The problem is also the solution

Ben Thompson on the relationship between book publishers and Amazon:

I’ve worked with publishers, and here’s the thing: Amazon is right. It’s not that publishers don’t add value,2 but rather that their economics are wholly incompatible with the reality of the Internet. If publishers are to have a future free of Amazon, that future will be as a service with upside directly tied to a book’s success.

Or, Amazon becomes the publisher and legacy publishers either get swollowed up or run out of business entirely. My bet is on the former given Amazon's continuous moves into other markets. First it was books, then it was general retail, then web services, then ebooks, then ebook readers... you get the idea. Publishing is just the next step... or it was the last one because they've already started.