meg_evonne started a thread about the changing face of publishing that is pretty interesting:
http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,24658.0.htmlOne of the things that will probably have to be differentiated is ePub by a major house, versus ePub by a house in the middle sizes, versus small pub (bordering on vanity type publishing or the ebook equivalent)...
As you get smaller, the houses generally have less capability... This is actually following pretty closely with what the music industry has done over the last decade or so.
Artist/Writer Development - gone
Advances - reduced (and constrained)
Editors - reduced or eliminated in favor of self-editing.
Marketing - reduced unless there is some known market
Advertising - reduced/eliminated
And as you look at reducing (or eliminating) those overhead costs, you begin to look at the ability to sell the final product for *much* reduced price and still maintain good dollar volumes, and profit margins...
Not disagreeing with the numbers you've posted Shecky, but that model is now, and will continue to be, under severe competitive pressure. Especially as the overall epub business reaches a nominal operating model of its own. And eliminating overhead is *always* an approved method (even if it is done poorly, or in a shortsighted way.)
