More on the artist-intermediary tension

(Previously: On category obsession disorder)

Further to my thoughts on the potential or real influence of intermediaries on an artist’s work…

According to Tom Keymer (2020), we might never have heard of Jane Austen, her novels never published at all, “had she not met the market halfway” (Jane Austen: writing, society, politics).

I find this a little disturbing (although I'd want a bit more specificity around the term 'halfway'). It seems to suggest that Austen's exquisite precision of language was shaped to a significant degree by market forces. Really?