Why digital books will disintermediate publishers…

Or cause them to innovate

It’s all about value-add.

Last year I reviewed Metagame, a self-published sci-fi novel by Sam Landstrom. Landstrom wrote the novel while employed as a Microsoft technical writer. He had his wife edit (and rewrite) portions of the book. Friends and colleagues who are knowledgeable in the sci-fi tradition also provided reviews.

The result? A high quality, entertaining, thought-provoking sci-fi novel.

Published independently.

When you examine the lifecycle of book development, you begin to question the need for publishing companies at all:

• Book funding - sourced through one’s “day job”
• Research & Writing - authors have always done this
• Editing - can be hired via elance, or turn to personal contacts
• Marketing - authors already need to do this themselves, even in the traditional model
• Social proof - gained through Amazon reviews, social networking
• Production costs - for digital publication, these costs are negligible

As digital books become increasingly mainstream, book publishing companies are going to be increasingly marginalised. Industries that want to survive need to add value.

Afternote: In contrast, authors should win big.

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