In the music industry, the disruption and shift from digital downloads to streaming services was actually very positive for major labels. So it's not always about a revolution on the market. How was it with ebooks?
Amazon, Kindle and independent authors
Publishing was studied by the business school INSEAD. E-books were growing, and as a result, the overall market share of the biggest publishing houses in the US (known as “The Big Five”) declined. Small and indie publishers seemed to be succeeding.
Amazon, the largest retailer for e-books in English, offered a self-publishing business unit. Since 2007, it has enabled authors to sell e-books directly. That meant that independent authors didn’t have to approach big publishing houses anymore.
The benefits of independent publishing
Indie authors keep a 70% share of the revenue. With traditional big houses, authors keep only 23%. Authors can also track their sales without waiting months to see how much they're going to receive in royalties.
Furthermore, it seems that Amazon customer reviews have a much larger effect on sales for small and independent authors than for authors of books published by the Big Five. For these titles, customers probably perceive positive reviews as redundant information of marketing hype, not as an authentic confirmation. Social media also helps to bring in customers.
Restructuring similar to the publishing industry can be expected in other fields that are becoming digitized rapidly. For major manufacturers, 3D printing platforms are the threat.
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