The future of publishing

We all know that their are tremendous changes occurring right now in the publishing world. This begs the question, Where are we going from here? The really truthful answer. It is like the stock market, no one knows for sure and if they tell you they do then they are either lying or fooling themselves. As a writer, I am very interested in the direction of publishing so I will tell you what I think. First a little History.
In the old model the publishers controlled the supply. They were the gate keepers that fed the people what they felt was the best of the best as far as authors and books were concerned. This in effect controlled the supply and just like the oil cartels of today the price. Just like any other cartel it won't last.
Those authors who were left by the wayside started to seek other means to reach the gatekeepers. Enter the agents. They had the contacts with the publishers and they would do the work necessary to get their clients published and the writers kept on writing. More writers were being published. A good thing? Still there were contracts to be signed and the publishers still controlled the supply. Then came technology and the internet.
In the old days it was nearly impossible to self publish because of the costs involved in printing and distribution. Now you have computers and the internet and books can be produced digitally and distributed on the internet which brings down the cost and increases the supply of books and readers because the costs will go down. Print on demand is now also available because of technology.
It is now possible for an author to self publish and sell on the internet eliminating the agent and for the most part the publisher. The result is that the supply side is moving toward infinity. In the absence of the cartel's (the Publishers) the consumer will dictate the future of publishing. In other words there will be a market for anything that sells and there will be some one or something to supply it.
So what does the future look Like? In the near term more advertising for the publishers to increase demand for their brands
(authors). You have already seen this in the increase in the amount of television and radio advertisements for books.
In the longer term I see a layered system. Their will be publishers because there will always be some demand for the printed book(physical copy)and authors who want nothing to do with publishing and will accept less money because of it. There will be a place for the print on demand people also,depending upon the technology and the cost and the same goes for electronic and
audio books.
As for the author I see something like the Minor and Major leagues in baseball where your skills and talent will take you as far as you can go. As for which layer is top, middle or bottom the consumer will decide. You may very well see a publisher who embraces all the aspects of the market or just one or two. Another possibility is niche players concentrating on only one segment. In either case the consumer (demand side) will define the market from now on. And that is my view. Agree? disagree? Let me know.