An agent speaks out on current publishing and writing

From GalleyCat:

AGENTS
Andrew Wylie on 'Devaluation of Quality Editing and Writing'
By Jason Boog on May 26, 2011 9:45 AM

In the new issue of WSJ Magazine, agent Andrew Wylie shared his thoughts about the contemporary publishing industry in an opinionated essay. We got a sneak peek at the essay where the famous agent pondered our digital future.

His essay stressed that despite self-publishing options, the writing profession needs "a chain of people who have authority and can help convey what is essential." What do you think?

Here's an excerpt: "The devaluation of quality editing and writing is sad and it's inevitable. Each house has a large number of titles to publish, and with a difficult economy, fewer people to handle the publications. But publishers need to become smaller, leaner, and they will have to learn new disciplines. The whole one-year publication process must be reduced."

UPDATE: Readers respond on Facebook:

Hookline Books: "Authors still need the endorsement of an outside party, be it a publisher, a prominent reviewer, advocate"

Leah Cummins Guinn "I've read quite a few self-pubbed books, and even though some were very good and most were average, all of them could have been greatly improved by a good editor."

Olga Gardner Galvin "Some authors need outside validation; others less so. All authors need an editor and a proofreader."

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post misidentified the source of the essay.