The only function current publishers really serve is printing and distribution. Editing and formatting can be done elsewhere, and new-style literary agents will still exist to handle marketing and promotion to online gatekeepers such as the ones mentioned in the previous paragraph. You’ll soon start to hear about writers who achieve fame without ever having a physical book printed, just as stories have trickled in about musicians who’ve never had a recording contract.

Since hardly any authors make real money from writing books even with publishing contracts, it’s hard to see the point of publishing companies once the print format starts to die out. Bring it on!

“Published books,” unless someone notes otherwise, include a huge number of self-published books, books published by university presses and scientific journals that aren’t expected to turn a profit, and books published by small/start-up publishers that don’t tend to last very long.

If you weeded it down to major publishers, i.e. the ones you’ll find on the shelves at Barnes & Noble, I’m sure the statistic would be far less imposing.