Book publishing is the entire process of converting a manuscript into a complete book made available to readers. For hardcopies, this process passes through the editorial, typesetting, design, illustration and printing stages while for ebooks, printing is excluded in the process. Book publishing consists of turning the final draft of a manuscript into something that readers can find and read. Though the book industry may not be as economically viable as other media industries especially radio, television, and newspaper industries, its intellectual impact in the society is huge. In respect of culture for instance, the book industry is highly impactful.Let’s look at the types and approaches to book publishing.
Types of Book Publishing
There are different kinds of book publishing which exist in the industry.
Consumer, Trade or General Publishing
This consists of books that are read for pleasure especially in leisure time. They are referred to as consumer, trade or general books. Publishers in this category produce novels, biography, cookery books, among others. Such books are primarily sold in bookshops (either physical or online), at airports or stations, and at supermarkets. They could also be downloaded from online retailers, or direct from a publisher’s website. Several authors of trade, general or consumer books often work through an agent (or literary agent) saddled with the responsibility of representing their business interests. The agents help authors develop a thriving career. They also negotiate contracts on behalf of publishers and others who wish to make use of their clients’ work. There are agents who also publish e-books (electronic books) for their clients. The agents ensure that their clients’ works adapt to the dynamism brought about by digital technology in the book publishing and selling industry. Social media and several online platforms are used to promote such books to reach wider audience. Among the major international trade publishers across the world are the Penguin Random House, and (in the UK) Hachette, HarperCollins and Pan Macmillan.
Educational Publishing
This kind of publishing primarily focuses on production of textbooks, supplementary reading materials, teachers’ notes, exercises, digital teaching materials, tests and diverse other teaching and assessment aids. Content of educational publishing is basically premised on the needs of the curriculum, educational structure, and linguistic and cultural norms of a particular national or state government (Smith & Bold, 2018). Some of the biggest global companies in this sector are Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, McGraw-Hill and Macmillan.
Academic, Scholarly and Reference Publishers
This consists of publishing research based journals and other materials containing studies done by scholars and researchers in higher institutions and research centres. In the publishing industry, there are companies that specialize in disseminating research works done by people working in higher institutions research centres, and studies sponsored by various organizations across the world. Companies that focus on this kind of publishing are among the biggest in the industry. Most of these publishers today publish such works primarily in digital form, with some of them still having hard copy versions. Among the major Scientific, Technical and Medical (STM) publishers include Elsevier, Springer Nature, John Wiley & Sons and Taylor & Francis. Large university presses are also popular in this sector. These companies primarily target academic libraries, with the products made available through a subscription business model (Smith & Bold, 2018). Today, the Open Access format brought about by the digital era is reforming the traditional approach to academic publishing.
Approaches to Book Publishing
The process of book publishing could be done in different ways referred to here as approaches. This has to do with how the process of production is handled and who is involved in overseeing this process. Here are major approaches to book publishing.
Traditional Publishing
This is the conventional publishing approach where the publisher selects a manuscript, bears the costs involved in the entire process of publishing and pays the author royalties for publishing the book. The publisher takes charge of editing, formatting, cover, publishing, distribution, and promotions. The publisher also bears the risks where the publication cost is not recouped from sales. In some instances, big authors are even offered an advance payment on future royalties, at least to keep them with the company. But first-time authors basically start earning royalties from the first book sale. Big traditional book publishing companies in the world are Pearson, McGraw Hill Education, Macmillan, Springer Nature, Thomson Reuters, RELX Group, Bertelsmann, Heinemann, among others.
Self Publishing
This is a publishing approach where authors involve themselves in the production of their works. They do not involve established publishers. In self publishing, the author is involved in designing, preparing, printing, and promoting a book. Even where experts are involved in the design and other aspects of publishing, the author directly hires and supervises their works. This is also a major kind of publishing in the book industry. It might be cost effective but it is always better to involve established publishing houses in getting a book published based on the professionalism such companies bring to the table. They also undertake the risk in terms of cost of production.
Writers have been self-publishing since the advent of the written word. Some authors start off their careers by self-publishing. They begin with a small press to publish their work and that of other writers. There used to be a stigma associated with self-publishing but that has lessened in recent years especially with the impact of technology on the book industry. According to Smith and Bold (2018) the advent of the internet, blogging services and POD (print-on-demand) technology, the proliferation of self-publishing platforms (such as Lulu.com and CreateSpace), the rise of crowd funding platforms (such as IndieGoGo), the growth in e-book sales, and the success stories of a number of high profile, self-published authors (such as Amanda Hocking) has meant that self-publishing is now firmly established as an important part of contemporary publishing. Most of self-publishing done today is through e-books. Self-publishing is gradually becoming a strong part of mainstream publishing, especially as it has to do with ebooks. For instance, Amazon launched a literary prize – The Kindle Storyteller Prize – for self-published e-books, which further integrates self-publishing into the publishing mainstream (Smith & Bold, 2018). This is a viable publishing option an upcoming author could consider, instead of letting your manuscript die because established publishing houses did not accept it.
Vanity Publishing
This is a concept used to describe a form of self-publishing. Vanity publishing refers to a situation where the author pays for the cost of book production. This is different from conventional publishing where the publisher pays the author for the content. A vanity publisher is a company that helps authors to self-publish their books. They collect upfront payments and embark on the production of books with their expertise and professional input in pre-roduction, production and post-production (marketing) strategies. But in self-publishing, the author does the production supervision directly, and cuts costs by so doing. The author personally hires individual professionals (designer, editor, production company etc.) required at each stage of the work which may involve people from different establishments.
