Can Amazon Change The Publishing Business?

Michael Parekh points to the Forbes article about how Amazon could change the Publishing business by vertically integrating and striking direct deals with authors bypassing publishers.  The article notes that retailers take almost 50% of the price of a book with the remainder split between the agent, the publisher and the author, and that the author may only see $1 - $1.50 on a book that retails for $24.95.  The hypothesis is that Amazon, with its customer and recommendations database and print-on-demand technology, would present an efficient sales and marketing distribution channel and doing a direct deal with an author could mean more of a 70/30 split between Amazon and the author.

I'm skeptical.  I'm always in favor of making things more efficient via dis-intermediation.  Online travel comes to mind.  However, the middlemen in question add value -- publishers find authors, develop and edit their work and then market and promote the books whilst agents manage and promote an author to the book community -- and, as long as that happens, they will remain a part of the value chain.