PUBLISHING INDUSTRY

In the broadest sense, the publishing industry would include newspaper publishing, magazine publishing, music publishing, map publishing, government information publishing, comic book publishing, and book publishing. This entry, however, will be restricted to the modern book publishing industry.

Publishing may be defined as the commercial dissemination of literature or information in multiple copies and with the probability of multiple formats (e.g., paper, electronic, CD-ROM, microfilm, microfiche). Publishing is a business, and as such, it embraces the values of competition, sales, and profit. Publishers are as concerned with accounting, marketing and advertising, shipping and distribution, and inventory control as they are with their products—the intellectual, artistic, and cultural creations of the authors. The publishing business often operates under the tension of highly divergent interests. An author's creative works or specialized knowledge may not meet the market values of profit, popularity, and standardization.

Publishing requires authors to create content. Editors work with authors to improve the writing. Scouts look for authors who have stories that may be profitable for the publisher. Literary agents work with authors to represent and protect the interests of the authors. Lawyers work with both the author and the publisher to finalize contracts. A publishing house usually divides its operation into editorial, design, production, publicity, sales, distribution, contracts, rights (e.g., translation, foreign republishing, licensing), and administration. Publishers must also work with printers who create the multiple copies or printings of a work, information processors who make works available electronically, distributors who pack and ship the finished product, and consumers (e.g., booksellers, libraries, school systems) who buy the content to resell at a profit or lend as a service.

While publishing is a complex combination of commerce and culture, it is much more multifaceted than that. It involves controversy (such as censorship, whether for political or propriety reasons), ethical considerations (related to authenticity, libel, plagiarism, and copyright), value considerations (with regard to taste, propriety, and aesthetics), international issues (including translations, politics, diplomacy, and markets), social conditions (related to literacy and education), and philosophical concerns (over authorship, com-modification, and commercialization). All of these are key factors in the publishing industry.

As for the physical product of the publishing industry, all books can be divided into the following categories: (1) trade books, which include both hardback and paperback publications that are available in easily accessible retail outlets, (2) religious works such as devotionals, scriptures, and prayers, (3) textbooks for students ranging from kindergarten through graduate or professional school, and (4) scientific, technical, and medical books. Trade books, which can obviously be divided into paperback publications and hard-back publications, can be further divided according to the age of the intended reader and the specific content. Adult books are generally intended for readers who are nineteen years of age or older. Juvenile books, which are intended for those individuals who are younger than nineteen years of age, can be further divided into books for young adults and books for children. The broad content genres for trade books are non-fiction, fiction, drama, and poetry, but these can each be divided into more specific sub-genres. For example, fiction can be divided into romance, mystery, westerns, science fiction, fantasy, adventure, military, historical, horror, and thriller, as well as the emerging areas of splatterpunk, cyberpunk, and prehistoric epics. Within each of these sub-genres, there are also niches that satisfy specific audiences and interests, such as African-American romance, urban fantasy, glitz and glamour romance, and technothrillers.

Literacy, Education, and Libraries

Publishing depends on both writers and readers. People read books for many different purposes. Those readers who purchase or borrow a book for voluntarily reading may be looking for recreation or inspiration. Those readers who purchase or borrow a book because it is required reading are looking for specific information. Publishing is intricately tied to literacy, education, cultural institutions such as libraries and museums, and societal respect and support for education and an educated populace. Authors need safe environments for free expression; they need time to think, write, read, and revise. The social conditions of peace, stability, and security are helpful for a healthy publishing environment, but war, instability, and insecurity can sometimes create an environment that encourages an active authorship and readership. Access to literature through a free public library system can create a large reading public and a guaranteed outlet for selling certain publications. Although public libraries are often thought of as a triumph of democracy, communist countries have also been supportive of libraries. Vladimir Lenin and his wife were strong supporters of libraries, and Cuba, with its high literacy rate, has an official government library system as well as, since 1998, a system of "independent" libraries (which are not part of the official government system).

Literacy, education, and the right to opinion and expression are essential for human dignity. In fact, the United Nations, in its Universal Declarationof Human Rights (1948) states: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers" (Article 19). "Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit"(Article 26). "Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits. Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author" (Article 27). Many nations have their own statements on the freedom to read, write, and disseminate information and knowledge. These political and social structures are important to the publishing industry.

