Well, I'm not sure it was ever all that great, esp. for the rank and file, but I would guess it's ratcheting down across the board now. Macmillan has gone from having a sales conference in a ritzy hotel in San Diego to a Web meeting.
I do disagree a bit with something uber agent Amanda "Binky" Urban says in the article, "Ms. Urban said some of the more lavish practices could not be sustained by a slow-growth, low-margin industry that can’t charge luxury prices. “Books can only support a certain retail price,” she said. “It’s not like you have books that can be Manolo Blahniks and books that can be Cole Haan. Books are books. A book by James Patterson costs the same as a book by some poet."
Books by Patterson are routinely discounted 30 percent or more by Amazon and big chains. Good luck finding a poet in the same category.
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