Really? Details, because there was a big to do with the mystery and romance writers' guild about this sort of thing, and the writers threatened to decertify Harlequin Books for this sort of scam.
I'm still searching for examples, as I saw the details through my Twitter feed rather than a news source I can search, but I will get back to you once I find something. The gist was that some smaller publishers weren't prepared to bankroll a marginal book, but were happy to split the investment for improved royalties on the author's part. Aside from that, the deal was the same as a 100% publisher-funded deal. That (IMHO) is the difference between a scam or vanity publishing deal: in those two scenarios, there's no commitment to shipping books widely or marketing in any way, so they take the money and run. With a co-funded deal, an author can effectively become a publishing partner. If you have the cash and the experience/ideas to market the hell out of your book, it could work for some people. Of course, I'm reminded of the adage that the best way get yourself a little money publishing books is to start off with a lot of money...
I think Lulu demonstrates that there's a model that can give new authors easier access to publishing while still preserving some quality. I could imagine some digital-only publishing houses springing up -- they could give prospective authors useful editorial guidance and marketing assistance while promising some minimal level of quality to the reader. And, like Lulu, they take a cut of the sales. I would think it might be tempting for some established authors to join together to set up things like this -- it could give them the ability to retain far more of the sales price of their books than they currently get, while also fostering the development of new talent.
I think this is a direction we're going to see a lot of growth. It's all about curation - finding some way to filter the mass of content to highlight the real gems. So far, I've been unable to think of a way to do it without turning into a publisher though... The "problem" I have with traditional publishers is that they only have a limited number of publishing slots available each year, so good books are turned away. What we need is a gatekeeper that allows all books through that meet standards for quality of writing. eBooks can make that happen.
More then likely the same thing will happen that did with music. Once publishers get on board, Apple will no longer allow these self-publishers to publish anything without a publisher. I can see authors building up quite a rep self publishing things, only to have Apple take the away.
I am all of self publishing, I just not see Apple keeping this once they have a good collection of publishing companies.
Apple can do what they want, but with Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and others offering eBooks on the iPad, Apple would only be restricting their revenue stream without necessarily improving the perception of quality. Plus, I don't really mind how much sub-standard content ends up on the iPad, as you don't generally browse the whole library; most times you hear about a book and go looking for it, so it's about discoverability and availability; Apple offers the latter, but if an author can't provide the former, no one's going to buy their book.
