In the publishing industry twenty-some years ago, there was critically (i)____, prize-winning, beautiful writing that doesn‘t sell, while audience-oriented popular work, often written to formula, published to meet a well-understood demand. This opposition was called ―the literary vs. the (ii)____‖; the literary set donned tuxes for awards dinners while the other gang paid the bills. By the early 1990s, though, every book was to pay its own way. The (iii)____ alone were to be our measuring sticks.

The apposition of prize-winning, beautiful writing, next to the blank indicate that the word for the blank should be acclaimed. Since the there is an opposition between prize-winning literary work that doesn't sell, and popular work which paid the bills, the word for the second blank should be commercial. Since by early 1990s, every book was to pay its own way, sales numbers alone were to be the measuring sticks.