Technological disruption challenges prevailing power. Naturally,
those established institutions try to fight back. But they rarely win.
Disruption tends to release a dam of pent-up and democratic energy.
Eventually, it overwhelms or transforms the established order.
Digital publishing is a case of technological disruption. Its
challenge to the gatekeeper of a traditional publisher is now clear.
Can’t get your book published? Do it yourself, and do it a whale of a
lot faster—meaning you can capitalize quickly on issues of the day.
But I’ll propose that disruption has three predictable phases.
The first phase is the attempt to fit the new paradigm into the old.
The automobile, or horseless carriage, is fitted with reins, if you
will. Publishers make ebooks disappear mid-read; in other words, we
still put ebooks on hold and make checkouts expire. Libraries are used
to working through distributors, so turn to mega-aggregators and
middlemen like OverDrive. It’s business as usual, just in another model.
