I’m not a fan of jargon but I do have a soft spot for “disintermediation”. It’s what happens to industries where a middleman is rendered obsolete by innovation. It has struck brokers and agents of all kinds.
I think the next industry in need of serious disintermediation action is publishing. I keep having conversations with authors which confirm that unless you’re a big shot writer most publishers slow things down, stifle creative ideas, stick to formulae and… basically get in the way. But with the internet, do we really need these people to help us spread our stories?
