At 08:57 AM 9/13/1999 -0400, you wrote:
>And my reply that, although the concept of a "web publisher" is still very
new, I
>can't imagine that publishers will simply disappear from the web. Their
power will,
>most probably, increase over time.
>
It has been more than ten years since I first wrote it, but I am even more
convinced that publishers have a future role that will be different from
what they have traditionally done in printing books. I mean different in
degree rather than new functions. Probably the most important role is to
serve as a"gate keeper" and provide quality control. However, that has
been a changing part of printed works with much getting past the editors in
recent years. They used to clean up the grammar.
However, there may be many turns in the road and we have no good reason to
think they will be the same publishers we have now. I am not so sure that
economy of scale works the same way with the web, but have no reason to say
why I would think otherwise. Name recognition will still be important.
Our library was just starting to think of ebooks a year or so ago and now
we have signed a letter of intent to buy. When the technology makes it
easy to read and the software protects copyright, it will be a different
world. Only a few made the transition from vaudeville to radio /
television broadcasting.
Some wil make the transition (what ever it is) and others will last a while
then fade.
It will be interesting.
Regards,
Gary Masters
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