Publishers are yet another industry where much of the value chain is locked up within the one organization.  This is historical because of the economies of scale needed to turn a profit in the area.<p>With more free markets in all areas, and lower costs of distribution, many of those reasons do not necessarily apply anymore.  What you may see is the devolution of the publishing business into smaller parts, and each part completed by a different business/individual.<p>For example, I might write a book, find an editor on a freelance site, then find an artist, and a PR agent.  I could even perhaps hire a manager who co-ordinated the whole process for me.  I might then either self-publish (LuLu) or put it straight to Kindle.   In the past these were all handled in-house, and the publisher had high overheads for all the staff and accompanying infrastructure.<p>I think the internet will continue to break up these value chains into smaller compononents with more competition at each step.  Publishers will only go with big-selling authors, and probably only after that Author finds success independently - kind of like a band signing a deal after releasing their own EP and making a go of it.