11/08/2009

Publishing advances ruin publishers

Finally, an insider sheds light on the reasons behind the troubles publishing houses are dealing with: all those layoffs and cutbacks are not caused by the opportunity presented by the "economic downturn", not by readers who don't spend $$ on books that they cannot believe could be printed in the first instance, but it is the advances paid to authors...

"[...] what I do think – in common with most of publishing – is that the whole system of publishing advances is threadbare. It’s like the Windows operating system: the programme has been stretched and overwritten so much it is cumbersome and worn out. The fact that it just about “does the job” is why it’s still used." Read more.

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