This is the question of the day from G. Many mornings the first thing G does is to come up to me and ask me a question out of the blue. Today's question -- who decide what books to sell? I explained to him the traditional book business first. There are publishing houses, with editors screening authors and books for quality of content. "Grammar and spelling?" G asked? Yes but also whether the stories and contents are age appropriate, whether it is interesting that people would want o buy it.
I named a few publishers for him, and tell him to check the spine of some of the books in our library. Sometimes publishers are known for the type of books they sell. "A lot of your books are by Scholastics" I told G. Where as many of my computer books are by Wiley.
We also talked about the self publishing market. The good news is that anyone can publish a book now, print or electronic. The bad news is, quality varies. "Do you want to publish a book?" I asked him. "No, was just wondering" -- his typical answer.
Updated: The next morning, after his usual morning reading time, he showed me his book and pointed out the publisher's name on it. I guess this is still on him mind.