The trade publishing industry has long been stable. Recently this stability has given way to struggle. In light of these struggles this paper sheds light on the industry by utilizing organizational ecology’s theoretical framework. Out of these many theory fragments, this study focuses on the impacts of age, size, generalization, and environmental factors. The established understanding of these theory fragments indicates that each fragment, particularly age and size, has a complicated relationship with mortality. By discovering the impact of each of these theory fragments on trade publisher mortality this study adds to the discourse of both organizational ecology and trade publishing. This study finds no conclusive connection between age or size and trade publisher mortality. This disconnect between these factors and mortality indicates that the relationship cannot be grasped by linear terms. There was, however, a strong connection between both specific environmental factors and generalization and trade publisher mortality. These connections indicate that a broader scope of operations increases trade publisher survivability and that there is a direct relationship between technological availability and trade publisher mortality.