"People like big stories.  You get unmatched bang for the buck writing stories.  The bang in this case is being able to plant a big universe and a lot of powerful images inside a reader's head.  The buck in this case is that there's one person working alone without needing any special tools.  That's not going to change.  They may be delivered in different ways, on e-readers or whatever, but they will be around for a long time."