You are reading a single comment by @Velocio and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed is a community of predominantly fixed gear and single-speed cyclists in and around London, UK.
This site is supported almost exclusively by donations. Please consider donating a small amount regularly.
@Velocio
Publishing is approaching a near-zero cost, publishers whose only contribution to the world is to be a middleman and take a slice are likely to be disintermediated from the equation. Publishers who can offer something new and original, who help to develop writers, who bring together people who otherwise wouldn't create such art, who act as collators and publicists for great writers deserve to survive... but, not one of those virtues requires the person or company who performs that role to be... a publisher.
The biggest role the majority of publishers perform is the bankrolling of the writer. But costs are low enough for the writer to now do without this. If musicians can do it whilst funding their own equipment and home studios, then writers who need only a laptop and good editing software can certainly do it.
I no longer see a future for publishing as it has existed (and dominated) for the past 100 years. If there is a future, then they will need to downscale their operations (as they will lose distribution and the control of that which gives them their vital and profitable middleman position) and then discover what value they really offer the writer and readers. Right now, they haven't woken up to the fact that the writer needs them far less, and their price fixing behaviour (look at the anti-trust investigation about the agency model and Apple) is quickly making readers believe they aren't thinking of them. If they carry on like that, I will change my tune from "likely to be disintermediated" to "deserve to be disintermediated".
So far, they hasten their own demise. The internet is here and software will eat everything.