Quote:
Originally Posted by fjtorres
Exactly.
The reason disintermediation happens in the first place is because those specific players serve no clearly useful *economic* role or because others can fill the same role *better*.
Publishers currently defend their "special" place in the product supply chain in four ways:
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Actually, there are at least 5 ways. The missing way is that they provide access to brick and mortar stores and to pbook sales. pBooks still account for the largest segment of the market.
As regards your point about editorial services, I think your argument is a bit offmark. Yes, authors can hire these services independently, but few do and those that do often do not hire professional editors or know that they are not getting professional services. Traditional publishers have the capability and knowledge to select competent professional editors the vast majority of the time, which it appears that many self-publishing authors do not.
Unlike the self-publishing author who thinks that a 250-page novel can be well-edited for $200 or less, traditional publishers know that it costs much more for that edit and spend it.
The question is really less one of can the self-publishing author hire these same services independently, but more whether they will reach into their own pocket and spend the money necessary for these services. Traditional publishers gamble with their own money; most self-publishing authors are unwilling to gamble with their own money.