A situation in which Amazon have exclusive rights to sell certain ebooks in a format that can only be viewed on their own ebook reader cannot continue long-term. The need for some kind of copy protection is reasonable (although it is ineffective – thousands and thousands of pirated ebooks can be downloaded for free using file-sharing).
Sooner or later, I think that Amazon will come to the conclusion that sales growth is inhibited by locking out owners of other ebook readers. I can see this happening sooner, because there is a broad consensus that the Kindle is inferior to other devices, particularly the Nook.
There is still a role for somebody to “sort the pearls from the ordure” (and not only reviewers) in my view. But it seems reasonable that here, the roles of agents and publishers might merge in to one. Publishers might have to be more willing to assess manuscripts themselves, rather than relying so much on agents to bring quality to them. And on the other hand, an agency with the resources to handle proofing, typesetting and the rest of it (still important in the digital age!) may be able to publish on their own. I think recognizable and reliable brands that readers trust to produce quality will remain important as the volume of books published continues to increase, however. There are too many books being reviewed here and there to pay attention to them all, so my attention is drawn more to those published by publishers who I know publish material to my taste of a consistently high quality.
I’ve spent almost a year abroad, doing all my English-language reading on my laptop. I miss printed books more than I expected, and am now keener to get to a well-stocked library than to buy an ebook reader.
