From book culture to amazon consumerism. Does the digitization of the book industry lead to commercialization?

Abstract

The book market is one of the last media markets affected by digitization, so the question is whether this market follows the same patterns as other media industries before. Our study analyses if these digitization processes lead to a stronger market orientation and thus commercialization of a market that traditionally has been understood as a market of cultural goods. We conduct a market analysis and a survey among writers, publishers and booksellers in Germany and Switzerland to answer this question. Our findings support the notion of an increased market orientation among publishers and booksellers. However, the tendencies towards commercialization cannot be attributed to digitation alone but might happen even without it.