Possible crisis in Western publishing

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There has been some controversy in recent times over what is perceived as a crisis in Western publishing.

The general complaint is that conglomerates or large corporations--having bought and merged a significant number of key publishing houses or bookstores--now exercise unprecedented influence over various aspects of publishing, from editorial decisions to the market share of bestsellers.

This influence, critics argue, has led not only to a decline in quality of published books, but, among other things, the consolidation of politically conservative opinions, a drastic reduction in competition and in numbers of independent businesses, and a superabundance of transient, non-noteworthy literature.

[edit] References

• Schiffrin, André (2000). The Business of Books: How the International Conglomerates Took Over Publishing and Changed the Way We Read. 
• Epstein, Jason. Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future. 
• Ugrešić, Dubravka (2003). Thank You for Not Reading. 

[edit] External links

• A Report to the Authors Guild which reveals a "Crisis in Midlist Publishing" - Study in PDF
• Book-Busters: Corporate Consolidation in Book Publishing and Selling and the Decline of Diversity by William Petrocelli (1999)
• Understanding the Economic Burden of Scholarly Publishing By Cathy N. Davidson
• Crisis in Scholarly Publishing: Executive Summary, by Stephen Boyd and Andrew Herkovic (1999)
• The Crisis in Scholarly Publishing
• The Crisis in Scholarly Communication
• The Crisis in Scientific Publishing - a resource page