There is no secret to why this happens. It's just corporate CYA mentality- they're protecting their jobs in an insecure economy.

If one of the publisher's minions advises the boss to go with a book from a less than universally known author, he/she is a hero if the book is a smash. But what happens if it fails?

It depends on the nature of the book. If the tome in question ought to (by the accepted formula) appeal to the 90%, US bullshit believers, the minion skates- could have happened to anybody. If the book is aimed at everyone but will probably only really appeal to the remaining 10%, you either deliver that tithe or get shown the door.

Risk takers do not seem to last very long in the salaried world of today. Take a risk and get a hit, you're a hero, but no bigger hero than the fellow who got a hit taking little to no risk.

The same is sadly true for American television. Survivor, for example, was a big hit (after the oncept was already tested on your side of the warming waters) and we are now up to our thinning follicles in reality tv shows, making Marshall McLuhan sound like a true prophet.

Marketing research will be the death of us all. TV, news coverage, politics, book choices- to succeed on a regular basis, you must pander to the lowest intellectual common denominator because that group is most easily separated from their cash, votes and attention spans.