Merchants of Culture

These are turbulent times in the world of book publishing. For nearly five centuries the methods and practices of book publishing remained largely unchanged, but at the dawn of the twenty-first century the industry finds itself faced with perhaps the greatest challenges since Gutenberg. A combination of economic pressures and technological change is forcing publishers to alter their practices and think hard about the future of the books in the digital age. In this book - the first major study of trade publishing for more than 30 years - Thompson situates the current challenges facing the industry in an historical context, analysing the transformation of trade publishing in the United States and Britain since the 1960s. He gives a detailed account of how the world of trade publishing really works, dissecting the roles of publishers, agents and booksellers and showing how their practices are shaped by a field that has a distinctive structure and dynamic. This new paperback edition has been thoroughly revised and updated to take account of the most recent developments, including the dramatic increase in ebook sales and its implications for the publishing industry and its future.

ISBN 0745661068   Pages 464 ISBN13 9780745661063 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 694 Publisher Polity Press   Published in Oxford Imprint Polity Press   Height (mm) 225 Format Paperback   Width (mm) 157 Publication date 16 Mar 2012   Spine width (mm) 34 DEWEY 070.5094109045   Academic level Professional / Scholarly DEWEY edition DC23

Preface Introduction 1 The Growth of the Retail Chains 2 The Rise of Literary Agents 3 The Emergence of Publishing Corporations 4 The Polarization of the Field 5 Big Books 6 Extreme Publishing 7 Shrinking Windows 8 The Wild West 9 The Digital Revolution 10 Trouble in the Trade Conclusion: Facing an Uncertain Future Appendix 1 Selected imprints of the main publishing corporations Appendix 2 Note on research methods Bibliography

"A fine-grained snapshot... of the terminal struggle of traditional publishers. [Thompson's] mordant picture of an industry in crisis gives publishers, writers and readers much to think about." Jason Epstein, The New York Review of Books "Enlivened by pseudonymous interviewees who are remarkably and tantalisingly candid." The Guardian "[Thompson] draws on valuable interviews and the mass of statistics that the field itself devours in search of success. He offers a calm, relatively sanguine account of contemporary publishing, a world dominated by the $6 million advance, the blockbuster and the buzz." Times Literary Supplement "Thompson bring forensic keeneness, acuity, breadth, depth and wit to this page-turning study of the book trade, its denizens, demons and deities. [Merchants of Culture] ought to be prescribed reading for publishers, booksellers, writers, authors, reporters, reviewers and critics." Mail & Guardian , South Africa "John B. Thompson's research has produced an excellent history and analysis; it's a wonderful book, highly recommended." Australian Book Review "The single most impressive fact to drive home about this remarkable book is that Thompson displays a rare gift, that of presenting a world of the most heart-stopping complexity in short, simple, inter-related steps ... This is a book to buy and use and keep on your shelf." Tribune "A superb history and analysis of publishing and bookselling, from the 1960s to the present, against the background of the rapidly expanding digital media. A salutary, scary read." John Conwell for The New Statesman "A thorough and thoughtful analysis of publishing as a relatively self-contained world - a 'field' obeying rules that are ultimately economic, but in ways refracted through maneuvers and conflicts that defy simple cost-benefit analysis. Anyone interested in publishing will want to read it." Inside Higher Ed "For some time to come, this is bound to be the definitive thing to read for anyone trying to understand the infrastructure of book culture - especially as it has taken shape over the past two or three decades." The National "This impressively comprehensive and revealing analysis of the structures and processes of modern publishing is timely as the industry faces its digital future." Katharine Reeve, Times Higher Education Book of the Week "Thompson's study is one of the most valuable studies on publishing in recent decades, and promises to be the new reference point for sociological research on the publishing industry." Cultural Sociology "A very valuable book that is likely to become the standard reference on the Anglo-American publishing industry for many years to come." MedieKultur "For the uninitiated, Merchants of Culture provides a very perceptive, thorough and in-depth view of how trade publishing really works in the English-speaking world today. For those of us in the business or for writers who are mystified by their publisher's behavior, it offers a penetrating account of our business by a very shrewd, analytical observer. This book is the only thing I've ever read about our industry that has really got it." William Shinker, President and Publisher of Gotham Books and Avery Books, Penguin Group USA "Thompson's analysis of UK and US trade publishing is extraordinarily acute and insightful. It should be required reading for new entrants to the industry - but it will also illuminate many things for old publishing hands." Helen Fraser, Former Managing Director, Penguin Group UK "This uncommonly perceptive and thorough study tells you all you need to know about the publishing industry at a time of momentous change." Drake McFeely, Chairman and President, W.W. Norton & Company "One of the most intelligent and accessible accounts of the curious business of trade book publishing I have read. Anyone interested in knowing more about how our industry works - and where it might be headed - will find this book invaluable." Morgan Entrekin, CEO and Publisher, Grove At

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Version	Price	Published	Edition
Hardback	£20.00	2010