This is a real conversation I had with someone recently:

Them: Why do we need publishers? We can publish without them!

Me: Who will license the book?

Them: Well, of course someone has to do that.

Me: And who will translate it?

Them: We have a translator.

Me: And don’t forget, you need a letterer and editor and layout person.

Them: Right, we can do that, too.

Me: And someone to manage the project so it makes deadlines and has quality control.

Them: Of course!

Me: And don’t forget someone to line up distribution, and you’ll need someone to do marketing.

Them: Right, yes.

Me: And, when you get all that together, you know what they call that?

Them: ….

Me: Congrats on recreating the concept of the publishing company from scratch. ^_^

***

To their credit, they got the point and were very gracious about it.