Merchants of CultureThese are turbulent times in the world of book publishing. For nearly five centuries the methods and practices of book publishing remained largely unchanged, but at the dawn of the twenty-first century the industry finds itself faced with perhaps the greatest challenges since Gutenberg. A combination of economic pressures and technological change is forcing publishers to alter their practices and think hard about the future of the books in the digital age. In this book - the first major study of trade publishing for more than 30 years - Thompson situates the current challenges facing the industry in an historical context, analysing the transformation of trade publishing in the United States and Britain since the 1960s. He gives a detailed account of how the world of trade publishing really works, dissecting the roles of publishers, agents and booksellers and showing how their practices are shaped by a field that has a distinctive structure and dynamic. This new paperback edition has been thoroughly revised and updated to take account of the most recent developments, including the dramatic increase in ebook sales and its implications for the publishing industry and its future. |
What people are saying - Write a review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - jphamilton - LibraryThingHere's a fine book for anyone—veteran of the book world or newcomer—who wants to learn a great deal about how this industry works, fails, and is presently a world a-changing. There is a enormous ... Read full review
Contents
INTRODUCTION | 1 |
THE GROWTH OF THE RETAIL CHAINS | 26 |
THE RISE OF LITERARY AGENTS | 58 |
THE EMERGENCE OF PUBLISHING CORPORATIONS | 100 |
THE POLARIZATION OF THE FIELD | 146 |
BIG BOOKS | 187 |
EXTREME PUBLISHING | 223 |
SHRINKING WINDOWS | 238 |
THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION | 312 |
TROUBLE IN THE TRADE | 369 |
FACING AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE | 395 |
SELECTED IMPRINTS OF THE MAIN PUBLISHING CORPORATIONS | 401 |
NOTE ON RESEARCH METHODS | 406 |
| 416 | |
| 421 | |
THE WILD WEST | 291 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
acquired acquisitions Amazon backlist Barnes & Noble become benefit bestseller list big books book publishing BookScan booksellers bookstores brand-name authors budget capital cent clients copies corporate publishers Costco Da Vinci Code deal difficult digital revolution discount ebook editors explained fiction field of trade files financial find firm first five frontlist going Google Group growth hardcover imprints independent John Grisham large corporations large publishing corporations lishers marketplace mass-market paperback medium-sized million movie non-fiction office Oprah players profit profitability publisher’s publishing field publishing houses publishing industry Random House reflected retail chains revenue Richard and Judy sell senior managers significant small publishers sold specific success supermarkets superstores symbolic capital there’s they’re things tion titles trade houses trade paperback trade publishing Wal-Mart Waterstone’s weeks writers you’re
Bibliographic information
| Title | Merchants of Culture |
| Author | John B. Thompson |
| Edition | illustrated, reprint |
| Publisher | Polity, 2010 |
| ISBN | 0745647863, 9780745647869 |
| Length | 432 pages |
| Subjects | › Social Science / Media Studies |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |