Good Books Independently Edited

Jim Lichtenberg of Lightspeed, LLC., wrote an entry in ForeWord's (Good Books Independently Published) Publishing Insider blog today called (with unconscious irony) "Where are the Editors?"

The editors work for independent (non-corporate) publishers. I'm not saying that no editors work at the big houses, but rather that many smaller presses, because of specialization and less greed, still focus on books, not product. Besides, for a real comparison to most of what HarperCollins publishes today, we should ask if anyone really ever edited classics such as Sinister Stories, or even Peyton Place? ("We need more emphasis--I know, -m- dashes!")

The basic premise of Lichtenberg's blog is probably true. Eventually well-crafted paper books might become a niche good the way storytelling has. Hmm. A print run of 5000 is considered high where I work, and the audience is frequently defined as the "educated lay-reader." In a country that hovers around (mostly below) a 30% college graduation rate (see here and here) where fewer and fewer people read, maybe we're already in the niche.