At The Bookseller's Futurebook weblog they argue that The age of the trade publisher is over, as:
The only way to make that work in the resource shy cottage industry that is publishing is to be an expert. Know your market sector. And the simple fact of the matter is that publishers do not because publishers still expect to shift between celeb auto's, swords and sandals, chick lit, reading group fiction etc. etc. in any given month. A few averagely paid marketing people cannot possibly make that work.I don't need much convincing -- indeed, I've long held that there's a great opportunity for niche independents (like those specializing in fiction in translation ...) or, as they have it:
Publishers need to become experts again and to do that they need to specialise.I have my doubts as to whether the big houses can adjust quickly enough -- they've certainly been lumbering in their efforts thus far.