I believe that the situation publishing is facing in new media today is highly analogous to the old ‘Studio System’ that existed in Hollywood from the 1920s until its abolition through anti-trust legislation in the 1950s. During this period of time, Movie Studios (like MGM, Paramount, Fox and the like) owned the entire production and distribution chain of films. They ‘owned’ contract players (much like professional athletes today) and would trade them like property. They also put directors under contract as well, insuring that they would only work for their ‘dream factory.’ Then, to top all this off, the studios also owned their own theater chains — controlling who distributed their movies. If you wanted to see Clarke Gable’s latest movie, then you could only find it at an MGM owned theater. Or, if you were an independent theater owner and you wanted the latest Clark Gable film (blockbuster) you were required to purchase an entire slate of lesser-quality MGM movies as well. When this secure channel of distribution was challenged, it seemed for a time as if movie studios were going the way of the dodo — but then studios wised up and realized that they weren’t in the business of making movies — they were in the entertainment business and that they needed to change with the times. The result is the current reality in Hollywood where studios provide financing and facilities services to independent production companies … and everyone is making money again. No studio owns Cameron’s Lightstorm production company — but both Cameron and the studio backing him made a killing on ‘Avatar.’
Big publishers find themselves in a similar position, I believe, to that of movie studios in the 1950s. Their classic and time honored distribution system is being challenged by new media. The old models aren’t working any more. I believe that publishers will also have to change in much the same way as studios did in the 1950s and 1960s.
To this end, Laura and I are establishing Scribe’s Forge Publishing. While we hope to teach what we have learned about the craft and art of Science-fiction and Fantasy writing, we are also hoping to develop it into an ebook/new media production house. Such places, I believe, will become filters for future readers in much the same way that traditional publishing filtered out the noise from the signal. I would like people to come to Scribe’s Forge Publishing looking for our latest published author (possibly like yourself) because we develop a reputation for publishing only quality works rather than anything that is just tossed up onto the internet. By becoming a focal point of quality, more readers will be drawn to our place first rather than random searching the web, and thus serving our authors with better revenues. At least that’s the model that I think the future holds for us all.
New media? Yes, please, I’d like to be a part of that frontier!
Tracy is a NYT Best-Selling author with nearly thirty years experience in Speculative Fiction. Together with his wife Laura, they are pioneering New Media Writing and Publishing ... and teaching their three decades of experience to a new generation of authors. 
I can’t wait to get started, unless I missed that. I guess I can’t wait to find out to do this. I’ve always had stories living inside me, I just want to get them out. And what better teacher could I have then those that I have been a fan of for years.
What a great idea! I can’t imagine a better value than this. I can’t believe your willingness to share your writing secrets with the world. Incredible!