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A Closer Look at Publishing
The publication and distribution of printed material is the basic definition of publishing. Some traditional examples of publishing include newspapers, magazines, and of course books. Other more modern examples of publishing include blogs, e-books, and websites. Publishing is a long and complicated process which encompasses all areas of developing, production, and marketing of a product. It is also a multi-million dollar a year industry. The first step in the publishing process is the work of the author to develop and hone a piece of written work. That finished piece of work is then submitted by the author or their agent to a publisher. The writer will submit a proposal or query to the publisher to determine whether they wish to publish the product. The majority of publishers will only accept those manuscripts which they have solicited. There are many pages of writers dreams which end up in the slush pile of publishers that do accept unsolicited manuscripts each and every day. It is the job of an editors assistant to read their way through the slush pile to find manuscripts which the editor may be interested in publishing. Since most published authors already have relationships with publishers the majority of unsolicited manuscripts are from those authors who have yet to be published. After accepting a particular manuscript the editor will often ask the author to make revisions. Each publishing house employs a staff whose primary job it is to read through manuscripts to ensure proper style and grammatical correctness. Sometimes authors are asked to add in new scenes or information which changes the manuscript significantly. Publishers usually will also employ fact checkers to make sure the information presented by the author is accurate. Other major parts of the printing process include cover art, paper quality, proofreading, and typesetting. Most large publishing houses will control the marketing and advertising of a new book, although some smaller companies will hire outside firms to handle this. Subcontractors are also used by smaller publishing houses for editing, layout, and proofreading. The in house salesperson in many publishing companies is being replaced by subcontractors who specialize in the sale of books to wholesalers and retail outlets around the world. When an outside company completes the main steps of the publishing processes from finding the manuscript to printing it is known as book packing. The final package is them sold to another publishing company. Often a publisher will hire a writer to produce a book on a particular topic to match a preconceived marketing concept. Common literary genres where this is found include young adult books and science fiction novels. Many in the publishing industry are facing significant challenges posed by the internet. The mega online bookseller Amazon is even considering its own imprint. Some of the larger publishers are getting on board with partnerships with on demand printing printing companies and major retail chains. Many publishers are also beginning to sell some of their products directly to consumers over the web.
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