I sort of understand the promoting talent aspect but I feel that paradigm will still be broken. The noise-to-signal ratio is increasing on the internet. I expect we will evolve toward a group consensus or trust rating system to avoid more of the chaff. That applies to books as well. We will search for aggregate ratings from individuals or groups with our taste. I suppose a publisher could be one of those trusted sources but why would I trust a publisher more than, say, a SF reading group?
When we stumble across authors we like why wouldn't we simply track their new work from their personal blogs or sites? No need for a publisher to tell me there is a new book available from them. I've probably been following the book's progress prior to release!
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