Is Publishing Doomed? JOHN B. THOMPSON with Williams Cole - The Brooklyn Rail

Is Publishing Doomed? JOHN B. THOMPSON with Williams Cole - The Brooklyn Rail: "Over the last decade there has been much talk about the fracturing, transformation, implosion, and even the annihilation of the dominant paradigms in music, journalism, movie-making, and, most recently, publishing. What might have been a slow burn in a once-stable media landscape is on the verge of ashing out, as book publishing is now seen by many as the last victim of such a “crisis.” In preparing his new book Merchants of Culture (Polity Press 2010), Cambridge University professor John Thompson spent five years talking with book editors, publishers, writers, and agents on both sides of the Atlantic. Thompson’s book (which is delivered traditionally, meaning bound in cloth covers) is comprehensive and surprisingly exhaustive. Armed with research this detailed, it’s not surprising that his conclusions are significantly more complex than the prevailing idea that “e–books are killing publishing.” I sat down with him in a Gramercy Park coffee shop to discuss."