It takes more than an author and a customer

It takes more than an author and a customer

John Scalzi, with usual aplomb, on how ridiculous it is to think that the “middlemen” in book publishing add no value:

I’d personally use an even simpler formulation, which is that there a lot of people who seem to think that all you need for a book are a reader and an author, but no one seems to think that all you need for a double cheeseburger is a hungry dude and a cattle rancher.