image “Over the next few years, Amazon likely will use its power to build direct relationships with authors and gradually phase out publishers and agents. It will first go after the independent print-on-demand self-publishers and get the best authors from that world. Amazon will then take on the large publishers.” – Tech entrepreneur Sramana Mitra, writing in Forbes.

The TeleRead take: “Let’s say…Amazon becomes the retailer, marketer, publisher and agent combined and takes 65 percent of the revenues, offering 35 percent to the author,” she hypothesizes. “We end up with a much better, fairer world.”

New way to shaft writers?

Maybe. But if publishing becomes a one-company industry, how much bargaining power do you think writers will really have? And what about the services, such as editing and promo, that publishers now provide? Will Amazon, despite its Long Tail approach of the moment, be eager to do much for the small fry? Or focus on Oprah-suitable books? Many large publishers already fixate on the best-seller charts. But at least small independents exist as alternatives.

image The ePub angle: Amazon could do very well with ePub. At the same time, the existence of a universal format be one way to prevent Amazon from dominating the industry to the extent Mitra envisions. (Reminder: That’s just an unofficial ePub logo—from Travis Alber.)

The Google and Microsoft angles: I hardly doubt they’ll just roll over, especially when they’ve been busy building relationships with Random House and other publishing giants. Still, the specter of a one-company industry is like nuclear war. It probably won’t happen, but just the thought is a little scary.

  (Thanks to Peter Brantley.)

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