking into the print market. Offbeat books that don't fit established genre categories, or are longer or shorter than a print publisher might like, may be more likely to be accepted by an electronic publisher, which can be more flexible in its guidelines. And e-books offer flexibility in regard to format, as well as the possibility of combining graphics, sound, and various interactivity options with the text.
Electronic publishing is still mainly a niche market, however.
E-books are making inroads in academic, reference, and educational publishing. But how willing people are to read trade fiction and nonfiction in electronic formats is still an open question. Often given as an example of the enormous potential market for e-books is Stephen King's 2000 novella, Riding the Bullet. The first exclusively electronic release from a major author, Riding the Bullet generated a media frenzy, and was downloaded more than 400,000 times. Attitudes are certainly changing.