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Originally Posted by dsvick
Is amazon also going to do the proofreading, editing, promoting, and all the other 1001 details that go into the production of a quality book. I'm not saying that they aren't or that they can't, it is is just a consideration that they need to address. It doesn't matter if they are the only ones that can sell a book if that book is crappy and no one wants it.
I hope the traditional publishers take this as a giant kick in the pants!!
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Saw a comment on a blog somewhere that what is going on with Covey is "disintermediation." That is, elimination of the middleman. Not entirely true, though - it's just that two middlemen, the publisher & the retailer, have merged into one. The next "experiment" by Covey might be to directly distribute a book from his own web site.
As for the proofing and editing, there's no reason in the world that a private individual can't set himself up in business to proof & edit works for authors. Nor is there any reason that agents can't move into the publicity business. In other words, as part of disintermediation, the functions previously performed by a middleman can be contracted out.
Perhaps publishers will rethink their role, and come to the conclusion that they are no longer in the business of buying and selling rights to books, but are still in the business of polishing & publicizing, maybe on a commission basis.
Very interesting times. Within the context of ebooks, being a consumer is going to be more complicated. But within the context of books, perhaps what is going on is an expansion of opportunities to read. From my perspective, what's exciting is that the universe of available out of copyright books has greatly expanded, as a practical matter. The question of exactly how new books are being made available is a side issue, AFAICS.