It has always been hard to get noticed. I actually think it's much easier now in many ways--I can google up books like ones I like and read chapters. That's awesome! People can find me in a heartbeat now! I can find them just as fast! I can get the entire back catalog delivered to my tablet in five minutes--no more digging through the "Also by..." page at the back of the book and matching it to things in used bookstores and hoping I hadn't missed one.
I don't think the novel is in any danger at all--I just think that many of the old way of getting noticed are changing. Windows are closing and other opening. If you only know one way to success and that way starts to shut down, it doesn't mean that no one will ever be successful again, it means that you have to find another way in.
Sometimes there's a window of opportunity that opens briefly, then closes--I got in as a blogger when Livejournal was big, and most of my adult fan base derived from there, but it'd be a terrible way to try and get noticed now.
There will be other windows, some open for only a very short time, some lasting for many years. Meanwhile, the novel will continue to plug away just fine.
