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Ok - but let me go you one better. If you're going to talk about dis-intermediation, let's not forget that the Publishers themselves are an intermediary in that path from author to book reader. In a nearly 100% eBook environment, what value does a Publisher provide that cannot easily be consumed by another party in the chain? After all, we don't need them anymore to get the books printed, shipped off to Borders, and make sure they're placed on that front table right as the customer walks into the store. And yet, they continue to demand over half of the revenue from the sales price of a book as theirs.
Let's say there is an Author Agent house out there that is a really big name in the business and a huge stable of New York Time Bestselling authors.
What is going to prevent them from hiring a crew of editors and cover artists and making their own retail website to sell their customers books with a great big banner over the top "Home of Authors XXXXX, XXXXXX, and YYYYY!
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