Decisions

This goes for books as well as for movies: there seems to be a real lack of scientific basis behind the decisions that go into which books are published (and which movies are produced). I read an article in the New York Times (maybe it was a year ago) describing all the major flops in the book publishing industry. Books with advances of 600k or 700k that for some reason didn't sell. I get the sense that people in charge are so focused on replicating successes of the past ("The Horse Whisperer did well? Oh, let's publish 10 more books about horses!") they don't realize that sometimes the products which perform well are successful in their strangeness and idiosyncrasy, something very particular about the execution itself. People in charge make conservative, sloppy (short-sighted and fear-driven) decisions that don't reflect good business acumen OR a commitment to art and quality. I doubt extensive polls or comprehensive data are used and who knows if the conversation producing these decisions is primarily anecdotal and intuition/emotion driven--or if there is really a substantial discussion concerning the style and form of the work at hand. Capitalistic greed I can understand. Purity and idealism I can understand, too. But something vague, lukewarm, and murky in the middle I can't.