The future of publishing?

A few months back, intellectual property attorney Lloyd Jassin wrote a blog entry about ebooks and subscription models.* To sum up:

The ambiguous digital book future is getting clearer day-by-day. It's not about ebook reading devices, it's about monetizing ebook readers.  Amazon is poised and ready, as evidenced by their willingness to build a business by selling ebooks below what they paid for them.  Google is ready, too.   Free works for Amazon and Google.  It's just bad for publishers

(The whole entry is must reading for anyone interested in publishing; it's here.)

Recent developments by Amazon and its Kindle cloud, seem to be pushing in the direction Jassin describes. I'm not sure whether it's the "ultimate" stop, but as usual Lloyd is thought provoking and on the cutting edge.

* Hat tip to a Twitter feed this morning that reminded me about this. If you're interested in publishing, @LloydJassin belongs on your timeline.

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