Of course, they are actually referring to the big publishers with the huge megahits but there’s also the issue of independent publishers who have trouble getting shelf space at those neighborhood book stores. The booksellers complain about the publishers as if we were evil but, we counter, if you’re not going to carry our books, what else can we do but sell direct to consumers?

On another note, besides fixing their web sites, I suspect many consumers will go to retailers rather than suppliers for their goodies is because the consumers simply aren’t used to buying direct from suppliers any more than suppliers are used to selling direct to consumers.

I suspect, when the suppliers figure stuff out (assuming that they ever do), then the retailers really will have something to worry about.