How did the book publishing industry switch from a marketing cycle, led by the principle that an author's thought should always dictate a book's tempo, to one based on merchandizing, characterized by the universal triumph of global communications to the detriment of thought ? In this book, Eric Vigne — after having examined the consequences of this upheaval within the writing world — strives to understand this trend from the perspective of publishers' practices. He discovers that every media channel (press, media, and distribution)
now revolves around the myth of the "new modernity,“ which sacrifices everything to speed in favour of the present moment. Yet the author feels that this transformation is not inevitable, and that there is still some leeway that will allow publishers to keep on trading ideas.

Eric Vigne works as the Editorial Director of Social Sciences and Humanities in an independent publishing house.