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I think you're ignoring the fact that there's much more to publishers than just printing a physical copy of a book and shipping it to shelves. There's marketing, editing, screening, etc. Think what looking for books would be like if there was no quality screening or editing and you had to wade through an online catalog of thousands of books of crap just to have the off chance of happening to see a quality book.

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Oh, sure, that's a valuable service. But it's definitely one that's bloated by way more salaries in the current model than are really needed.

Moreover, this is the internet age. People develop direct relationships with people who write things they like. You don't need a publisher to tell you that you'll want to read, say, Paul Graham's book.

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