A chance for left books to press ahead
Manifesto Press editor Nick Wright previews the launch of the new publishing houses first batch of titles. (Morning Star Monday 2nd November 2009)
Some 100,000 books are published every year in Britain. This is five times the number published in the late 1960s when the post-war "bulge" generation and the expansion of higher education began to change Britain's demographics.
The tightening grip of the media monopolies means best-sellers, celebrity titles and heavily promoted authors dominate sales.
Serious non-fiction is in decline, independent and specialist booksellers face hard times and critical and oppositional publishing - books that challenge the ways things are - struggle to find a space in the marketplace.