Quote:
Originally Posted by speakingtohe
In short authors provide services to authors which the author is unable or unwilling to perform for themselves.
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Those were some well written articles, many thanks for posting them. I found it especially interesting to see how the author described the transformation of publishers from what they are today to service providers. This is exactly along the lines of what I expect will happen. Other parts of the articles are vague, however. There are references to "a whole lot of tasks that Author of the Future may not care to deal with" but then only four or five items are listed. Two of which are the ones I named as essential; an editor and an artist for the cover.
When this transformation of publishers transpires, and it will eventually as it has in every other content industry, it will be interesting to see what the final price point comes to. If the reborn publishers ask for a price up front then the initial cost of an ebook might very well be $10 as it is now, but once the publisher's fees has been paid off the book could drop to sub $3 as the author is making all the money at that point (minus the e-shop's percentage). If the publisher takes a percentage the price point will be hazier, who decides the final price? Author or service provider?
The most noteworthy thing, that must be mentioned, is that freelance editors and artists already exists. As does freelance agents who could deal with various e-retailers. If an author used different people for each area then none of them could reasonably ask for a percentage, but the author would need more fiscal means up front. Ah, we've got interesting times ahead.