yes, but

There's an interesting discussion going on over at Bookninja to do with the provocative piece in the Star over the weekend. Essentially, and this seems to be a Canadian pastime, there's no room for any young'uns in the publishing trade in the country.
What Marche doesn't mention, and what is pretty obvious if you've hung around the book trade long enough, is that older readers are the only ones at the table. Therefore, they like what they have always liked: Hence, there's a tendency (and only a slight one) to see their generation reflected in their tastes. If a Heather O'Neill gets a big of love via the CBC or whatever, the over 45's will find it.
As a matter of keeping the pot stirred, I applaud a shot across the bow every so often. It's why even though I agree with a fair bit of Stephen Marche's piece, I think he's painted himself into a corner.
Until words like "post-literate" are called out to mean something less fuzzy, and more like "not interested" it's no surprise that Son of Coupland or whatever isn't going to see too much light.
That's not a Giller cabal or something, that's just an industry who knows what side it's bread (crust?) is buttered on.

Posted by Dave