The publishing industry has a gambling problem....article from The Walrus magazine, Canadian magazine.

[CdnWriter]

The Publishing Industry Has a Gambling Problem | The Walrus

Companies keep betting on the next bestseller. Literature is poorer for it

thewalrus.ca

This is an interesting read. It may influence some of the submissions y'all make to various publishers and agents.

 

[Stuart Dren]

Thanks for posting that.

I think it's just change. It's funny sad: books have limited print runs because "there's only so much display space." Meanwhile indigo is filling their shelves with sassy mugs and personal massagers. It's because Indigo brick'n'morty, along with half of trad publishing, might be at the end of its life.

As far as books not earning their advance: we're not a mono-culture anymore. Other media are struggling with that too.