Blockbusterization of Publishing

Publishers have institutionalized a singles‑hit economic model that demands huge first printings and star authors, pushing out gradualist talent development, editorial risk‑taking, and stylistic diversity. The shift creates a feedback loop: fewer risky acquisitions → less discovery → more reliance on backlist and formulaic branding (covers, marketing) that further reduces cultural experimentation. — This change concentrates cultural power, narrows the range of voices reaching mass audiences, and turns publicly important cultural production into a high‑stakes industrial calculus with consequences for diversity, democracy, and the labor market of writers and designers.