[fjtorres]

Back on topic:

Signing up established writers is a natural move for Amazon.
There's money to be made so, of course they jumped in. The agency model made it easy and inevitable. All they have to tell authors is : "We're getting our 30% no matter what. What you need to decide is whether your publisher is doing enough for you to justify their cut."
Publishers that earn their keep and treat their authors right have little to fear.
A certain poster-child for self-publishing success recently signed a traditional publishing deal because being able to ofload all non-writing efforts to the publisher made sense for her. She won't be the last.

But not all writers that tally up the numbers are going to end up with the same answer.

Once the BPHs set a fixed 30% margin on all books, the next logical question had to be: why should a retailer get a bigger cut than the content producer? And that brought up the gatekeeper question: why do publishers get to decide who gets what? Do authors really need a traditional publisher?

For a lot of writers, the answer will still be yes. For many it will be no.

Getting a manuscript turned into a succesful book takes a fair amount of talent and effort but most of it is one-and-done work that can be contracted for a fixed fee. Some authors prefer to have as much control as possible so that, succeed or fail, it is *their* vision out there. Early reports so far suggest Amazon-the-publisher is a lot like Amazon-the-storefront; they suggest, they guide, but the final decision rests with the customer/author. This will suit many but may not necessarilly serve them best. But then again, it will be *their* name on the cover. There will be successes but there will also be failures.

Where Amazon has an economic edge on traditional publishers, and the aspect that will be hardest for traditional publishers to counter, is that for Amazon-the-publisher ebooks are the primary edition. They've made it clear they will only be distributing limited quantities of (essentially pre-sold) print and audio editions. (Of course, there will be no such constraints on the Audible editions.) In other words, Amazon's imprints are starting fresh, with no legacy burdens in workflow or culture and with a primary focus on content suitable for digital distribution. Odds are old school publishers will have trouble unburdening themselves of the print mindset and they recognize it as several are setting up digital-first imprints like HARLEQUIN's CARINA which, surprise! is taking a very similar tack to Amazon.

So fear not, Amazon will have ample competition in days to come.
The fun part is that those competitors will look and act much like Amazon.

As Niven&Pournelle so succintly put it: "Think of it as evolution in action."