Quote:
Originally Posted by Worldwalker
The problem I'm seeing, from a reader's point of view, is that instead of concentrating on developing great writers (and great editors), publishers are completely abnegating that role and concentrating solely on marketing. They don't care about polishing up diamonds in the rough; they don't have the time for that any more, apparently. Instead, they just want paste delivered ready to use, and they'll slot that into their planned marketing. The larger the publisher, it seems, the more likely they are to discard the idea of creating good books in favor of the idea of creating good buzz. Then they wonder why readers don't think we need publishers to tell us what's hot right now.
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The publishers I know, and my experience is limited strictly to SF/F, do still care about working with authors to make better books. Still, I hear you about the apparent lack of care at times. I think there's always been, and always will be, an undefined category of books that are really just "product" to be marketed. It usually seems to be the big sellers, which are geared to the lowest common denominator (which is part of what makes them big sellers). That's always been a part of the publishing ecology: bestselling books (trashy or otherwise) make the big profits and enable publishers to take on riskier or less profitable books. Whether that part of the ecology will remain sustainable or not, I don't know.