The economics of publishing.

hopeless in this respect. Also, the X book was beautifully produced, and we chose the typeface. Financially, the exercise is a non-starter for my kind of book. Financial terms are irrelevant." "Quality of editorial advice, friendliness etc, varies enormously from the quality of A, though the friendliness of B, to the self-interest of C. Since publishing concerns much author-editor collaboration the nature of the working arrangement is very important." "I do not write a book to make money but to boost my ego. So I want a publisher who will produce the book well at a sensible price, and then sell it." It appears then that variations in contracts are one of many factors which influence author-publisher relations. Moreover, the importance attached to any particular factor may vary from author to author. Despite this multiplicity of variables, however, it appears that some publishers have a much better reputation with authors than others. This may be seen by comparing the percentage of "mentions" accounted for by a given publisher in response to the questions, "Which publishers would you most wish to publish your next book ?" and "Which publishers would you not wish to publish your next book ?" Data relating to a selection of publishers are presented in Table III. Overall, attitudes are favourable towards publishers A, B, and C; neutral towards D and E; and unfavourable towards F and G.