Stephen King recently published the Fourth Installment of his latest writing experiment, “The Plant.” What makes this experiment unique from most of his books is the simple fact that King himself is making the Installment available to the public, eliminating Simon and Schuster, his standard publishing firm, altogether. The effects of electronic publishing on the established publishing firms are a question of the literary future. With the advent of electronic access available to many people, the idea has been considered that the traditional publishing world ultimately will become extinct. The utopian ideal of the e-publishing possibilities is that any author, regardless of political connections within the publishing world or the size of his bank account, could get his message out to the general public. Understanding that the process of getting published will always be a frustration, some believed that the presence of the Internet, a “decentralized conduit for communicating and doing business with other people, worldwide,” plus the cheap cost of storing manuscripts on the Internet would bridge a smaller gap between those manuscripts accepted and those rejected by the publishing firms pubspace.com In a statement issued by Pub Space Commercial Publishing in March 1999, Gregg Williams stated: “Everyone has a chance to be heard, and success is more a matter of what you have to say than whether or not you can successfully pass through the gauntlet of the traditional publisher”. What the utopian ideal does not promise, however, is the guaranteed financial success of those able to publish online. For some, the chance to have their message in cyberspace is a great achievement and an incarnation of their publishing goal. For others, however, the idea of a more open publishing market would finally give them the fame and fortune they feel they deserve. The perceived opportunity of the Internet is a far stretch from the reality of the current situation. Nevertheless, e-publishing will and is affecting the established publishing firms. By allowing such prestigious authors as Stephen King to bypass the publishing firms and release novels on their own volition, e-publishing is placing more control into the hands of the books’ creators. E-publishing will change the world of publications, but perhaps not in ways previously predicted.