Amazon Extends its Reach Into the Publishers' Space

The lines between printing, publishing, and distribution continue to blur.

Here's a good article from the New York Times outlining Amazon's efforts to increase their role as a publisher.
  

"Amazon has been publishing books for several years, but its efforts went up several notches in visibility when it brought in the longtime New York editor and agent Laurence Kirshbaum three months ago as head of Amazon Publishing. “I hope we can do some exciting, innovative things,” Mr. Kirshbaum said on Tuesday. “But I don’t want to overpromise.”

Or get his friends in the business worried. “Our success will only help the rest of publishing,” he said.

Traditional publishers do not necessarily believe that. Some are downright nervous about the intentions of Amazon, with its deep pockets and a unparalleled distribution system into tens of millions of living rooms and onto electronic devices.

Read the whole thing here