I recently agreed to become an ambassador for Sony’s new electronic book reader, which goes on sale next September, and several of my fellow authors have accused me of being a quisling. In their view, electronic books will rob authors of their livelihoods in the same way that the digitization of music has deprived musicians of their royalties. Why am I promoting this terrible new technology?

This is unduly pessimistic. It assumes that as soon as the major publishing houses begin producing electronic books, pirated editions will start appearing on the Internet and people will begin downloading them for free. But will this happen? Even if a dedicated group of hackers can work out how to by-pass the anti-piracy software built into electronic books, it is by no means obvious that bibliophiles will take advantage of this. Surely, book lovers are less likely to do something illegal than music lovers. Provided ebooks are reasonably priced, i.e., less than the cost of a mass-market paperback, people will be willing to pay for them.

If that is the case, there is every reason why writers should embrace this new technology. Instead of relying on publishers to distribute and market their wares, authors will simply set up their own websites and sell their books directly to the public. They may have to pay a few hundred pounds to get their books digitized, and perhaps a few more to a publicist to make sure their work gets reviewed and talked about, but after they’ve absorbed these costs they’ll get 100 per cent of the retail price. That has got to be better than the 10-15 per cent they receive presently.

Of course, if ebooks catch on, and people are prepared to pay for them, most publishing firms will go out of business. But I cannot think of many writers who will be sorry to see them go. Whenever more than one author gathers around a bottle of wine, the sole topic of conversation is how terrible their publishers are. Their editors are illiterates, the publicity departments are staffed by air-heads and the people responsible for designing their dust jackets should be shot.

Agents, too, will be a thing of the past. Who needs an agent when you no longer need a book deal? Writers are marginally better disposed towards their agents than their publishers, but they won’t miss having to pay them 15 per cent, rising to 20 per cent when it comes to foreign rights.

The real beneficiaries, though, will be all those authors out there who can’t get an agent, let alone a book deal. If ebooks take hold, there’ll be nothing to prevent them setting out their stalls alongside more established writers -- and that can only be a good thing. Perhaps the real reason my colleagues are nervous is fear of competition.