The civil war for books: where is the money going? - Spectator Blogs

We've had perhaps five years now of good writers taking their next ambitious project to their agent who in turn excitably puts it in front of publishers only to be told that it's perhaps a little too bold an idea for these austere and shape-shifting times, and might there not be a more reader-friendly project up the writer's sleeve? The agent sheepishly reports this back to their beloved writer, who then either conforms to the market's demands or slopes away to nurse their wounded ego, and think hard about the purposes and pleasures of writing. The next time that writer comes up with a bold, unorthodox, unprecedented notion for a book, what happens? Well, perhaps, just perhaps, they decide before they start in earnest that it's a no-hoper and they ought to play safe, so they bin it without telling anyone. And another bright star never shines.