“Eager to boost sales, Borders says it will emphasize market research, a discipline largely shunned by an industry that prizes creativity as much as profit. Book editors buy manuscripts largely on the basis of personal taste; and unless an author has a track record, books are sold to the chains largely on faith and buzz. Now Borders will begin aggressively using such techniques as focus groups, exit interviews and polling–and ask publishers to help pay the freight.”
—Borders Sets Out to Make Book Business Businesslike, Wall Street Journal, May 20, 2002
