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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/37740
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/37740
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

It depends on the genre. The purpose of a story is to give pleasure to the reader. Learning things is certainly one of life's pleasures. In historical fiction, for instance, readers often take the story as a kind of history text and expect to learn things about the period. In age of sail novels, a large part of the attraction is learning about the methods and the customs of the sea.

In thrillers, details of weapon systems and military procedure are often highly valued. Tom Clancy is a good example of this. John Grisham's readers in part take pleasure from learning something about the law and the operations of courts and lawyers. Forensic shows rely very heavily on the learning element, even though much of what they say about forensic procedure is bogus -- to the extent that it has become a problem for courts and police.

There are genres of cosy mystery in which the detailing of meals and their preparation is considered an integral part of the pleasure of the book.

Children, who are, for the most part, avid learners, often value the learning aspects of their novels.

In fact, the interest in learning things is so great that some readers will invest huge amounts of time and effort in learning made up things. Thus some successful fantasy novels get companion encyclopedias and bestiaries for people who just can't get enough of the world. Thus some readers obsess over the blueprints to the Millenium Falcon.

This has to be distinguished, however, from the novel of didactic intent. The didactic novel exists to teach, and the teaching is wrapped in novel form precisely because the reader does not believe that the reader will be interesting in learning this subject any other way. Such didactic novels are usually abysmal as stories.

But that does not mean that publishers are not interested in them. Book publishers are in the business of selling books. It is no skin of their nose if the books go unread. Thus they may well buy pedantic books to sell to grandparents or teachers who want to try to use them to force unpalatable learning down a child's throat. The aims of the grandparents and teachers are seldom satisfied by this approach, the the aims of the publisher are.

In short, publishers will publish what they think they can sell, and this includes both books that included teaching as part of the pleasures offered, and didactic books that are bought by intermediaries with the intent to covertly educate the intended reader.

Original score: 6