The agents of globalization in the book market

The globalization of the book market has been largely the work of a specific category of intermediaries: literary agents. Trends towards isomorphism at the most professionalized pole of the global book market stem from imitation by competition and the spread of professional standards. US dominance in the global publishing industry has gone hand in hand with the dominance of English-speaking literary agencies and the rise in the share of translations from English. But the mechanisms leading to isomorphism are countered by differentiation, as our interviews with agents in ten different countries have shown. This homogenization around Anglo-American standards was thus counterbalanced by a hybridization and diversification process, opposing two conceptions of “diversity”: ethnic, and cultural. This multifaceted domination has forced dominated or declining actors to reorient their strategies. State agencies have adapted these standards, as in the case of the Israeli agency and the French Publishers Agency that we discuss alongside two independent agencies, Astier-Pecher and Raya, which are betting on authors located at the periphery of the market.