There is something intrinsically wrong with the way today’s publishing world behaves. There was a time when hundreds of independent publishers together created an ever-evolving canon of culture. They had busied away in their respective niches, publishing a truly diverse range of titles and series, whilst balancing the books with a handful of bestsellers. Editors made editorial decisions, not accountants.

When, in the 1980s and 90s, the corporate publishing houses went on a spending frenzy and snapped up large numbers of smaller independents, the breadth and depth of published titles were severely squeezed. The culture of corporate profit, over range and quality, had taken its grip. Every published book – or ‘units’ as they are often now called – had to bring in a profit. The result has been a market-driven industry in which publishers fight over the same literary middle ground.

This is just one small example of the detrimental effects that capitalism has on diversity, and its deliberate instigation of inequality. To read this will inevitably lead many people to conclude that voices outside the corporate mainstream have not survived. Yes and no. Their number has undoubtedly shrunk, but independents still thrive. Indeed, walk into any decent independent bookshop and they are all there. Voices galore.

LitCrits, in its own little way, is fiercely determined to confront this status quo, by bringing back to people’s attention those independent voices which challenge capitalism and social inequality through the culture of literature.