Authors, Writers, and the Publishing Process

The term "author" can refer to many different situations in the publishing industry. An author can be a commodity, a name brand that sells titles to an eager readership, an individual or a succession of creators who contribute to a series. An author may be a ghostwriter—someone who writes for another person. In many cases, a pseudonym is an assigned name under which many different authors may write—for example, the Stratemeyer Syndicate, which was created by Edward Stratemeyer, chose a pseudonym for each of its series, including the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew series, but multiple authors contributed to each series. An author may be a professional who makes his or her living by writing and may be under contract to one publishing house. An author may be an amateur who is defined by some other circumstance or occupation, such as a prisoner, student, teacher, policeman, doctor, lawyer, or housewife.

The relationship between a publisher and an author is defined by a contract, which generally stipulates what the content of the manuscript will be, how and when it will be submitted, who is responsible for proofreading, and what amount the author will be paid—in initial payments and in royalties. (Royalties are additional payments that are made to an author for each copy of the work that is sold.)

The publication process follows a standard sequence that is often modified according to the type of book that is being produced. The basic stages are as follows:

1. An author writes, revises (as many times as necessary), and then submits a manuscript to a publisher. This submission can be unsolicited (i.e., submitted directly to the publisher by the author) or solicited (i.e., submitted through a literary agent), but it should be noted that many publishers do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.
2. If a publisher agrees to consider a manuscript, it is then assigned to an editor for review.
3. The editor reads the manuscript and makes a recommendation to the publisher about publishing or not publishing the work. If the manuscript is essentially publishable, the editor and author work together to develop a contract and to polish the manuscript before sending it to the compositor.
4. The book is copyrighted and assigned an International Standard Book Number (ISBN).
5. While the manuscript is being polished, a designer develops specifications for an interior design and creates a cover that is appropriate to the manuscript and will attract the attention of potential readers.
6. A compositor typesets the polished manuscript according to the specifications that have been created by the designer and provides pages for proofreading, correction, and approval.
7. While the manuscript is being typeset by the compositor, the marketing department develops strategies to create interest in the book. Prepublication information is sent to bookstores and libraries to entice them to order the book. Advance copies are sent to reviewers so that information about the book—what it is about and how good it is— can appear in newspapers, magazines, and over the Internet around the time the book is actually published.
8. While the marketing department is busy creating interest in the book, the approved typeset materials created by the compositor are sent to the printer/binder, who produces multiple copies of the work and prepares them for shipment.
9. An author tour is arranged where the author participates in radio and television interviews and reads portions of the book at bookstores, libraries, and cultural centers.
10. Sales representatives attend book fairs and trade shows and visit bookstores and other retail outlets to sell the book.

Publishing Houses

Historically, publishing houses were relatively small family-owned businesses, but they have evolved into multinational corporations, many of which are publicly traded on the various stock exchanges (e.g., Elsevier is listed on the Amsterdam, London, and New York Stock Exchanges). Some houses are subsidiaries of corporations that are centered on the entertainment industry. Other houses are minor subsidiaries of corporations that have little else to do with literature and publishing. The effects of corporate mergers and acquisitions are shaping the modern book industry in ways that are yet to be determined.

Some of the major houses in the history of publishing include Elsevier, Macmillan, Longman, Charles Scribner's Sons, and Harry N. Abrams. Elsevier, which was founded in 1583 by the Dutch family Elzevir (or Elsevier), is a publisher of scientific literature. It is often cited as the first important European publishing house. The Elzevirs were businessmen, and their business of printing and selling books grew as literacy increased across Europe. Macmillan was founded in 1843 by Daniel and Alexander Macmillan. These Scottish booksellers and publishers created one of the largest and most influential publishing houses of textbooks and works of literature and science. Long-man was founded in 1724 by Thomas Longman when he bought a British bookshop and publisher. It is an imprint known for its textbooks and important monographs in the social sciences and humanities. Charles Scribner's Sons, one of the first important American publishing houses, was founded in 1846. It is notable for its legendary editor Maxwell Perkins, who assisted F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe, and many other giants of twentieth-century U.S. literature.Harry N. Abrams, an American publisher of art books, was founded in 1950.

These historic publishing houses, which represent just a small portion of the publishing houses worldwide, have not been immune to the corporate practices of buying, selling, and merging of companies and imprints. Longman is now a subsidiary of the publishing house Addison-Wesley, Longman. The Macmillan company operating in the United Kingdom has no connection to the Macmillan companies in the United States, and even the Macmillan companies operating in the United States are not all owned by the same corporation. In addition, Scribner reference books are no longer published by the same corporation that publishes Scribner trade books. New names that have grown in importance in the publishing world are Bertels-mann, Viacom, Time Warner, and Disney. Bertelsmann is a German publisher that has purchased American publishers such as Doubleday, Dell, and Random House. Viacom, a global mega-corporation with entertainment interests in film, video, television, amusement parks, and sports teams, purchased American publisher Simon & Schuster in 1994 and subsequently sold off several of its imprints. Time Warner is a corporation that publishes books, operates book clubs, and owns large segments of the communication and entertainment industry. With the announcement of its merger with America Online, the synergy of publishing (production and distribution of cultural content) with electronic multimedia points to the future of the dissemination of information, ideas, knowledge, and art. Critics are concerned that these types of mergers and acquisitions will lead to the "corporatization" of culture. The prominence of the Disney Corporation, which owns movie studios, operates theme parks, and licenses characters that were not created originally by Disney (e.g., Winnie-the-Pooh, Pinocchio), has critics asking the question "Can companies own culture and thus control it?" With the foreign acquisition of publishing houses, those who study the publishing industry also ask if there are dangers in having foreign ownership of a nation's information outlets. For example, does it matter if Germany publishes American textbooks? Will content and editorial changes occur that may not be in the national interest of those people who are purchasing the books? Or will it make no difference to have foreign ownership of publishing houses?

University presses were initially created to publish the specialized works written by the faculty members of the respective universities. The presses later developed into publishers of scholarly works that were not restricted to those written by an institution's own faculty and students. Traditionally, university presses have not been expected to make a profit, but rising costs, diminishing resources, and shifting values regarding education and profitability are pressuring university presses to print books that have a wider popular appeal. For example, in 1999, Northeastern University Press published a new edition of Peyton Place, a popular 1956 novel about New England life. In other cases, university presses have been sold to commercial publishers. In July 2000, Iowa State University agreed to merge Iowa State University Press (founded in 1934) with Blackwell Science, an international scientific and technical publishing company. Some important university presses include Oxford University Press (founded in England in 1478), Harvard University Press (officially created in 1913, but Harvard has published faculty materials since the seventeenth century), and University of Chicago Press (established in 1891). The last press is also the home of the definitive work in manuscript preparation: The Chicago Manual of Style.

Vanity Presses are publishing houses that publish books at the authors' expense. Often considered unscrupulous, vanity presses rely on the authors wanting so strongly to see their works in print that they will pay all of the expenses of having the books published. However, book distributors, bookstores, and libraries generally do not purchase books printed by vanity presses, and reviewers do not accept them to review for journals, newspapers, and magazines. Therefore, although it is published, there is very little recognition of the work. Electronic self-publishing on the Internet is modifying how some authors get into print. Similar to the vanity presses, websites that allow for self-publishing are changing the avenues for new voices to be heard and read, but unlike vanity presses, websites are somehow not yet tainted with the association of narcissism. Other forms of electronic publishing mimic the traditional format of the publishing process with the exception that the author publishes the work online first and then has it picked up by a major publishing house. Websites that allow for authors and publishers to negotiate rights in an auction format are part of electronic publishing.

Publisher Associations

Publishers have organized international, national, and regional associations to protect their interests. They also collect statistics and follow trends in the field regarding technology, commerce, trade, taste, and new markets.

The International Publishers Association (IPA) was established in Paris in 1896 to serve as a worldwide organization of the individual national associations, which are recognized as representative of the book and music publishers in each country. The office of the secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland. The IPA has a statement on the "Freedom to Publish," collects and maintains statistics on publishing as reported by member nations, and celebrates "World Book and Copyright Day" every year on April 23.

The national book publishers associations include the Association of American Publishers, the Bulgarian Bookpublishers Association, the Canadian Publishers Council, the Den Danske Forläggerforening (Denmark), the Cámara Ecuatoriana del Libro (Ecuador), the Egyptian Publishers' Association, the Syndicat National de l'Edition (France), the Ghana Book Publishers Association, the Icelandic Publishers Association, the Federation of Indian Publishers (India), the Ikatan Penerbit (Indonesia), the Book Publishers Association of Israel, the Japan Book Publishers, the Fédération Luxembourgeoise (Luxembourg), the Malaysian Book Publishers' Association, the Cámara Nacional de la Industria Editorial (Mexico), the Nigerian Publishers Association, and the Philippine Educational Publishers' Association.

