Publishers work according to the logic of the economics of mass production, and have not adjusted to the era of niche markets, the sub-specialisation of knowledge, and the creation of ever more finely differentiated communities of interest, affinity and identity. Nor have they yet adopted on a large scale direct digital print or the Internet as commercially viable print-production and distribution media. The economic logic of traditional offset print presupposes a reading public of 4,000 plus, whose interests are more or less uniform. It is also based on heavy investment in large inventories and high levels of waste in the form of discounting and remaindering. This is why the range of books produced is being reduced to fewer and fewer 'popular' areas.
Publishers are too slow to get into the market the cultural capital they sell.
Despite the instantaneousness of the Internet, television and the printed news media, book publishers can still take three to eighteen months to bring a completed book to the market. These are some of the reasons why the sale of books is barely keeping pace with growth in the markets for cultural goods generally. These are the reasons why book publishing is losing its edge as a medium for cultural innovation. The Internet and new variable print technologies also make this kind of business, and this kind of cultural focus, obsolete. The world has changed in ways which mean that mass-production publishing is more likely to be mindlessly predictable than a place of cultural vibrancy and innovation.