The first signs of a growing, and uncomfortably fragile epublishing bubble are forming.  With the massive inflow of new self published ebook titles, it's creating an instability in the force
This is primarily being caused by the fact that the barriers to entry have become so low that people are scrambling hand over fist to become major players in the market.  IE, famous authors of their respective genres.  The problem here is, nearly any tom, dick or harry is joining in on the feeding frenzy.  That means that there's too much to choose from, thus causing great books to get tossed by the wayside while ego fueled garbage is taking over the strawberry patch.

This in turn will create anger and disillusionment in the reading public.  After a point, they will begin to say, "If this is what the market has become, I'm leaving." or "I'm only going to read the big names."  In fact, it may reach a point where a select list of titles, those who have proven themselves to produce superior quality books, will even be noticed.  Everyone else will get thrown under the bus.  EVERYONE.

So what should you do now?  Run around in panic?  Go hide in the forest?  Join a monastery?  Nah.  What you need to do now before the bubble reaches its peak is to up your game.  That's right, don't just think you're going to slide through this bubble unscathed.  You have to step back, think through what you're going to do, and then come out with a superior novel that grabs people and holds them.

First off, you can't write with your ego in mind.  This includes thinking of fame, fortune, attention, name in lights, and that sort of thing.  If you're doing it just to say "I'm an author", then you're going to fail right away.  You either love your craft (ie, writing), or you don't even bother publishing.  Because if you don't truly love your craft, you'll never produce good quality books, and in the end you'll become one of the roadside casualties.

Humbleness is another great clue to how good you are as a writer.  Some might not think that, but it is.  If you run around with your ego as high as the clouds saying, "I'm a PHD, and my books are superior to all!" or "Disney will be showing up on my doorstep throwing money at me the moment this is published!" or "I'm the best writer that the world has ever seen!', then you're probably not that great a writer.  In fact, the few who I've meet with attitudes exactly like that had books that made me cringe hard enough to give me a stroke.  Yeah, they were that bad.

Now I'm not gonna run around saying my books are the best in the world.  I know I have a lot of room to improve.  Sure, they're good by my standards, but I'm not gonna say that they come even close to matching up with the masters.  But if people enjoy them, then I'm happy.  But as a good sign that I have at least some degree of humility when working with my books, I'm always worried that they're good enough, and that they don't suck.

If you're not always critical of your own works, then you shouldn't even be publishing.  Those who think they're already great should be flatly avoided as they do not truly love writing, nor do they care about their books or their readers.  They're just in it for themselves.  A good writer is always critical of themselves and is constantly seeking to improve their craft.

It will be these who love writing, are tops on their game, and always trying to improve themselves (and are not becoming complacent) that will survive the bubble when it bursts.  Everyone else will get swept away.  The good part I see about this is how the market will come out stronger on the other side.  Sure, in the old days it was the big houses that were the gatekeepers of the market.

Today, there is no such gatekeepers.  Sure, the big houses are still around, but they're no longer gatekeeping.  Neither are the agents.  They're only looking for what can be milked for the most cash, and not for what will produce long term quality.  That in time will blow up in their faces.  Oddly though, I think that'll be a good thing, because it'll bring about a new generation of gatekeepers; groups or individuals who will monitor the market and sweep away the dead bodies to bring to the forefront the true gems of the industry.

I hope to be numbered among that crowd, but I'm a realist, and even I'm not crazy enough to think that my place is guaranteed there.  That's why I'm working so hard to improve my writing and get better at my craft.  Just read my Earthfleet Saga and you'll see the steady improvement that I've made over time with my books, and continue to make.  

One way to help up your game is to be peer reviewed.  I'm not talking about friends and family reviewing you (they'll always give you a thumbs up, even if it's really bad so as not to hurt your feelings), but rather people in writing groups, online reviewers, etc.  Get people you don't personally know to go in and review your work.

One of the most productive reviews I ever had came from a guy who utterly shredded one of my books.  I mean utterly and completely ground the entire book to powder.  So I took his advice, learned what I needed to, fixed the story and came back a second time expecting another lambasting.  To my surprise, I didn't get one.  Sure, he still hated the story, but the improvements were great enough to get a nod of approval from him, and an encouragement to keep going like that.

Those are the kind of people you need to review and critique your stuff.  Those who will give you good, hard, honest answers and feedback on your work.  If you can't have a thick skin when you write, and get critiqued, don't even bother starting into the writing field, because you'll never last.  Because it's one of the many things you need to have in order to become a "great" author rather than just some second string word slinger.

So work and fight hard, do good, constantly improve yourself, have a tough skin, love your craft, be humble, and be creative, and you'll come out of this coming bubble burst even stronger than you went in.