New commercial pressures on Canadian novels

I don't know the name of the comparable American service, but it doubtless exists. Via The Tyee, an article first published in Geist: Enemy of Canada's Next Great Book? BookNet. Excerpt:

A literary agent and a publisher meet for coffee. The publisher tells the agent that she's refusing a manuscript he submitted to her. "It's a big, sprawling novel -- we can't publish it..." 

The agent looks doubtful. He names some big, sprawling novels that her company has published. The publisher mumbles a single word: "...BookNet..." 

The agent sits up. "My client's BookNet figures aren't good enough?" He thanks her and leaves. 

This scene, with variations, is commonplace in Canadian publishing. The strangest fact about BookNet Canada, whose sales data program incarnates how corporate imperatives are squeezing the creative juice out of our fiction, is that it was set up as an altruistic, non-profit solution to the eternal Canadian problem of inefficient book distribution. 

The web site booknetcanada.ca proclaims that "we spend our days finding ways to make it easier to buy books, sell books, keep books in print, reach new audiences and ride the ever-cresting wave of new technology." 

This knight in shining armour has turned into the dragon it set out to slay.

Comments

[Dave McGowan]

This should not be a surprise to any of us.
We undersell our cereal grains because we have accountants and those specializing in international relations selling wheat.
We undersell our lumber because we have accountants and those in international relations selling lumber.
And now it appears we have accountants selling books and specializing in distribution.

Are there no salesmen?
Dave
www.dmmcgowan.blogspot.com