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Originally Posted by FrustratedReader
Some of the above article is clueless.
It's true that traditional publishers are nuts when it comes to distribution, inventory and POD (but inkjet? !!!!).
It's true that Amazon totally dominates online for paper and ebook and audio. Largely because the Big publishers are more interested in taking over each other and preserving existing systems than customers, authors, POD and direct distribution to physical retail.
It's impossible to be notified, as a bookseller, if a book goes out of print when it's available. Also it's like as if POD doesn't exist.
Textbooks is a whole separate issue and varies between Primary / Secondary / Third level and Country. The Education use of electronic only Textbooks (esp schools) is dominated by the Apple iPad, a device that's essentially a walled garden and x2 overpriced with insufficient battery life. It's mandatory in some Irish Secondary schools and some UK Primary schools. That's wrong and as much the fault of publishers as Apple's dishonest education market selling (started with Apple II in late 1970s).
The article is poor.
Also in the fiction area, the Big 5 are totally inept at picking new authors. Less than half make the advance (which is much lower in real terms today) from Royalties, though the book might make a profit for more than half.
Less than a few percent of Authors signed up by the Big 5 make enough from writing to live on.
Basically the big 5 are inept and almost everything now.
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It's just the usual "I hate the traditional publishers" article that we've been seeing for the last decade. The publishing industry has been evolving quite a bit over the last 60+ years. We saw the growth of the big box stores, the consolidation of the publishing industry, the growth of eBooks and the growth of audiobooks. I'm sure it's going to continue to evolve in various directions.