"they are a middleman replacing another middleman" True, except the two middleman aren't equivalent. Amazon sales books. Period, end of story. The publisher off

"they are a middleman replacing another middleman" True, except the two middleman aren't equivalent. Amazon sales books. Period, end of story. The publisher offers a lot of value, editing, marketing, research, among other things. Perhaps the model will change where the publishers offer the things that Amazon doesn't. But as the Author points out, Amazon wants more of the pie than they are giving back, and as a single author you have less recourse than as a publisher.