Publishing is on of those ‘authoritative institutions’ that’s getting blown up by people connecting directly with one another. Financial institutions, media companies in general, even governments have lost a lot of their credibility. Yet what people gain from quicker, less edited engagement with one another they sometimes lose in the quality and utility of that engagement. Publishers take too long but they also review, analyze, edit, and stand behind what they publish. No amount of direct contact can replace that, per se.

There’s nothing stopping ‘middle-tier’ authors from engaging with their readers just like Seth proposes to do. Hell, anybody can write and distribute a book these days. The problem is that very little of it is any good, and all of the blather about ‘content’ and ‘engagement’ doesn’t make up for it…

I’m actually waiting for said authoritative institutions to rebuild their credibility and stature by helping consumers make sense of the online chaos. In this sense, Seth has just taken himself out of the conversation.