The Internet makes possible the instantaneous transmission and retrieval of digital text.
Topic
How digital publishing will transform the publishing business — and create competitive pressure to pay authors a larger share of revenue.
Framework
Highlight Noteworthy / Predictive Argument. The author argues for a particular vision of digital publishing's future and its economic consequences for authors.
Main Point
Digital publishing will transform the economics of the publishing business — and the resulting shift in costs will create competitive pressure to pay authors a significantly greater share of revenue, with upstart digital publishers leading the way.
P1: A different prediction about digital publishing
It's widely assumed that printed books will be displaced by digitized books read on screens. The author thinks instead that most digital files will be printed and bound on demand at point of sale. With digitization, anyone with internet access can purchase from a practically limitless catalog — including books that would have been "out of print."
P2: Digital publishing eliminates whole categories of cost
No physical inventory means no warehousing, no shipping to wholesalers/retailers, no in-store display, no unsold-book returns. Much less expensive than traditional publishing. Digital publishing is likely to supplant or rival traditional publishing — though it'll take time to build out the catalog and printing infrastructure.
P3: Authors should get a bigger share — and competitive pressure will deliver it
With whole categories of expense eliminated, authors are responsible for a greater proportion of the value of the final product, so (literary agents say) they're entitled to a larger share. Currently a large percentage of publisher revenue is absorbed by costs irrelevant to digital publication. Agents will demand bigger slices for authors. Established publishers, invested in old infrastructure, will be reluctant. The opportunity to bid for new manuscripts will go first to upstart digital firms unfettered by old practices. Under that competitive pressure, traditional publishers will have to reduce redundant functions and accommodate higher royalties — or lose authors. This explains the publishing conglomerates' caution toward the digital future.