With all the hoopla over the popular iPad, don’t count out the Kindle. Amazon started by selling us a dedicated reader and the eBooks at a lower price than their physical version. Then they introduced an application for the iPhone where you did not have to buy the dedicated reader, increasing the availability of their platform. (And protecting their core asset, book sales.) Then came a PC Version and this week (finally!) an Android version.

Of course there has been pushback from the publishers over price. Publishers don’t like that new releases they charge in physical form for $30 sell for $9.99 in electronic format. Some publishers have fought back by delaying their release dates in Kindle format.

Amazon has come up with something that will potentially change the publishing industry forever. Effective today there is a new program where you can get 70% of the revenues, less delivery costs (which are $0.15 per MB.) In order to qualify, you have to list your book under $10 and it has to be 20% less than the physical price.

By sharing more of the profits, Amazon, will win over more and more publishers and thus have even more titles in Kindle format. What people may not realize is that in a few years, after iPads and Google Pads take over the world and at the same time the Kindle format has critical mass, many authors will skip publishing altogether and publish only eBooks with the Kindle format the preferred format.  Just like some rock bands today skip the record labels and go straight to iTunes. The publishing industry will be changed forever, starting today.