Highbrow and Lowbrow: Why Book Categories Don't Serve Avid Readers

For too long, publishing professionals, ourselves included, have been chasing the largest possible audiences. But in this episode we tried to take our experience and apply some finer lenses to focus on the far-more diverse independent market.

We dug into some new research about book readers and their preferences, and discussed the common biases of highbrow and lowbrow book culture. While not immediately obvious, this distinction may offer more helpful way to understand why fiction is dominated by genres, and also why it's such a struggle to find books and book communities that transcend those familiar marketing categories.

Links to the readings mentioned:

"The Omnivore Dilemma," by Laura B. McGrath: substack.com/home/post/p-176741258

"The Publishing Industry Has a Gambling Problem," by Tajja Isen: TheWalrus.ca/the-publishing-industry-has-a-gambling-problem/

"Freedom Without Belonging: The American Spiritual Predicament," by David Morris: dvdmorris.substack.com/p/freedom-without-belonging-the-american

Publishing Disrupted is at PublishingDisrupted.substack.com

Mick Silva is at MickSilvaEditing.substack.com

David Morris is at dvdmorris.substack.com and LakeDriveBooks.com