Although it is true that this is a new industry, it is equally true that products must be brought to market if the industry that produces them is to survive. This means that the reading public must know about what is happening in the industry, be made aware of new content as it becomes available and, most importantly, be able to purchase that content easily and at a fair price. Unfortunately, this is not yet the case with epublishing. Like epublishers, booksellers have yet to truly step up to the line in support of epublishing, although they give this new industry positive lip service. It is not a pleasant or easy experience to purchase an ebook.
Outlets are few, and the collection process is cumbersome and overly complex.
Only Powell's bookstore provides a reasonable system for purchasing an ebook, and even theirs is not straightforward. Compare this to your local supermarket or drugstore for ease of purchasing. Until the epublishing industry develops a much better, more pleasant shopping experience for the reading public, they will not be truly competitive. Finally, there is another vital player in the epublishing business the author. Without the author, there would be no content at all, and no burgeoning epublishing industry on the horizon.