Also, both parties look for intermediaries. I offer my ebooks to people for free, asking them to review them on Amazon if they like them (or even if they don’t). I blog, I tweet–i.e., I market!
As a seeker, I pay attention to reviews from those I respect.

So why am I sticking to well known and establish bands, the paradox of choice, not enough time and way too many bands (447.859 ablums right now) to choose from, even after narrowing down the field it is more than I could possibly consume.

It’s the same with apps, a few will rise to the top the rest will sink into oblivion, sadly

So on to ebooks how does one choose, simple go to the top 100 list at Amazon and buy ones that look interesting.

Since the number of works offered will soon grow exponentially with no increase in readers, the chances of selling significant numbers, without major promo help from publishers, will be minimal.

Yes, some writers have done well out of the new model, so far, but that’s only because relatively few have tried it. Yes, the Arctic Monkeys used MySpace to get their first album known, but since then there’ve been no big music breakthroughs from DIY artists who have no other backing from a label. There’s just too many artists fighting for the same attention, now.

So you’ll have a business where the slush pile is offered on the same level as the good stuff. And as in music, even if you’re good, no one will find you, without major promo from a publisher.

Best of luck – you have MAJOR disruption about to hit your industry. I just hope that hackers don’t render your work as freely available – for free – as ours. Or like us, you’ll all be out of a job.

– Spinoffs. Repurposing. Use the material of your book to create workbooks, white papers, videos, podcasts, collections, wikis, other shorter pieces.

– Reader lists. How do you find out who’s reading your books. Insert discrete hyperlinks to entice readers to come to your blog or website, sign up, do other things. Your ebook becomes a bottom rung on an ascending ladder of offerings at higher prices, up to high-priced consulting gigs.

– Giveaways. If you’re giving an in-person talk, you give away (or sell) copies of your book. If you’re doing an online event like a webinar, you give away your ebook to participants. With a legacy publisher, you first have to buy your own books from them, which makes it a very expensive giveaway.

With my last legacy-published book, when it came time to do a revised edition, the publisher refused, thus killing my book.

mvh

I think you did a very good summary of the new landscape on the “supply side”.

If I can suggest a third part, I would like to hear your thoughts on the “demand side”, for example…

1) Which segments have been already taken over (starting with what do we know about IPad’s Kindle’s user demographics). When do they use it, is it really for all types of books ? Magazines ? How long/short the reading periods

2) Are there categories that may e-go rapidly to nearly 100% ? Is it likely to be related to content or socio-demographics of readers given usage figures that might be “public”

3) What would you recommend to the “long tail” of readers, those reading poetry, linguistics, exegesis, etc.. Which incentive could they give to their favorite authors to e-book hic et nunc….?