OP here: I definitely don't prefer paper. ;) I actually sold all of my physical books before my last move.
I think authors moving to self-publishing is a good thing. And when the author sells directly to the reader (and not on Amazon), he/she can build relationships directly with the reader, and can earn more money. That's a good thing.
The problems are:
1. Discoverability - finding good books that have been self-published by authors.
2. Reviews - even on goodreads.com not all books are reviewed, and there is no way to find books in the startup space. Having a community of people who can recommend good books on a topic could be valuable.
3. Interaction - personally, I find interacting with other people that are reading the same book motivating. Hearing their point of view, and their ideas for applying a book's topic can improve the reading experience.
There's no chance that I could ever earn more money as a self-published author if I bypassed Amazon. I'd earn more per sale, but the 30% to Amazon in exchange for solving (or at least addressing) the issues of Discoverability and Reviews is so completely worth it.
The problem, as you called out, is with the self-selling, it's a very different skillset than the one that produced the book, so it makes sense to let an Amazon help out on that front.
My sales have certainly not been spectacular[1], but just by dropping my book on Amazon I have 15 reviews[2] I wouldn't otherwise have, and far more revenue overall.
Do tech books even have book tours? I could see it for mass-market fiction books or such, but publishers do roughly diddly squat for getting tech books in the public eye.
I think authors moving to self-publishing is a good thing. And when the author sells directly to the reader (and not on Amazon), he/she can build relationships directly with the reader, and can earn more money. That's a good thing.
The problems are:
1. Discoverability - finding good books that have been self-published by authors.
2. Reviews - even on goodreads.com not all books are reviewed, and there is no way to find books in the startup space. Having a community of people who can recommend good books on a topic could be valuable.
3. Interaction - personally, I find interacting with other people that are reading the same book motivating. Hearing their point of view, and their ideas for applying a book's topic can improve the reading experience.