[GovernmentShrinker]

It's getting easier to publish via the print-to-order businesses, some of which can even produce hardcover editions. In the long run, that avenue will develop a lot more, and result in publication of a lot of books that would never have gotten published before as they have a very small target audience.

[theFIRMbss]

>It's getting easier to publish via the print-to-order businesses...that avenue will develop a lot more, and result in publication of a lot of books that would never have gotten published before...

But it's not the same. People may not believe it, I mean young people, but there was a time when editors looked for books that were well-written. Not propaganda for this-or-that point of view. Not pay-offs to folks who did favors for the publisher. Good writing. In today's culture "editors" are gone. At least in the sense of folks who worry about creating good books as opposed to business-folk mining a market. It's the blogosphere model of reality-- Everybody does whatever they want and whatever chance combined with sub rosa deals brings to the surface, is "it" for fifteen minutes. It's an entirely different world that makes for entirely different minds. It's a new new world.

[SauronOfMordor]

It's getting easier to publish via the print-to-order businesses, some of which can even produce hardcover editions. In the long run, that avenue will develop a lot more, and result in publication of a lot of books that would never have gotten published before as they have a very small target audience.

I'd like to see that in technical textbooks. Some of my daughter's textx are obscenely costly, although I think much of the cost is professors lining their pockets

Stuff that needs to be updated frequently is a prime candidate for print-to-order