No, Really, Publishers Do A LOT For The Author

I wrote the note below in response to someone saying (for the 5,000th wrong time in this Amazon thing) that publishers are no longer necessary because of internet distribution of ebooks. It takes a lot of money to produce a book in terms of editing, copyediting, PR, and even gatekeeping (yes there's value to gatekeeping, it helps readers find books they have much better odds of enjoying). Now, this particular comment was a slightly more sophisticated version of the "you don't need publishers"...