'his teaching background shows in this clear, detailed and
extremely knowledgeable guide to the business of book publishing.
The very last section considers career paths in publishing and
will be extremely useful for anyone contemplating working in publishing
or trying to figure out how to get into it.
Inside Book Publishing provides an excellent introduction to
anyone with a professional interest in publishing.
'No writer
equipped with this book need ever feel like an ignorant outsider again.' |
The author is Deputy Manager of the
Copublishing Department at the Open University and his teaching background
shows in this clear, detailed and extremely knowledgeable guide to the
business of book publishing. This is the third edition and provides an
up-to-date picture, covering the many changes currently taking place in
publishing.
First, he gives a short history of how book publishers have evolved from
family houses to international media corporations, dealing separately with
general (or trade) and other types of book publishing. He goes on to
describe the different sectors of publishing, how they respond to their
own markets and have become quite different businesses.
Next he starts at the beginning of the publishing process with the signing
of the author contract and describes, with a great deal of useful detail,
how each book goes through the various stages until it reaches the
bookshop shelf. This section covers copyright, contracts, authors’ agents,
the impact of the Internet and book packagers.
His next chapter looks at the process and the people, giving a clear
picture of the function of each department and how they work together. His
explanations of what the different departments - design, production,
rights, sales and so on - do are illuminating and put everything into
context.
Finally he looks at the business of publishing, how books are costed and
the considerations which have to be taken into account to run a successful
publishing company. If you want to know about the business aspects of
publishing, this short section provides a clear description. As he says: ‘Successful
publishing is founded on contracting good books that sell and each new
book is a business in its own right contributing or not contributing to
the business as a whole… The decision to take on a new book is the crux of
the whole enterprise.’ This chapter provides the inside story of
publishing as a business and makes it easier to understand what is going
on inside your publisher.
The very last section considers career paths in publishing and will be
extremely useful for anyone contemplating working in publishing or trying
to figure out how to get into it.
Inside Book Publishing provides an excellent introduction to anyone
with a professional interest in publishing. It is the most clear and
specific guide to publishing I have ever read. Although it focuses on
British publishing for its examples, any reader would get a good grounding
in what publishing is all about, with a lot of useful detail about every
aspect of the business. It provides a comprehensive overview and answers
so many questions about why publishing works the way it does. No writer
equipped with this book need ever feel like an ignorant outsider again.
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