The Publishing Business

The Publishing Business
By Jonathon Hardcastle

If you love books, then we probably share the same fascination with publishing. Ive always wondered how an idea ends up as a book and how the author and the publishing house make money from the books publication. I finally learned about the business first-hand when my wife introduced me to her friend, Carol, who worked in a major publishing company. It turns out that the publishing business was far more interesting than I could have imagined.

The process begins with a manuscript, which is known in the publishing business as the copy. Publishers are able to get copy through three basic ways. They can commission established and known writers to write a manuscript for them. They can bid on the new works of bestselling and well-known authors. They may receive contributions from other writers.

The first two ways are pretty straightforward and comprise the great majority of published works that we find in bookstores today. The third on, accepting unsolicited contributions is pretty tricky and oftentimes resembles the act of trying to find a needle in a haystack. There are literally thousands of new manuscripts submitted by aspiring and unpublished writers to publishing houses every week. They are compiled into a slush pile which editors sift through methodically. About 99% of these contributions end up in the wastebasket. The chances of a new writer getting published are that tough. But those that manage to end up in that publishable one percent often go on to have successful and lucrative careers as professional writers. For a new writer, perhaps the most prudent way to approach a publishing house is to first submit a query or a proposal. If the new writer is fortunate enough to get a literary agent, then his chances of getting published increase greatly.

After finding a piece of copy that it wants to print, the publishing house begins negotiations with the writer or his agent. The main things they have to decide on are how much the writer is entitled to receive for his intellectual property and what kind of royalties he will get from book sales.

Editorial work to rewrite or improve the manuscript proceeds shortly after that, followed by design and artwork. Once this is done, the book proceeds to printing, but the process doesnt end there as the book still has to be effectively distributed and promoted.

Jonathon Hardcastle writes articles on many topics including Business, Employment, and Shopping

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