Indie authors make up close to 50% of the ebook market, outselling the "Big 5" publishing houses.  http://www.writermag.com/2016/08/18/independent-authors-outsell-big-five/

The Writers' Union of Canada now accepts self-published authors, subject to peer-review and proving commercial intent. http://www.writersunion.ca/news/writers-union-canada-members-vote-admit-qualified-self-published-authors

An excellent example of a publisher taking advantage of quick digital distribution occurred just a few days after the 2015 federal election - UBC Press published a free ebook Canadian Election Analysis 2015: Communication, Strategy, and Democracy.

Traditionally print books have been fairly long -around a few hundred pages- but eBooks are well-suited to publishing shorter pieces.  Many Canadian authors are having great success publishing magazine pieces as eBooks, which allows them to control and receive payment for their work (see Quill and Quire article).  The eBook platform also allows books to be easily sold in chunks or chapters much like how iTunes sells music by the track.  Short stories lend themselves to this kind of division, such as cStories , TED Books, and Walrus eBook singles.  In the academic world, Palgrave Press started the "Pivot" series that are longer than articles but shorter than books (see Chronicle article). Many books sold by the Kindle Store and Kobo Books are now self-published authors creating novellas and parts of longer novels.  In 2012, the number of self-published authors grew nearly 60%. Even Wikipedia recently enabled users to download articles and package them in epub format.