The argument was that this would stop publishers submitting books that clearly were not going to be competitive. Anyone who doubts that publishers would waste time and money entering books for awards they have no hope of winning should take a look at how much comes in to those that remain unrestricted. The quota of three books per imprint for the Miles Franklin has kept entries down to just over 50 as against 90 plus for other major fiction awards. For each of the past two years, around 20 of these, however, have been self-published novels. While self-published novels receive equal care and attention from the judges, they are noticeably harder to read.
Page layout tends to be more crowded, the print is usually smaller and less black.
And it shows. If mainstream Australian publishers were to publish fewer novels, then, we might still end up with just as many novels being published in this country. And their general quality would not necessarily have been improved. And, yes, capitalism is all about mass production, market share and promotion. The problem is that it remains very hard, even impossible, to predict just what will sell.