Marketing guru Seth Godin and a few of his associates are establishing a revolution in publishing they call The Domino Project. The idea is that a small cadre of "steller authors" create concise books that work best when spread, and the people who help spread the word get rewards (such as large discounts on the price of the books). The emphasis will be on speed; rapid time to market, rapid evolution, rapid response to reader feedback. The project is in association with Amazon and will use all available distribution methods.
The first title is Godin's "Poke the Box." The hardcover costs $10, the collectible edition $75 and it's also available on Kindle and other format. The second title is Steven Pressfield's "Do the Work." For now, it's free in the Kindle format from Amazon.com. (This could change.) It tells you how you can get past your resistance to do creative work.
Of course this effort benefits hugely from the fact that Godin is a superstar with a large following, but I think this effort will have lessons for us less stellar authors as well. You can catch up with it at www.thedominoproject.com. Also, here's Godin talking briefly about what he learned on the way to "The Domino Project (including how he was rejected 900 times!):
The Domino Project from Seth Godin on Vimeo.