Role of the Publisher - Case Study Example

Introduction Book publishing is believed to be a responsibility not just a business. In a business perspective, a publisher’s goal is to satisfy thewants and the needs of the readers, circulating ideas through the market, making profit for the publishing company that is needed to pay the publishers, editors and writers, and rendering taxes (which allow the government to earn money, too) (Greco, p.6). Publishing a book has a process, it is not merely printing and selling the book. It involves a complicated process of negotiation, editing, production and distribution. Publication of a book is not an easy business. However, book publishers face the dangers and competition of the new digital technology that is continuing to develop in the present times. This endangers book publishers as digital technology makes available texts and materials through the World Wide Web without the need of traditionally publishing the book. This technology also endangers the wages paid for the editors and authors as books are reproduced without the need of negotiating copyright and intellectual property rights. Traditional book business is not at all consistent. It is an uncertain business due to the changing demands and needs of the readers. Also, its uncertainty lies within the genre, with the author, with the title and with the content that the book publishers produce. It does not mean that a book is published, it will automatically sell. It is always a gamble for the publishers. Readers’ preferences change over time, and it cannot easily be determined what the people want and need. This results to a complex dynamics of book publishing. As with the economy, there are also periods of success and recession for the book industry. And with the rise of the digital technology, book publishers are more troubled and jeopardized. There might be a possibility that book publishers will soon be numbered because of the easier process of digital technology. The History of Books Publishers have a key role in describing and explaining the history of books, and how they have come to its existence since they have the richest resources at hand, in terms of negotiation papers and copies of books and information. This indicates that the history of books and the role of publishers in this arena is more on the social, economic and political perspective as the information that can be gathered indicates the mutual benefits between books, authors, publishers and the readers. The unfortunate circumstance is that publishers tend to see these information as waste and rubbish, the reason why such information are not as preserved as the books themselves (Darnton, p.19). Publishing and printing has been the book industry’s road to a success in its early days. This has been influenced greatly by the use of paper versus parchment, as paper proved to cost less than parchment. Printing became victorious during the 1400s and 1500s when paper mills began sprouting like mushrooms in Europe (Fenvre and Martin, p.41). A technical revolution in printing, from using hand press to machines, increased rapidly the production and demand for books. This paved way for more publishers to gain increased profits. Models in Explaining the Role of the Publishers Following the history of books can explain the role and the progress of publishers. The publishers’ roles are not only focused on the economic realm of the book industry but also in the cultural development of the society. In the scene from the past, the publisher is the middle man between the author and the readers, that is if the bookseller doesn’t take on the role of the publisher. An author transacts business with the publisher in word to transform words into printed material, in order to distribute it and allow readers to transforms the printed words into thoughts once again. The author and the publisher work together and negotiate the rights for the book for the author to gain access to the world of distribution, which is the world of the booksellers. The author sells his rights to the publisher and allows him to publish and replicate the work in order to sell it to the readers. In this process, the author gains his audience and the publisher gains his profit. The negotiation between the author and the publisher makes it easier for the author to find his audience and make his mark in the information world, spreading the knowledge that he has wrote within the society. Darnton explains the role of publishers in a diagram showing a circuit of communication, indicating interdisciplinary perspective in the role of publishers in the book industry. It runs from the author to the publisher to the printer, shipper, bookseller and reader (Howsam, p.31). Darntons model is like a closed electrical circuit that ends and starts with the relationship of the author and the reader. This has been criticized by Adams and Barker, in which they created a model of their own describing the study of books and implicating the primary role of publishers. They argue that in publication, the intellectual, political and religious views of the publisher determine the survival and manufacturing of the books, social behavior and taste influences the reception of books and the survival of the books, and commercial pressures impacts the manufacture and distribution of books. In Darton’s model, the book’s purpose ends when it has served its purpose, but in Adams and Barker’s model, books can be redistributed and transformed depending on the reception and pressures that it