HMMMMMMMMMM
I kind of see a way forward here, based on the KSO model
( looks into Crystal ball)
In the future you will have two options for ebooks at Amazon:
The Kindle Edition and the Kindle Edition Special Offers (KESO)
Choose the KE and you get the same , private , ad-free experience you always have gotten, in return for paying full price.
Choose the KESO and you get access to Special Offers. Maybe you get three pages of Special Offers at the start of the book, with a link to the Special Offers home page. Maybe when you open your KESO, you get a prompt asking whether you want to be taken to the Special Offers home page, or continue reading.
The KESO will be offered at a discount. Its hard to figure out what the discount would be for the KESO, but based on the runaway success of the KSO, it's got to be worth more than the $1 Elfwreck is talking about. Let's say $5. For some KESOs, you would get the ebook free. Even if you pay a price, the value of the Special Offers is such that the ebook pays for itself over time or even makes you a profit.
Writers can opt whether they want to offer a KESO or not along side the KE. If they choose to offer a KESO of their work, they get a cut from the advertisers. I expect that independent writers will swarm over this opportunity, with bestselling authors joining later. Later on there are Nook Book Special Offers and Kobobooks Special Offers as the model spreads.
How's that for a vision of the future?