Publishing cuts back

Hat tip to Richard Miller for the link to the story "Puttin’ Off the Ritz: The New Austerity in Publishing."

Interesting to me is the last paragraph which describes Michael Korda as former Simon & Schuster editor-in-chief. Didn't know he left. Korda was personally interested in the ACW, put out a lot of ACW "product" including his own work, and was, I think, perennially seeking the vast ocean of general readers the Centennialists sailed on. Historiographically, he was a disaster - Jean Smith's Grant, for example, was a disgrace - and financially he did his firm no favors if the low sales I used to track through Ingram's were any indication. Nonetheless, he was the highest profile advocate of ACW publishing in the biz.

The story also contains an odd snippet from a retailer who looks forward to fewer titles being published; in other words, who thinks the cut back will benefit book sales. This makes sense only if book stores don't have buyers anymore and must take every title put out...