takes. Adams and Barkers model shows that the role of the publishers is as important as the author, as their personal perspectives affects the survival and manufacturing of the books, as it depends on the reception and distribution. The publishers insert their own perspectives, in a way, by publishing books that are aligned with their personal beliefs, and in turn, gives direction to the books’ lifespan. Printing and publishing books is not as easy as it looks. There is a cost to the reproduction of books. The capital of publishers is not easy to raise as the cost of paper and publishing materials, including the costs of buying the rights of the material they are reproducing are not cheap. The eternal challenge of the publisher is getting back this capital, and this is hard when the book they have published sells slowly. In this case, it was difficult to gain back the capital that they have raised to publish the book. Publishers were not only concerned with the content of the books that they publish. They are also concerned about the appearance of the books. With this, the mark of the publishers began to adorn the pages of the books. Before, it was only a mark of their printers, but soon it became a distinguishing mark of the publisher who published the book, much the same as what the recent times see in the title page, wherein the publisher’s name is printed with the author’s name. By the end of the 15th century, nearly all books have title pages though not as precise as today’s title pages (Fenvre and Martin, p.85). McDonald sees Darnton’s model in a different light, takes it and makes it three-dimensional. The publisher has a more prominent role that in Darnton’s model, in which the publisher’s shape, format and marketing program used in publishing the book shapes the life of the book. Compared to Darnton, McDonald does not mainly see the function of the agents in the process of material production of books. He is more concerned about the value of identifying an author’s or publisher’s non-discursive position in the literary field, their socio-economic station apart from their location within the literary discourse (Howsam, p.40). The Role of Publishers through Time The publisher’s role have changed over time. This is because of the changes in the technology and developments in the book industry. The publication process also changes because of the redefinition of the traditional copyright control, as well as, the inclusion of institutional and subject based repositories in the mainstream (Kreitz and Brooks, p.155). The traditional role of publishers includes dessimination of books and materials. Aside from printing and publication, they also provide the context of the book through quality checks and grounds the publication within a wider scope (Rebelsky, et.al., p.460). Because the publisher is concerned about the social, economic and political aspects of the book industry, he is likely to edit the work of the author depending on his personal perspectives, suggesting changes in the organization, content and structure of the work (Rebelsky, et.al., p.466). As indicated before, publishers are concerned about the appearance of their published books so they design and format of the books in order to have a better presentation. This indicates that the author’s work when published is not purely his own but is marked by the publisher’s image or design (Hsiao, p.295). This influences and affects the impact of the book in the reader as it is being utilized. In a way, there is competition between the author and the publisher’s voice as both is internalized within the published book. The rise of digital technology and multimedia publishing has its effects on the role of publishers. Multimedia publishing involves several mediums such as text, figures, photographs and print. The previous unilinear model of the role of publishers have evolved in a more complex model including the influences and impacts of other roles involved in the process of establishing intellectual property rights and supporting the publication process. This includes roles of lawyers and archivists and the process of planning, evaluating, building, merging and evolving in the world of publishing. The publisher’s role can be limited or diverse based on their position and skills, and their capability to adjust and adapt to the changes in the technology of the book industry. This includes multimedia publishing and electronic publications through digital technology. In this context, the publisher’s roles include the construction of the accompanying software, merging the content into the software and extension of both software and content (Rebelsky, et.al., p.471). With continuous technological developments, the cost entry for future publishers will be minimal, requiring only the upkeep of the editorial group and its immediate support services without the expense of traditional distribution facilities and multilayered management (Epstein, par.12). Advertising costs will be reduced by the use of social networking sites and other internet sites catering to the audience. However, this also endangers the role of publishers in the book industry. As authors find the means to self-publish their books, they will not have to negotiate reproduction and distribution anymore retaining all net proceeds from traditional and digital sales (Epstein, par.12). This way they maximize their profit by monopolizing writing and publishing their works. This reduces the work of publishers as they begin to be rejected and ignored by these self-publishing