Quote:
Originally Posted by morriss003
This is true, but I can't help noting that, since Amazon is also a middleman, a well known author might, at some point, offer up a manuscript for bid to the web company who will take the lowest cut. In the future, we might see Amazon, Google, Facebook and others having to bid for the right to be the middleman.
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That is in fact *common* in the service industries.
They're called RFPs: Request for Proposal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Request_for_proposal
When you have a job that needs doing, you publish the list of requirements (could be as simple as a one paragraph description), the contact info, and the terms of evaluation. Bids come in and you choose a few candidates to interview and negotiate with.
This is not unknown in the publishing industry (most recently there was the Hocking auction) but its been uncommon. Moving forward, it's going to become common. And deadly for the BPHs.