Sure, established writers and printer / distributing companies will figure a way to thwart the system as to hold on to their current business model. But from the perspective of independent writers this is a whole different matter. They are now able to distribute copies of their books without the need of a distributer or printer company. If this is a good thing I'm not sure, the current model works as a filter to keep all the 'crap' out. Looking at labels you're now able to tell something about the quality of a book or you can at least expect a certain standard.
We will see how things will work out, but if blogs may serve as a comparison; Being a form of independent journalism: I guess 95% is crap but people are still able to find respectable blogs and filter out the bad stuff. However, blogs aren't a substitute for news papers (yet?) but should be rather viewed as complementary. However, the question whether this new medium endangers the position of independent writers remains to be seen.
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Sure, established writers and printer / distributing companies will figure a way to thwart the system as to hold on to their current business model. But from the perspective of independent writers this is a whole different matter. They are now able to distribute copies of their books without the need of a distributer or printer company. If this is a good thing I'm not sure, the current model works as a filter to keep all the 'crap' out. Looking at labels you're now able to tell something about the quality of a book or you can at least expect a certain standard.
We will see how things will work out, but if blogs may serve as a comparison; Being a form of independent journalism: I guess 95% is crap but people are still able to find respectable blogs and filter out the bad stuff. However, blogs aren't a substitute for news papers (yet?) but should be rather viewed as complementary. However, the question whether this new medium endangers the position of independent writers remains to be seen.