OK, this is rant-ish

I hope they don't succeed. Not for the benefit of "traditional" publishers, but to keep the space open for innovators.

I like my kindle, and I'm happy-ish with my audible subscription (apart from the subscription part). but I'm disapointed with Amazon's lack of market disruption.

Usually, a medium change is more impactful than the ebook revolution has been so far. Famously, when magazines were new and exciting, whole new types of content emerged. Serialized stories (like sherlock holmes), short stories, home and garden stuff, fashion stuff, gossip... types of writing that weren't popular before, but found a home in magazines.

When paperbacks emerged, whole new styles emerged. The combination of larger, wider reader-base aand lower price point allowed books to be more frivolous. You could have trashy romatic novels, scifi, diet books... Writers could write in a more more coloquial, working class dialects (think catcher in the rye). Dime books did something similar a century before that, and birthed teen fiction. Pamphlets published a century before that laid down the basis for our current political culture.

eBooks..... Amazon seems to have actively pursued a strategy whereby books go digital, but nothing else changes.... as little as possible anyway. Publishers (now fronting no costs, printing no books, and doing little to promote sales^) get to have their business models unaltered, with the author's cut staying in the 10-20% range. Price points are maintained. The physical limitations (like word count) are of the old medium are maintained.

Where are the "medium-is-the-message" changes. Where are the short stories (great for author discovery)? Where is the 75% author royalty (possible via "self publishing," but still a slightly shamedl 2nd class citizen). Where is the new serialized novel boom, the author interaction. The new type of book. Where's the 25c price point (Amazon's the perfect place for micropayments).

Where is the reader-backed advance. You hear authors beg for pre-orders on amazon, so that publishers will advance them for their next book. This should be a "pledge" button, with amazon advancing the author the actual amount. ..and they should have a default place to beg. If one of the authors I read wants to write me something, I want to read it. Give me a feed.

Also, the monopoly is a bad thing. The format/library/platform lock-in is a bad thing (even worse on audible). Do authors want me to lose access when I switch ereaders or unsubscribe from audible?

Most nonfiction in a high street window display is 25% content, 75% filler. Everyone is bound by the page-count of a "normal book." Think of Rich Dad Poor Dad or 4-hour workweek, Tyler Cowen... They can't sell a 70 page book so they add fluff. Amazon could. I'd like to read them, especially for a cheaper price.

Where is the social discovery? I'm sick of average reviews. I want to see bill gates' reviews, my brothers'. Where is the online book club?

There is so much more ebooks could be doing. Amazon isn't doing it. Pubishers won't do it. But, if the space was clear, my guess is that someone would show up.

^ From what I can tell, publishers now have two jobs. One is editing. The second is gatekeeping+financing, the advance. This is essentially sorting books into will/won't sell 5,000 copies piles.

With less than 0.1% of their gross revenue, Amazon could provide an entry level advance ($10k-ish) + editor fees to twenty thousand authors. They have the data to predict sales better than publishers anyway. If authors can get the full cut, sales required to pay back an advance would be cut to a fraction. How's that for original content... netflix?!!