It has been easy to be dismayed by a tough time in retail, the decline of hardback sales and all the uncertainties associated with the transition to e-books, so it is fantastic to hear more positive noises from publishers in the last couple of weeks.

English is being read by more people in more places than at any time in history. The ability to reach readers anywhere instantly has no parallel with any period in the past. Whatever the difficulties, this is a thrilling time to be working in the publishing industry: the opportunities are stellar.

While there is nothing wrong with striking a note of caution we were maybe in danger of persuading ourselves of the reality of our own worse fears.

The clearest indicator of the long term viability of the book business is the speed with which Amazon is closing in on it. While there are significant concerns about the consequences this will have that glint in their eye is a dollar sign and that is a heartening change from the look in many a UK publisher’s eye.

What is clear that not only that do they believe in the long term viability of publishing but also that they can see a gap in the market that has been left by traditional bricks and mortar publishers.

Nothing more clearly indicates this gap than the invisibility of e-books at this years London book fair. Walking the aisles one could be forgiven for not realising that e-books existed at all. Where were the banks of e-readers? The gung-ho statements of intent? The publishers vying to proudly declare that they were the best e-book publishers in town?

E-book strategy has for far too long been a question of the problems that e-books pose. It is probably fair to say that publishing is not an industry of early adopters and given that most of us love physical books our reluctance to embrace the change is understandable. But it is surely time to get over the problems of conversion, of piracy, territoriality, pricing etc. Time to articulate the opportunities rather than the challenges

The fact that it is possible to buy a book anywhere, instantly at the press of a button is extraordinary and revolutionary. It changes everything. It changes what books are.

Books have always been defined by their physical presence. Books under 50,000 words do not give the customer value for money. Likewise books much over 200,000 words are cumbersome to read and prohibitively expensive to produce.

E-books make those rules redundant.

Short stories, poetry and essays have moved almost entirely into the lists of small, subsidised, under funded presses. They have largely died as far as the big publishers are concerned. E-books throw them a life line: as it is no longer necessary to publish in single volume form, the book’s new found elasticity can allow for the subscription model (the basis for much nineteenth century publishing) to be reborn.

Publishing need no longer be tied into its protracted publishing schedules: there is now the opportunity to think far more nimbly.

E-books may have cannibalised hard back sales, but everyone recognises that the paper book will never die because handy and convenient though an e-book is it lacks the bragability and attractiveness of a well stocked book case. E-books create a distinction between books which are keepers and those which are disposable – the e-book is no rival to the hardback, but a way of marketing it.

E-books allow publishers to be far more imaginative in the way they group books – gone are the old bookshop distinctions, the rather rigid channels the physical object dictated retailers funnel the reader down. Books can now be sold laterally as well as vertically: in, say, holiday hamper: a couple of thrillers, the reading club book of the moment, something a bit more literary and challenging, an interesting debut.

And then of course there are all the enhanced possibilities and hook ups with game and, TV, Film and Music companies.

There are many exciting initiatives in all of the major houses, but they are presented piecemeal and overall it is blanket positions like the agency model or disputes about royalties which gather more attention.

All too often – and in many cases unfairly - publishers are attacked for being greedy and rapacious exploiters of consumers and for being dinosaurs wondering what all those lights in the sky are by the tech types. When it comes to e-books publishers have a serious branding issue: greedy and stupid is not a good look.

More to the point it presents a golden opportunity for Amazon to make a plausible case for being the smart good guys.

Amazon are doing a great job of being the friend of the consumer, small publishers and self published authors: all the small fish are hiding from the medium sized fish in the mouth of the really big fish.

This is potentially disastrous – there are huge reserves of talent, passion and expertise in the bricks and mortar publishers. Talent, passion and expertise that readers and writers need. They should shout about it more.