Publishing is "archaic beyond belief," says Sramana Mitra in "How Amazon Could Change Publishing." She accuses the industry of treating "its most important asset—the author—badly," and then sites statistics showing what a tiny percentage of publishing profits go to authors: The book market in the United States is worth about $32 billion a year; the rest of the world, an additional $36 billion. Who makes the money? Not the author. Retailers take almost 50%. The agent takes 15% to 20%. The publisher gets squeezed—it's cause for huge celebration if they make 20%. "On a book that costs $24.95, the author gets at most $1 to $1.50," says Eileen Gittins, chief executive of Blurb, an online print-on-demand publisher of photography books.
Technology, says Mitra, is allowing that to change . . .
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How Amazon Could Change Publishing
