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Merchants Of Culture: The Publishing Business In The Twenty-First Century (2010)

by John B. Thompson(Favorite Author)

3.82 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0745647863 (ISBN13: 9780745647869)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Polity Press

review 1: Both this book and Thompson's earlier Books in the Digital Age are well worth reading, if you are interested in understanding the profound changes convulsing the publishing industry. Thompson uses the same framework for both books, but what is particularly appealing about the later book are the quotes from the major players in the "field". These add life and a sense of the economic urgency associated with the annual book season.
review 2: Though I've worked in the publishing industry for many years, I've never been a trade book editor, and the trade side of publishing is what Thompson focuses on. Though the book is a couple of years old, it still is relevant to what is happening today. Unfortunately, the book doesn't cover recent developments such as the Apple-... moreDOJ case, the rise of self-publishing, the closure of Borders, and the merger of Random House and Penguin. But the major themes he teases out are the seismic shifts that still roil the publishing industry and are predictive of the changes I just listed. His sources are confidential, but the access he gained and interviews he gathered are extraordinary. He clearly understands the pressures and issues facing publishers, and is one of the few commentators to pinpoint that publishing's move to a digital workflow was just as big of a change as the rise of e-books (and the digital workflow evolution happened many years before the debut of the Kindle). The comparison between the UK and US publishing is also fascinating to read about as the industries in both countries ended up in the same place but for very different reasons. While the writing can be dry in places (this is a scholarly book, after all), it's full of entertaining anecdotes and quotes. less

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