Call me a utopian, but I believe every entrant to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award would chuck the contest, the reality-show format, and all the tips on how to hype your book for a sense of cultural belonging. The Amazon “community” suggests a world in which everyone can publish a book, within a public space that may lead you belatedly to a special destiny. Of course, this community isn’t unionized, socialist, or cooperatively owned: far-reaching powers of inclusivity (a community anyone can join) often seem synonymous with far-reaching powers of exclusivity (be with Amazon or be alone). For the time being, the Amazon Breakthrough Novel seems less a promotion for the entrants than for the corporate sponsor, and the winner each year, no matter who wins the contest, is Amazon.com. This hints at a publishing revolution, though like many revolutions before it, it doesn’t look to be the one the revolutionaries truly needed, or sometimes thought they were fighting for. +