Book Fairs

Publishers, authors, agents, and scouts attend international, national, and regional book fairs. They show their wares, attract new clients (e.g., authors, translators, booksellers, book buyers), discuss trends, buy rights to works (e.g., foreign rights to publish or distribute a book in a country other than the original country of publication), make licensing agreements, and attend meetings, seminars, and training programs. Regional book fairs, such as those held in Frankfurt, Guadalajara, and Zimbabwe, are important for highlighting the works published in various countries. Given the large number of countries in the world, international and regional book fairs are important to the publishing industry. Some the most important fairs include the Frankfurt Book Fair, Book Expo America, the Bologna Children's Book Fair, the Guadalajara International Book Fair, the Zimbabwe International Book Fair, the New Delhi World Book Fair, the Asia International Book Fair, the London Book Fair, and the Havana International Book Fair.

The Frankfurt Book Fair was established in 1949 in Frankfurt, Germany. This annual six-day event, organized by Ausstellungs und Messe GmbH (a subsidiary company of the German Publishers' and Booksellers' Association), is the world's biggest international trade fair for publishing. This is an important event for publishers to attend if they wish to obtain information about the international publishing industry.

BookExpo America, formerly known as the American Booksellers Association Convention & Trade Exhibit, is another one of the largest fairs in the world. Usually held in Chicago, this event showcases books in all formats (e.g., paper, audio, comic books), presents new technology and services for publishers, and shows sideline merchandise such as greeting cards, calendars, stickers, and other non-book products for bookstores. It is an education forum that looks at the business of books from many viewpoints.

The Bologna Children's Book Fair, which has been held in Italy since 1963, is uniquely devoted to children's publishing. Organized by the Bologna Fiere Group, this fair includes textbooks and reference works as well as picture books and works that feature licensed characters. Exhibited works exist in a variety of formats, including paper, electronic, and multimedia.

The Guadalajara International Book Fair was founded in 1987. Organized by the University of Guadalajara, it is one of the most important book fairs for Latin American and Spanish-language materials. Its goals are to promote and consolidate the Mexican and Latin American publishing industry and to contribute toward encouraging reading among children and young adults.

The Zimbabwe International Book Fair is the most important annual book event in Africa. Administered by an independent trust (comprising a broad cross-section of Zimbabwe's book industry) and attended by some of the major writers of the continent, this fair provides the opportunity for the free interchange of ideas and expression between those people living in North Africa and those living in sub-Saharan Africa—as well as between Africa and the rest of the world.

Organized by the National Book Trust at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, the New Delhi World Book Fair occurs every other year. The fair highlights India's eleven thousand publishers, the multilingual publishing industry of India, and its world presence as the third largest publisher of English-language books.

Held in Singapore and organized by the Reed Exhibition Companies, the Asia International Book Fair is a trade event that serves the growing intellectual property rights market in Asia. It is a unique marketplace for the buying and selling of rights for publishing, reprinting, distribution, translation, and co-edition of books in print or electronic format.

The London Book Fair was established in 1970 and targets a wide variety of publishers, booksellers, and printing services. It also features a variety of non-book products that are of interest to readers and book buyers.

Since 1990, the Havana International Book Fair has highlighted the literary achievements and strengths of Cuba. Although the United States has a trade embargo with Cuba, some of the larger U.S. publishers participate in the event regularly.

Book Festivals and Awards

Many cities celebrate books and reading by organizing festivals. Often these festivals account for a high percentage of a book's overall sales. For example, in the United Kingdom, it is estimated that 50 percent of all children's book sales are made through book festivals or school book clubs. Some festivals concentrate on local or regional authors or on authors who have a connection to the state, province, or city. Cities may hold many book festivals in the course of a year. Some examples of book festivals held in the United States include the Harlem Book Fair (New York City), the San Francisco Bay Area Book Festival, the Great Basin Book Festival (Nevada), Bumbershoot (Seattle), the Texas Book Festival, the Virginia Festival of the Book, and the New York is Book Country Festival (New York City).

