3 ms·
OK, I haven't read the whole thing yet but this bit raised an eyebrow... >These two market categories (celebrity books and repeat bestsellers from the backlist
by tomgp 2y ago
OK, I haven't read the whole thing yet but this bit raised an eyebrow...
>These two market categories (celebrity books and repeat bestsellers from the backlist) make up the entirety of the publishing industry and even fund their vanity project: _publishing all the rest of the books we think about when we think about book publishing (which make no money at all and typically sell less than 1,000 copies)._
Why do we view this as a vanity project and not the purpose of the whole endeavour? The celebrity books are just to raw material that allow them to dot heir real job; to make books those fragments of human connection widely available to the people who might need them, a service to readers and to future generations that isn't just about making money.
- bzhang255 2y agoI read that line as sardonic. The author is pointing out how the economics of publishing are contrary to what we would expect, or perhaps would like.