[rhadin]

Sighhhh, another Konrath rant about the evil publishers who were the ones that gave Konrath a middling reputation that he could ultimately exploit himself. And his history is a bit faulty -- just a bit, not greatly. Yes, the railroads exploited cheap labor, but then so did every other employer at the time. That was why the union movement came into being.

And Konrath, as usual, also screams that publishers are just one thing -- in his view simply paper distributors -- and that they do not contribute anything else to the creation of a book. I can only assume that in Konrath's pre-ebook existence, his work was so perfect no editor ever made a worthwhile suggestion, no publisher ever helped market, no one did anything -- it was all Konrath. Thank the gods for Konrath; where would we be without him to bow before.

And I get tired of his never-ending rant that once publishers cease to exist everything will be perfect for writers who will then be in command. Konrath is a believer that corporations like Amazon or Barnes & Noble or any other outlet for his books would never be in a superior position to him and thus be able to dictate terms. Gosh, I'd like to see Amazon decide not to carry Konrath's books unless the royalty were reversed -- 70 for Amazon, 30 for Konrath. I wonder if he would consider that exploitation and, more importantly, whether his brilliance would survive should Amazon stop carrying his books.

Finally, as always, Konrath believes that writers and writers alone create the market for books. No credit is given to anyone else. Yet, it is historically pretty clear that even the best of authors needed the help of agents, publicists, editors, publishers, and others to get the word out about how great the books were and to keep the books before the public's eye.

Yes, I already know what the response to this post will be -- that I am a shill for the enemy. Publishers are not perfect and they are certainly obstructionist when it comes to ebooks. But are they the evil Konrath and others portray? Do they serve no positive function? No, they aren't and they do serve a role, even if it is not a current role for the likes of Konrath. And at least for the moment, as fast as the ebook market is growing, paper still dominates at 70% to 80% of the entire book market and even many ebookers go to b&m bookstores to browse the paper books that they want to buy in ebook form online.