Revised edition of: The publishing business: from p-books to e-books / Kelvin Smith.

"An irresistible book about Grub Street, authorship and the literary marketplace."—Washington Post Book World Jason Epstein has led arguably the most creative career in book publishing during the past half-century. He founded Anchor Books and launched the quality paperback revolution, cofounded the New York Review of Books, and created of the Library of America, the prestigious publisher of American classics, and The Reader's Catalog, the precursor of online bookselling. In this short book he discusses the severe crisis facing the book business today—a crisis that affects writers and readers as well as publishers—and looks ahead to the radically transformed industry that will revolutionize the idea of the book as profoundly as the introduction of movable type did five centuries ago.

Publishing is undergoing a sea change. Technology has transformed the relationship between writers and readers and many people suspect that publishing as we know it can't survive. And yet, publishing remains a popular career choice for many creative graduates. The Publishing Business is an invaluable guide to understanding what book publishing is and what it might become. Using popular and current examples, Kelvin Smith demonstrates that to succeed, publishers must prove their commitment to producing accurate, attractive and well edited content, their ability to innovate pioneering digital technologies and their dedication to promoting their titles to new audiences. If your ambition is to succeed in the world of publishing, owning a copy of The Publishing Business is a must. Ideal for students wanting to discover which part of the publishing process is for them, and all those who wish to fully grasp the debates and industry developments revolutionising publishing today.

These are turbulent times in the world of book publishing. For nearly five centuries the methods and practices of book publishing remained largely unchanged, but at the dawn of the twenty-first century the industry finds itself faced with perhaps the greatest challenges since Gutenberg. A combination of economic pressures and technological change is forcing publishers to alter their practices and think hard about the future of the books in the digital age. In this book - the first major study of trade publishing for more than 30 years - Thompson situates the current challenges facing the industry in an historical context, analysing the transformation of trade publishing in the United States and Britain since the 1960s. He gives a detailed account of how the world of trade publishing really works, dissecting the roles of publishers, agents and booksellers and showing how their practices are shaped by a field that has a distinctive structure and dynamic. This new paperback edition has been thoroughly revised and updated to take account of the most recent developments, including the dramatic increase in ebook sales and its implications for the publishing industry and its future.

This volume provides an innovative and detailed overview of the book publishing industry, including details about the business processes in editorial, marketing and production. The work explores the complex issues that occur everyday in the publishing in

Essays from twenty-seven leading book editors: “Honest and unflinching accounts from publishing insiders . . . a valuable primer on the field.” —Publishers Weekly Editing is an invisible art in which the very best work goes undetected. Editors strive to create books that are enlightening, seamless, and pleasurable to read, all while giving credit to the author. This makes it all the more difficult to truly understand the range of roles they inhabit while shepherding a project from concept to publication. What Editors Do gathers essays from twenty-seven leading figures in book publishing about their work. Representing both large houses and small, and encompassing trade, textbook, academic, and children’s publishing, the contributors make the case for why editing remains a vital function to writers—and readers—everywhere. Ironically for an industry built on words, there has been a scarcity of written guidance on how to approach the work of editing. Serving as a compendium of professional advice and a portrait of what goes on behind the scenes, this book sheds light on how editors acquire books, what constitutes a strong author-editor relationship, and the editor’s vital role at each stage of the publishing process—a role that extends far beyond marking up the author’s text. This collection treats editing as both art and craft, and also as a career. It explores how editors balance passion against the economic realities of publishing—and shows why, in the face of a rapidly changing publishing landscape, editors are more important than ever. “Authoritative, entertaining, and informative.” —Copyediting

Part-memoir, part-history, The Business of Books is an irascible, acute and often passionate account of the collapsing standards of contemporary book publishing. It has appeared throughout the world in seventeen different editions. Book jacket.

Thoroughly revised and updated throughout, the second edition of The Business of Digital Publishing provides an essential introduction to the development of digital products in the book and journal industries today. Offering a fundamental overview of the main technological developments that have influenced the growth of digital publishing, the author introduces students to the key terms and concepts that make digital publishing possible. The four key publishing sectors (professional reference, academic, education and trade) are explored in detail, providing students with the technical literacy to understand digital developments and examine the growth of new business models. In this edition, sections have been updated to address the growth of audiobooks, reading apps, metadata, and open access, while original case studies address key issues such as digital-first publishing, EPUB, social media and crowdsourcing. Also covered are the key issues and debates that face the industry as a whole, such as pricing and copyright, and their impact on the industry is explored through relevant case studies. Taken together, the chapters examine the challenges of digital publishing and explore the opportunities it provides to develop new and diverse audiences. The Business of Digital Publishing remains an invaluable resource for any publishing student looking for a starting point from which to explore the world of digital publishing.

Publishing is a rapidly changing business, and this comprehensive reference is right in step--covering operations, finances, and personnel management as well as product development, production, and marketing. Written for the practicing professional just starting out or looking to learn new tricks of the trade, this revised and expanded fourth edition contains updated industry statistics and benchmark figures, features up-to-date strategies for creating new revenue streams such as online marketing and sales and e-book publishing, and provides new information on using financial information to make key management decisions. More than two dozen highly practical forms and sample contracts for immediate use are also included.