Publishing companies prefer this business arrangement especially where the book is unlikely to sell many copies to recoup the cost of publication. Vanity publishing is also a kind of self publishing but the term sounds derogatory due to the perception that a publisher is not willing to pay for the work probably because it is sub-standard. So the term “self publishing” is preferable. It could be that the publication is in a niche area and the publisher might not want to take the risk by experimenting with publication cost no one is sure might be recouped.
Vanity publishers are often contracted where the author feels they do not have the time or inclination to do the work directly. Rather the author prefers to get someone who knows the job to handle the publishing work. That is how the vanity publisher gets involved in assisting authors to self-publish their works. The vanity publishers understand the process, have the vendors, and know what books need to be ready for publishing.
Basic difference between vanity publishers, self publishers and traditional publishers
The basic difference between these kinds of publishers is in the control and supervision of production process, including payment and earning methods. Vanity publishers help authors self-publish their books. The author pays the vanity publisher for editing, formatting, cover design, and often marketing and promotions of the book to make sure it is visible in the market. Using the vanity publisher is basically far more expensive than just self-publishing your own book but the professional input might be higher when handled by vanity publisher. The vanity publisher also typically requires an upfront payment and but does not take royalties from book sales. The contract ends with publication of the book.
In traditional or conventional publishing, the publisher does not charge the authors any money. The authors are actually paid for their books. The publisher handles editing, formatting, cover, publishing, distribution, and promotions. They share royalties with the author for all book sales. The basic difference between the three publishing types is in the mode of payment, payment for the production, bearing of risks, control/supervision of production, and earning format.
If you do not exercise caution in selecting a vanity publisher you could get duped. People who are not familiar with the publishing industry may not know the difference between these kinds of publishers and they get scammed even without realizing it. This often happens in this era of e-publishing where there are several vanity publishers online who might be wrongly seen as traditional publishers by unsuspecting customers. Some vanity publishers could even advertise themselves as “hybrid publishers” even when they are only doing vanity publishing. It is the responsibility of the author to do thorough research and identify if the company is really what it says it is.
In summary, the vanity publishers require upfront payments for their services. They do not usually distribute your physical books to bookstores and libraries. For e-books published on Amazon, the publishing is done under the author’s Amazon account. Remember they are helping authors to self-publish their book. They do not take royalties from the books they publish. If a vanity publisher offers to split royalties then there is a possibility of scam involved. This is because you are pre-paying for the book as a self-publisher. But when such publishers appear online some people may not understand the difference.
Trade publishing does not cost the author any money. The trade publishers bear all the risks hoping that the book will sell enough copies to make a profit for both them and the author. This kind of publishing is done under the publishers registered company name and not the authors’ personal company name of Amazon account (for e-books). The trade publishers distribute the books to many physical and electronic locations.
In self-publishing you do everything yourself, from finding designers, editors, and formatters, to paying them for their services, and uploading your own book online. This process cuts production cost but you also have to be careful with quality of production not just saving cost.
Self-publishing and vanity publishing have the same end result. Whether it is done by the author or a vanity press, the book will be self-published under the author’s personal company name (if they have one) or Amazon account (if this is the e-platform the author is using). Royalties are sent directly to the author. For ebooks, the author a can personally track book sales through his account on the e-platform used in self-publishing.
Hybrid Publishing
Many big book publishing companies in Nigeria are hybrid publishers, combining the different methods of publishing. There are self-publishers in the country who even have small printing presses for handing their works and other people’s jobs. Many companies advertise their services online as hybrid publishers combining both vanity and traditional publishing. Caution must be taken while contracting vanity publishers online in order not to be scammed. You have to consider which publishing type is most cost-effective and economically viable before choosing an option.
Print-On-Demand (POD) Strategy
Print-On-demand (POD) is a kind of printing which consists of printing copies of a book or any material only on request. It is a business process in which book copies are only printed when a company receives an order for them. It uses a technology that allows prints of single or small quantities.
Print on demand option makes it possible for you to pay for what you sell. This means you operate at little to no capital risk. You also do not need to handle inventory space or shipping, which means you can focus on how to boost sales and grow your business. Experienced freelancers can also be hired to do quite a lot of tasks especially in the area of looking for clients, processing orders, following up with clients, promoting books, among others. Sarmins (2018) summarizes the advantages of POD as follows: It has low startup cost; It is quick to set up, especially with evolving web design technology with themes, guides, plugins, and templates available and easy to use; there’s no need for inventory space; it is easy to experiment with product designs since there is little to no risk involved; there is access to international markets; it provides opportunity to build up your own unique brand.
The POD publishing technique also has few disadvantages. Among them are as follows (Sarmins, 2018); (i). You need a reliable and trustworthy supplier (online platform such as Shopify) who maintains high production and order fulfillment standards at all times. This is because you do not have control over the production process. (ii). Since there is low entry barrier, it means anyone can easily join the business, meaning that you need to build up your brand and market your store well because of fierce competition. You might need an expert freelance marketer. (iii). Finding a profitable niche (book genre to focus on) might take time. You might need an expert to learn the ins and outs of the POD business. (iv). There might be added cost with domain registration, plugins, payment gateway, and paid ads. Though these features cost extra, they also give you a competitive advantage. You can hire a freelancer to develop your website and oversee these operations while you take the monitoring position.
(Adapted from the Book: Media Economics and Sustainability)
