Thriller writer Barry Eisler also pens an acute blog, The Heart of the Matter. One post that originated there but also ran as a Huffington Post headliner is titled ‘Paperback earthworks and digital eReader tides’.
Eisler’s simplifying post looks at the ‘battle between paper and digital’ epitomized by the Amazon-Macmillan stoush and points out that with digital books Amazon maximizes its margins, so it’s driving prices down. Publishers resist because they’re losing their precious hardback margins.
The thought occurs to me that if this dynamic continues and eBooks flower as they seem to be doing, eventually publishers won’t be able to operate as they do. The prices of what they release as eBooks simply won’t support their centralized production and marketing departments. Will there come a day when authors need to deliver eBooks in shippable versions, complete with typeset quality, covers, etc.? Will authors need to deliver marketing campaigns? Will the role of publishers retreat to that of quality endorsement?