An idea for a new website/internet service site

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I read an article recently, though i don't remember the name, which carried on saying that publishing companies are suffering badly at the advent of e-readers... they (the publishing companies), which used to be concerned with printing ink on paper, marketing, and taking risks in various stores by investing in shelf space for certain books and the aforementioned materials, are now being considered middle-men-- no longer relevant in a world that allows people to bypass an established hierarchy. A similar thing happened when Montgomery Ward began issuing mail-order catalogs in the late 1800's; the general stores of rural and hard to reach areas had to charge exorbitant prices for good, and then, ipso facto, the customers had to pay more. The mail order stores, expanded on by Sears, eventually, eliminated the middle man and could offer much cheaper prices by bringing the creator of the product and the purchaser much closer together.
Too, record industries have been suffering the same fate-- where a record once cost 18.99, now it is only 6.89 on itunes, or even for free on myspace/soundcloud, if the artist so requests. You can even upload music to itunes, but im not sure if you get a percentage of the sale...
So enough back-story, my idea is similar, but in terms of literature and written text. (and please tell me if such a thing already exists). Imagine a website (or app) that has various categories and subsets into which you can upload texts you have written (edited or unedited). This will include everything from Fiction to Nonfiction, poetry to lyrics, diagrams, pictures, dramas and comedies-- (in their respective subsets, likely under fiction)... academic documents (yes, academic docs... orthodox or not![a good way to bypass the academic hierarchy] ), philosophical expositions, short stories, sci-fi, theses, tracts... the list goes on. Each subset will contain filters that embed the list of documents in different ways, most popular (most purchased), highest rated, most comments, long/short... the usual-- bringing the best works of every category/genre immediately to the top. A click of the link to say, a story called "The Bridge" will bring the viewer to the preview page where he or she can read reviews, learn about the author if the author so chooses, and get a short itunes-like preview of the text.
Next, the person clicks purchase story for 2.99 or 3.99 or 9.99 or whatever, and is lead to a standard payment area, where the persons payment can be transferred directly into the author's account, or some other holding area that the website then pays out of to the author who has created an account on the site, etc.
Because of the viral nature of the internet, it may be possible for relatively unknown and perhaps unacademic cream to rise to the top (especially asperger's people) . Just look at what Youtube can do to the silly people who make laughing baby videos... one hundred million views!?!?!?! OK so quality doesn't always rise to the top, but this website I assume will have a different customer base... Youtome.com maybe? Youtext? Youbook?
I just feel like this sort of setup completely bypasses the middlemen that are, in our era, no longer needed. It offers people inexpensive, high-quality products just like Montgomery Ward and Sears did way back when.
If anyone is relatively good with webdesign/programming, please send me a message or reply-- i've been trying to learn computer languages, but its very hard... I consider myself mostly an idea guy. --Thanks in advance for any feedback!

I like the idea but don't know if its been done. I'm not sure the future of reading will be online but it would be good for first time authors.