Check out these industry prognostications for the year ahead.
Special note to my clients–now you know why I insist that you maintain five social media presences along with your website and blog!

Ebooks will account for one third or more of unit consumption.

Agents will use e-book platforms to negotiate with large publishers.

As unpublished authors bypass the slush pile, publishers lose first dibs on tomorrow’s future stars.

The Big 6 publishers will increase ebook royalties.

Average ebook prices will decline.

Reader word-of-mouth, catalyzed by social media, will reign supreme as the single most important driver of book sales.

source: Galleycat
http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/publishing-predictions-for-2011-from-smashwords_b18421