Doom, doom, we're all doomed

HB: Ah yes, you can rely on Toasting Napoleon for seasonal cheer. Although the market for books is hardly the crunchiest of credit-crunched crunchees, the market gloom is making life harder than ever for debut authors. According to the Bookseller:

• A publishing MD was quoted as saying agents were finding it "much harder" to sell work, since "nobody wants to buy anything"
• In the US, one publisher has stopped acquiring any books at all. (!!!)
• Simon Trewin of United Agents said, "I think every year we sell fewer books, but every time we do sell a book now it's for more money ... this year it takes longer for publishers to make a decision than it used to, and there is a little less room for flexibility than there was."

Bad news for debut authors. Not good news for existing ones. And calamitous for British literature - but who cares about that? We lead the world in video games, don't we?