What is the importance of books in the advent of internet?

Ever since the creation of written language, there has always been literature. The medium has changed from time to time. The Internet is just another medium. People will continue to read long stories (books). People will continue to write them. The major change brought about by the Internet is that it removes the filter once provided by publishers. So more written material is accessible to more people than ever before. There are web sites where one can post one's mcript for free, without going through the onerous process of gaining acceptance by a publisher and going through the entire book publishing process. However, a consequence of this ease is that much of what's up there is of poor quality. Many pieces aren't even finished. There are some web sites that boast millions of works. Many of those have not been submitted to a rigorous editing process, which almost guarantees that they are poorly written. Many are poorly conceived. Many are derivative. Even if there are some creative gems, how do you find them among all the chaff? So the effort to become recognized has not become any easier. It has just become different.