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Originally Posted by Moejoe
Professional marketers I can see having a role (no matter how much that whole industry makes my stomach churn) publishers not so much.
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As I've pointed out previously, the publisher basically provides the financing, expertise and resources that the writer cannot muster on his or her own. Again, you have your goals and perspectives, but most writers -- even ones working for genre or niche publishers like Harlequin or Tor -- have, and will have, greater ambitions than yours, and as such will need access to greater resources.
(And let's not forget that in some cases, especially niche and genres, the publisher has its own brand that can attract an audience. A new Harlequin writer may have a prepared audience that is far larger than what you can amass by putting up a free book on Scribd.)
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Originally Posted by Moejoe
If you want an audience, you can build up a pretty decent one just by being honest and offering your work for free in several locations.
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Perhaps, but so far I am not aware of any writer who has gone from zero to a sustainable and independent following. It could happen, but until that becomes a routine occurrence, I don't see it as a viable route.
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Originally Posted by Moejoe
And the problem I have with experienced professionals is that this is the internet, there's not anybody around who can project yesterday onto tomorrow, especially not within the digital realm. Just look at Twitter and Facebook, a month ago they're the hottest things around, now they're the nearest thing to lepracy.
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And yet, the traditional skills and tasks are still relevant, if not every bit as necessary today as they were 20 years ago. Perhaps even more so, as the "professional touch" (both in terms of the work and its presentation) will be one way to rise above the increasingly large crowd of self-publishers, all clamoring for attention.
Besides, as much as you may desire or expect it,
blockbusters and hits are not going away, and neither is the infrastructure that fosters them. Even if today's big players all get crushed, it's myopic to presume that larger entities cannot possibly arise out of the ashes.