Book fairs and festivals are not the only ways to recognize outstanding works. Publishers, professional associations, and governments honor authors by presenting awards for books of unusual merit. Often, awards are presented for works that are published in specific categories. For example, the National Book Awards given in the United States bestow honors in the areas of fiction; poetry; arts and letters; history and biography; and science, philosophy, and religion. These awards are important to both publisher and author because the honor raises their profile, attracts attention, and generates interest in reading and the exchange of ideas. Some of the other important book prizes and awards include the Nobel Prize for Literature, the Pulitzer Prize in Letters, the Caldecott Medal, the Newbery Medal, the Booker Prize, the Prix de Goncourt, and the Black Caucus of the American Library Association Literary Awards.

Censorship, Banning, and Embargo

Because publishing is the human communication of ideas, desires, information, and knowledge, publishers often face attempts to stop their dissemination of literature. The reasons may be political (e.g., if a ruling government wants to suppress publication of specific ideas), or the reasons may involve personal tastes (e.g., if a person or group believes that a publication contains obscene material).

Publishers vehemently protect the right to free expression and often provide support when a specific publisher's rights are being infringed. For example, in the United States, a joint legal defense fund was launched by what some may consider to be unlikely allies: the American Booksellers Association, the Association of American Publishers, Playboy Enterprises, and Penthouse International. These four entities came together in response to the 1985 Meese Commission, which sent letters to convenience stores saying that if they sold the Playboy and Penthouse magazines, then the commission would identify them as stores that sold "pornography." In this case, a Federal District Court ruled that the commission had overstepped its authority.

Sometimes publishers come up against national laws and international access. Adolf Hilter's Mein Kampf cannot be sold in Germany, but it can be (and is) published and sold in the United States. When Amazon.com, a U.S.-based online bookstore, was filling orders that German customers had placed for Mein Kampf, German officials objected and cited German laws for banning sales of hate literature. As a result, in 1999, Amazon.com stopped selling Mein Kampf to German customers. In 1989, the American Association of Publishers published The Starvation of Young Black Minds: The Effects of Book Boycotts in South Africa in an attempt to have books excluded from the economic embargo against South Africa under apartheid. The publication did not have the desired effect, and books remained part of the sanctions while they were in effect.

The notions of taste and what is acceptable are not universal. What may be acceptable in one culture may not be acceptable in another. In 1978, a Swedish sex education book for children was deemed obscene in the United States because of graphic nudity. Some governments, such as the Canadian government, subsidize cultural production, which is a practice that is praised by some and criticized by others as a form of government interference. All countries have unique characteristics, customs, and philosophies that shape their respective publishing industries. In spite of those unique elements that are related to specific countries, it is clear that all publishers still struggle with the concepts of free expression, social responsibility, cultural taste and propriety, and intellectual freedom.

International Publishing

While figures for new titles published in the United States generally fall between 55,000 and 75,000 books per year and the Publishers Association of the United Kingdom indicates that British publishers produced more than 100,000 new titles in 1997, these are not the only two countries in the world that have a publishing industry. In fact, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has reported that, for example, Egypt produced 2,215 new titles in 1996, while Iran produced 15,073 new titles, Israel produced 30,487 new titles, Japan produced 56,221 new titles, Argentina produced 9,850 new titles, and Peru produced 612 new titles. Specific international cities that are known for their strong publishing houses and communication industry include—in addition to the American cities of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago—the cities of Buenos Aires, Toronto, London, Paris, Vienna, Florence, Milan, Zurich, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Leipzig, Singapore, and Tokyo.

The global exchange of ideas and literature, however, is complicated by inequalities between developed and developing nations. Access to raw materials (e.g., paper, ink, glue) and technology, opportunities for authors to write, currency exchanges, diplomacy, politics, war, tariffs, taxes, and distribution systems (e.g., postal services, roads, shipping) are all key factors that can vary from country to country. Consider the variations that exist in Africa, Central Europe, Latin America, Asia, and North America.

The publishing of African authors by African publishers has continually grown since the 1960s. With the emergence of independent African nations after World War II, national pride and postcolonial scholarship fueled the publishing industry. However, challenges such as economic recessions, chronic foreign exchange constraints, war, famine, drought, and political unrest have impeded the development of a robust publishing industry for the African continent. In 1989, a group of African publishers organized to found the African Books Collective, a self-help initiative that was established to promote, sell, and distribute African books in European and North American markets and to promote an intra-African book trade. The African Books Collective is registered in the United Kingdom, and books are shipped from its United Kingdom warehouse. The Swedish International Development Authority supports the African Books Collective website, which helps librarians, educators, and general readers find African books to buy. African publishing still reflects colonial influences, so the industry may generally be divided into Francophone (French-speaking), Lusophone (Portuguese-speaking), and English-speaking markets, in addition to the markets for the native languages and dialects of the many African nations.

