Introduction

Commercial publishing is not a slow-paced genteel hobby to nurture literature or poetry without reference to the market, or a continuance of academic study, or a vehicle to express and propagate one’s own particular views. Risk taking is inherent in the business: while prepared for failures, a publisher, as an eternal optimist with a short memory, forever searches for and expects success – sure in the belief that future rewards will more than exceed past losses – the last mistake seemingly the worst.