Or at least I'll bet that's how many big-house publishers, big-box book retailers and even literary agents feel right now, lost in the Amazon basin of no return. Perhaps you've heard something about the ongoing battle between Amazon and the giants of publishing, or perhaps not. Either way, I hope to tell you that it matters and we should all be paying very close attention. This paradigm shift in the publishing world is significant in that books and literature shape our present and future lives. Our daily language is laced with literary quotes and references so ingrained into our consciousness that we often forget the sources if we ever knew them at all. Have you ever given the advice, "To thine own self be true." or used the term "Big brother is watching." without ever considering how pleased Shakespeare or George Orwell would be that you did? Did you know that it was Upton Sinclair's 1906 novel "The Jungle" that single-handedly launched the workplace saftey initiatives in place this very day. That's right, a novel (initially a magazine serial) is the great-great grandfather of OSHA. Additionally, think of some of your favorite films that were first novels or that draw heavily on themes from ancient texts and scriptures. If you haven't seen the Coen brothers, "O Brother Where Art Thou," make sure you check it out as soon as you're able and just know that it is a modern rendering of Homer's "The Odyssey."
At the moment, the literary landscape is undulating at a low rumble for most of us, but at the epicenter, the walls of traditional publishing are crumbling. Previously, if one wanted to be published, a manuscript and what's known as a query letter had to be submitted to either a literary agent or directly to a publisher. It was then up to a solitary gatekeeper to determine if the work was worthy of being sent up the proverbial ladder to be considered for publication. For authors, it was (and remains in many cases) the equivalent of predicting where lightning would strike. Tom Clancy, arguably the world's most popular author of intrigue novels, was famously rejected 4000 times for "The Hunt for Red October." It wasn't until the Naval Institute Press decided to publish a few thousand copies that the world was finally allowed to read what would eventually become one of the 10 best selling novels of all time. Do you see the significance of that? Over 4000 literary agents and publishers lacked the vision, intellect and acumen to identify one of the world's best books. Can you imagine how many books on that level or that of "To Kill a Mockingbird" never saw the light of day thanks to the hubris of some industry hack or agent?
Amazon has changed that model and traditional publishers are none too pleased. With the advent of digital books, eReaders and print-on-demand publishing, they have created a pure artists' market where authors can maintain creative control over writing and editing (Can you imagine a gallery owner or art dealer changing a Van Gogh to better suit the tastes of his customers?) and get their works directly to readers. In this new literary environment, readers determine what is worthy of being pushed up the ladder, not agents or publishers. Through word of mouth, or more frequently via the digital universe, readers pass recommendations along to their reading pals, or not. It's really a simple concept that leaves the money hungry brokerage firms (AKA publishers) out in the cold. Authors, instead of receiving a pitiful percentage for their work (normally 10-20%), can earn substantially more by circumventing those publishers and putting their books, digital or print, into the hands of thier fans. 
Most recently, Hachette (one of the so called 'Big Five' publishers) has been in a dispute with Amazon because Amazon has a pricing policy that eBooks will not be sold above a certain dollar amount. Hachette wants to force Amazon to sell their authors' books for more than Amazon is willing to price them. This however, is merely an outcropping of a larger dispute and it is one over which the publishers have absolutely no control. They see the writing on the wall (Can you identify the source of that literary reference?) and the future looks grim for the robber-barons (a term coined by 'The Atlantic Monthly). However, the future for readers and for our literary culture has never been brighter.
Eventually, the model created by Amazon will become the standard and a more pure body of literature will emerge. Jeff Bezos (Amazon's founder) is creating an environment for all of us, not just the select few, to have a voice. The: William Shakepeare, Harper Lee, Upton Sinclair, George Orwell, Jane Austen, and Homer of today will have a voice unimpeded by the cumbersome and flawed structures of the big house publishers. Our voice, our very language, is about to be transformed. That, my friends is profound and wonderfully exciting.