ABSTRACT
The best publishers are ethical and have standards, but the business has no fixed rules or ethical codes of conduct and editor can dismay but not be disbarred by editor’s peers. Publishing as a business is regulated, to be sure, by state and local governments; by the Federal Trade Commission, Securities and Exchange Commission. Apart from the varieties of publishing—textbook, professional and scientific, religious, reference, mail order, small press—each publishing house partakes of other businesses or professions. Many businesses claim to be market oriented, to care about the customer, yet almost none attempt to be so responsive to so many audiences of such varying sizes, interests, tastes, and needs. In business, practitioners are becoming somewhat more sophisticated. The computer is seen either as all-purpose splendid solution or ominous omnipresence, and the desk calculator is at everyone's hand, including the editor's.
