I read Richard Cravatts' essay on the book publishing industry with special interest.  I'm an author and -- more to the point -- I also own one of those 70,000 book publishing companies whose declining standards he's bemoaning.There's no question but that publishing standards have been dropping, and that far too many publishers have abandoned their traditional -- and vital -- role as "gatekeepers of our culture and knowledge."  Prof. Cravatts provides ample evidence in his essay to support this dreary claim, and I suspect that all of us could add an example or two.But his conclusion -- that in today's marketplace publishers have been "forced to transform the profession of publishing from one in which ideas were generated and preserved for society's good into a process where the pursuit of profits overshadows this primary, seemingly nobler purpose" -- is just plain wrong.  Forced -- my foot.  The cause of declining standards among so many of our...(Read Full Post)