Let’s all be different people: Readers and writers in an internet age

The divide between readers and writers is shrinking and the roles of the two aren't as cleanly separated as before. How are writers supposed to deal with this? Can publishers continue as mediators? What is the role of the various services that connect the two? How does it change publishing? How do we respond to the narrowing of the reader-writer gap engendered by the internet's plurality of communities? The only way we can: by trying to understand the change.