Reasons To Be Cheerful

As a result, publishers are not, in fact, going out of business but excitedly chasing down (or inventing) and promoting the next blockbuster. Literary prize money goes up and up and the hoopla about the winners continues to intoxicate the media. Books continue to turn up on front pages. The latest false Holocaust memoir scandal turns out to be a major news story – and it's about a book.

This is probably too optimistic. Publishing has adopted the model of other popular entertainment: chase the blockbuster, keep a specialty division for potential award winners and neglect everything else. Is that an effective strategy?