With the break up of the former Soviet Union, Central European nations (e.g., Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania) moved from communism and state-owned publishing companies to free market economies and a new horizon for publishing. Challenges in Central Europe include foreign exchange rates, political changes, attempts to nurture local authors and increase interest in a nation's classic literature, and the need to balance the new influx of Western European and North American literature with indigenous literature so the culture is not homogenized. Still, there is a concerted effort to build the infrastructure of technology, expertise, and distribution and to re-create the publishing industry in the Central European nations.

Latin American nations are producers and consumers of Spanish-language and Portuguese-language works. Many of the region's nations have strong educational systems with fine universities that produce high-quality scholarship. Recognition of the importance of the translation process has allowed many Latin America authors and poets to reach readers in other countries around the world. More similar to Africa, or perhaps Central Europe, than to North America in terms of robustness of the Latin American publishing industry, the main Latin American book producers and exporters are Cuba, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Venezuela, and Brazil.

Asia, the world's largest continent, also features a large diversity in its publishing industries. Japan, with its high literacy rate and excellent educational system, has a strong publishing industry that is characterized by quality content and some of the highest standards for the physical aspects of publishing (e.g., paper, ink, binding, and color quality). China, on the other hand, has a long and strong book tradition, but a climate of suppression and government control stifles publishing and the import and export of cultural materials. Singapore, with its cosmopolitan population and British ties, has poised itself to be part of progressive Eastern-Western publishing activities. Western publishers and Australia look to Asia as a profitable marketplace. India, the third largest publisher of English-language works is a major player in Asian publishing and in worldwide publishing.

In North America, there is a shared popular culture, there is a shared language (i.e., English, although French and Spanish each have a strong presence as well), and there is a free trade agreement among Canada, the United States, and Mexico (although Mexico is culturally and linguistically more aligned with Latin American publishing). The face of publishing in the United States is changing. Entertainment industries (e.g., film, television, music, radio) are merging with the publishing industry. Many U.S. publishing interests are being purchased by European or Australian interests. Small publishing houses are becoming minor parts of large corporations. The context of publishing in the United States is one of free expression, regionalism, and corporate synergy. Also influencing publishing in the United States is an increase in the Spanish-speaking population and the need to create and provide materials in Spanish. Canada publishes in two languages (English and French) and supports the idea of multilingualism. Canadian publishing exists in an expansive country with a sparse population. There too is strong regionalism, which affects taste, content, and distribution. Canada's proximity to the United States and strong ties to the United Kingdom also affect what is imported, sold, and read. The Canadian marketplace is dominated by foreign products, but these connections also allow Canadian artists and scholars to have their works distributed throughout the world.

The Future in Publishing

In developed nations, time for reading books as a source for information, education, and recreation competes with television, the Internet, computer games, videos, music, and radio. In response, publishing has broadened its base and views the book as just one component of the cultural and educational whole. Multimedia productions of computer software, CD-ROMs, and maps are changing the definitions of publications, as is the development of e-books. The publishing industry is embracing the change.

Developing nations, however, continue to struggle to acquire the raw materials and technology that they need to produce works. They also face obstacles from developed nations that may resist purchasing the published works because they consider the printing to be inferior or because they question the intellectual value of the work.

Despite the inherent complications involved in the publishing industry around the world, as long as the fundamental human urge to communicate remains, publication of the expressions and findings of human endeavor will continue.

See also:Editors; Intellecutal Freedom and Censorship; Libraries, Functions and Types of; Magazine Industry; Newspaper Industry; Pornography; Pornography, Legal Aspects of; Printing, History and Methods of; Publishing Industry, Careers in; Storytelling; Writers.

Bibliography

Council of National Library Associations and R. R.Bowker Company. (annual). Bowker Annual of Library & Book Trade Information. New York: R. R. Bowker.

Greco, Albert N. (1997). The Book Publishing Industry.Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Johnson, Deidre. (1982). Stratemeyer Pseudonyms and Series Books. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Kobrak, Fred, and Luey, Beth. (1992). The Structure of International Publishing in the 1990s. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.

Korda, Michael. (1999). Another Life. New York: Random House.

United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. (1996). Statistical Yearbook. Paris: UNESCO.

Lorna Peterson