Richard Nash

What is the Business of Literature? Richard Nash

This is the story of publishing as you've never heard it before, told by one of the most provocative and informed voices building its future. It's the tale of prophets and storytellers, of entrepreneurs and shop-owners, of those who fashioned the world of book publishing as we know it.

Tracing the long road that elevated lowly scribes to god-like authors, that transformed written work to intellectual property, and that leads ever-onward into uncertain and invigorating futures, Nash engages in a sweeping socio-historical survey of book history.

In his characteristically brilliant and eccentric voice, avoiding both triumphalism and despair, he argues forcefully that the book is no victim. Instigating as much as reacting, the book has been made and remade since its birth. In the drama of publishing, it remains the protagonist. Above all, the Business of Literature is an honest assessment of the enterprise of publishing - how we've done it, how we do it, and why it's worth doing in the first place.