I agree that the Kindle won’t last, for the reason you give.
I’m no expert, but aren’t there parallels with the music business? Publishers equal record companies and Amazon equals I-tunes. Publishers will be gone soon, because there’ll be little need for the work to be printed and distributed. All this other stuff about them sorting the wheat from the chaff was just a bi-product of their business function. Books will be read on the internet as soon as there’s equipment as usable for reading as there is for listening, and the good books will be copied and distributed by people who like them. I don’t see any role for agents, either; the middle men (Amazon & I-tunes) can just sell everything that’s produced. As for artists & writers making money from their work, there was never a good system for this in the past and there’s no reason to think things will get worse for anyone except Madonna & Martin Amis — perhaps the money will be spread out a bit further.
