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No one here has yet mentioned one of the major costs of the publisher- author advances. This is huge because without author advances, much quality nonfiction and fiction could not be written. Without those advances authors would simplyly not have the wherewithal to do research ( which might involve travel and lots of time going through archives) and to pay living expenses while writing their book.
One of the great public benefits of the major publishing houses is precisely " betting" on new authors and fostering, sustaining, and giving them the resources to pursue their vision. I think here of Laura hillebrand . She was a struggling journalist with a debilitating illness when her agent went to Random House . Had the publisher not bought into her vision and advanced her the money to research and the write " Seabiscuit " , I doubt that the book or it's successor " Unbroken " would ever have been written . Similarly, back in the early seventies, a publisher bet on a laundromat employee with a crazy story about a girl with super powers taking revenge on a town- and Stephen King was on his way.
I don't see any other institution being to fill this essential role of a publisher, and unless someone can come up with an alternative , I for one am rooting for the continued existence of the major publishing houses.
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