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In their study, subtitled "The Culture and Commerce of Publishing", the authors
examine internal processes and organisations of the publishing industry and its editing,
production and distribution channels. In a rather idealistic manner, books are described
as "carriers and disseminators of ideas" and the role publishers are given is that of
"gatekeeper of ideas'l", the publisher is described as a figure who controls the
"floodgates", sifts "the chaff from the wheat", makes "authoritative decisions about
which {ideas} deserve sponsorship for distribution and which are to be kept out of
circulation"? .
A view like this, which the authors themselves admit to be "sublime thoughts" (P.362),
reflects a belief in quality control and that 'bad' writing needs to be separated by an
informed and authoritative gatekeeper, i.e. the publishing industry, from the 'good and
worthwhile' writing before it reaches the - by implication uninformed and unauthoritative
- reading public, which is denied the opportunity and capability of deciding themselves
what it and what is not worth reading.
The motivation of the publishing industry, however, is not only the dissemination of
ideas, it is also a commercial enterprise. Literary publishing presents a peculiar mixture",
if not internal contradiction, of commercial pressure and the preservation of the high
culture ideal and sees a constant struggle between commercial constraints and the
industry's own ideal of books as carriers of high culture; and consequently the selection
process of manuscripts and ideas is not always solely informed by literary 'quality' (which
is in itself a highly debatable and elusive concept and tied in with debates about
aesthetics) but also by aspects ofcommercial viability. This does, in fact, often mean that
not the 'bad' books, but rather the difficult, different and challenging texts do not get
seen through into print, texts for which the expense ofpublishing can not be justified in
the view ofthe balance sheet ofthe publisher.
All book production, due to the complex and costly production and distribution
36 Coser, Kadushin and Powell,Books, P.362.
37 Coser, Kadushin and Powell,Books, all page 4.
38 A mixture which is reflected in the actual production processes, which mix individual (and oldfashioned)
crafts such as illustrating and typography with high technology, mass production and large
print runs.
Chapter 4 - page 142