@Josieb1. Nate has a little more on his Digital Reader Blog at:
Romance Authors
I'm not surprised. It's a potential public relations nightmare for Amazon and it's a sign that they may recongnise the value of treating these authors well in a genre they seem to have come to dominate. But from Nate's report it seems to be pretty well a case by case basis at the moment, with no general announcement. Nevertheless they seem to be doing the right thing in letting authors out of the package despite likely not being contractually obliged to do so. I suspect that this is the beginning of the end for Audible Romance, at least in its present form.
@pwalker8. I overlooked responding to your last post.
So far as literary agents are concerned, they differed from most of the other agents you mentioned in that they were virtually compulsory for an author to even get a foot in the door. Now there are practical alternatives the market will eventually decide their fate. Personally, I expect few will survive and fewer still thrive in the long term.
Amazon is certainly no saint. It is a corporation that of course acts in its own best interests. Amazon has acted badly in some respects towards a very tiny minority who it suspects, in some cases wrongly, of having acted in bad faith towards them. I criticised this behaviour in other posts. But the fact is it still treats most of its customers and its authors well.
We can only wait and see what happens to Amazon as it progresses further along what you call the cycle. All our worst fears may be realised, though there are indications that Amazon are in it for the very long term, and have recognised that treating its customers (and its authors) well is in its own interests. As there seems to be no realistic prospect of serious competition at the moment and their steady growth continues, it seems we are going to find out.