Good discussion on the business models for newspapers and books. He explains why novelists will get squeezed by the ebook distributors (e.g. Amazon). Charles doesn't have a solution. Perhaps novelists should sell their stuff to the distributors and then hire marketers directly. However, in addition to providing marketing, the publishers serve as a (rough) indicator of quality -- someone had to believe in the material enough to put their money behind it. Maybe we need investors instead of publishers.