Quote:
Originally Posted by DiapDealer
Patronage and commissioning seemed to work fairly well for hundreds of years.
And publishers haven't "gambled" for quite some time. The hype machine makes sure they will at least recoup their investment. I mean, when was the last time you heard of a publisher losing their ass on an author they were "betting" on? So it's not so much "picking a winner" as it is "manufacturing a winner." Unless you believe that best seller lists strictly represent what readers are asking for.
If they decide to publish someone's book, it will succeed... but not necessarily due to their trained artistic eye for great literature.
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Patronage? Seriously? You want authors to be controlled by some rich guy somewhere? I expected better of you, DD.
You think publishers don"t gamble because you have'nt heard of the losers . Only a small percentage of books and authors make money for their publishers, and those best sellers fund the flops and the experiments. Indeed, publishers will put out books knowing that the chance of those books making money is low( think of poetry collections or certain types of nonfiction).