Earlier this week New York City journalist, Wall Street partner, and bestselling novelist Michael M. Thomas offered some curmudgeonly opinions about the publishing world.

Most dramatically, the author of Love and Money said: "You have large publishing companies essentially run by young people who aren't interested in reading books. What they are interested in is lunch." After the post, a few GalleyCat readers weighed in with passionate rebuttals.

One reader wrote: "I find myself personally offended by Mr. Thomas' statement ... We need more young people and variety so that the industry can go back to its roots of creativity. If there is an issue with young people who are not reading, I would argue that that stems from the blatant nepotism which runs rampant in the publishing world."

Another reader made a different point: "Most, if not all, of my young colleagues and friends in publishing have come into this industry because we all love reading books. We certainly did not go into because it pays well. So to say that the large publishers are run by young people who are not interested in reading books is just ignorant."