authors. This reduces the profits of publishers, as less authors come to them and there are lesser books to publish. Whereas before, authors sell their work’s rights to the publishers to reproduce and distribute their works, authors now can write, produce and distribute their materials without the help of these middlemen. Authors can now reach their audience directly through the complicated system of international networking. There is, however, a key challenge to this as it has been a significant challenge for publishers. It is the unauthorized reproduction of these materials. As the work becomes widely publicized using the World Wide Web, there is lesser control on the use and reproduction of the books. Authors may lose profit because of the unsecured availability of the electronically published materials. There is more control in the printed world as the publishers are able to mark their works and make deals with distributors, and there are laws that can cover such instances that is not yet available when new technology is involved. Epstein explained in his work Book Business: Publishing Past, Present and Future that publishing has two future trends based on the technological advancements of the present times: book publishing firms will cease to exist and that printed books will be replaced or at least coexist with electronic books (Greco, p.287). He argued that this is due to the changing market conditions, the emergence of remote managers and media conglomerations and a change in attitude regarding editorial standards. Publishers have been bypassed because of agents and the independent work that is offered to authors. Online distribution supplemented physical display of books, thus, emphasizing that the world today in greatly influenced by the digital technology. From the traditional role of actively managing the editing, publishing and distribution of books, publisher’s roles have either been limited or increased by the digital technology. The only thing that has remained is their conscious role of creatively structuring the presentation of materials, whether printed or electronic. This indicates that the publisher’s mark in the creation, editing and publishing of books remains. The traditional role of publishers and the maintenance of the costs in publishing have changed because of the increasing technologies that minimizes costs and maximizes production. The challenge remains in advertising and selling books in order to return their investment from purchasing the rights of the book and maintaining the reproduction and distribution costs. Conclusion Through time, publishing has a great influence in the book industry. The role of publishers serve as the middlemen between the authors and the readers. Publishers are not only concerned about the economic aspect of the publishing process but also the social and political aspect of it. Models have been created to create a picture and explain the industry’s process. These models have changed through time dependent on the economic and social values present in the society. Whereas in the earlier years of the publishing industry, there is much importance placed on increasing the connection and communication between authors and readers, as indicated by Darnton’s model, the recent years have been explained through the cyclical model that emphasizes the more complex process of acquiring rights, negotiating with authors, editing and presenting the material with the publisher’s touch, creating and reaching the audience through advertising and distributing the books. The publisher has made its mark in the book industry as its role expanded and reduced. The role of the publisher is focused on creating the economical and social impact of the works of the authors and without them, the book industry will lose further development and improvement in the creation of new versions of materials, whether printed or electronic. The future of the publishers may seem dark but if they learn to adapt to changing technology, they would not cease to exist, as what Epstein has predicted on what the future of publishers will be. Small publishing houses may need to merge with bigger publishing houses in order to manage the increasing technological costs and the resources needed to publish books and to reach a wider audience and readers willing to purchase printed or electronic materials. Works Cited Darnton, Robert. "What is the History of Books?" eds. Finkelstein, D. and A. McCleery. The Book History Reader. London: Routledge, 2002. pp.9-26. Epstein, J. "Publishing: The Revolutionary Future." 11 March 2010. The New York Review of Books. 20 May 2010 . Fenvre, L. and H.J. Martin. The Coming of the Book. London: New Left Books, 1997. Greco, A. The Book Publishing Industry, 2nd ed. NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 2005. Howsam, L. Old Books and New Histories: An Orientation to Studies in Book and Print Culture. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, Inc., 2006. Hsiao, L. The Eternal Present of the Past: Illustration, Theater and Reading in the Wanli Period, 1573-1619. Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill NV, 2007. Kreitz, P. and T. Brooks. "Subject Access Through Community Partnerships: A Case Study." eds. Miller, W. and R. Pellen. Innovations in Science and Technology Libraries. NY: Haworth Information Press, 2004. pp.153-172. Rebelsky, S., et al. "Multimedia Publishing Systems." ed. Furht, B. Handbook of Internet and Multimedia: Systems and Appilications. FL: CRC Press, LLC., 1999. pp.457-482. Read More