The big houses used to take a great deal of pride in the fact that they did good books, and they were very willing to take chances on books they knew would not make a lot of money. Poetry books, for example, seldom make a lot of money except for Shel Silverstein and one or two others. What started as a trend the merging of publishing houses has been almost swallowed in an avalanche of purchases of publishing houses or combinations of publishing houses by somebody who has made money at something else. More and more, editors and authors say that because of somebody in accounting they no longer have the power of decision they used to have. It s having an effect on new authors and how much opportunity they have.
Today there is so much schlock on the market.
If you look at the reports in Publisher s Weekly of the best-sellers in children s books, you will find that they re often paperback fright books or books in cartoon style. We re seeing the books of poor quality because they are popular books that make more money. It s just like some of the popular trashy paperbacks written for adults. One reason my children were avid readers is that they saw me reading a lot and neglecting my housework in order to read. It was obviously something desirable.