My Odyssey Through Book Publishing Today
I am a successful publisher. I found this out a few days ago in my quest to have my latest novel, The Business Plan, Perpetual Life for the Rich and Famous, set to print.
My company publishes computer software. The process one goes through today to bring a book to market is similar to the process software houses go through to bring a computer program to market. So, without having to go back to school, I have some experience with modern publishing techniques.
Prior to WWW, there were major differences between book publishing and software publishing, the principal one being the technology used to deliver source material to end users. Publishing houses accepted author manuscripts [like in hand-written], set them into type [like in Ben Franklin], and delivered printed books to readers via bookstores [like by pony express]. In contrast, software houses accepted source code in Ascii text files on computers from programers, automatically converted them to machine language code and electronically shipped the resultant programs to end-user computers.
While this horse&buggy/millennium falcon comparison of the pre-Web state is overdrawn, it is only slightly so. All software users have computers, making it easy for softrware houses to be 100% digital from start to finish. Today all 1.03 billion Web users worldwide have computers, or access to them. This now makes it possible for book publishers to go digital. The Web is facilatating a paradigm shift in literary publishing.
The median aged [34 years] U.S. citizen was taught about literature by the previous generation [54 year olds] of English majors when romantic stories about Hemmingway, Steinbeck, et al. and relationships with their agents and publishers abounded. Now, all the mystique associated with relationships between great authors and their well-known publishers has evaporated — bad news for classic book publishers, but good news for yet-to-be-famous authors like you and me.
V.N.
I am a successful publisher. I found this out a few days ago in my quest to have my latest novel, The Business Plan, Perpetual Life for the Rich and Famous, set to print.
My company publishes computer software. The process one goes through today to bring a book to market is similar to the process software houses go through to bring a computer program to market. So, without having to go back to school, I have some experience with modern publishing techniques.
Prior to WWW, there were major differences between book publishing and software publishing, the principal one being the technology used to deliver source material to end users. Publishing houses accepted author manuscripts [like in hand-written], set them into type [like in Ben Franklin], and delivered printed books to readers via bookstores [like by pony express]. In contrast, software houses accepted source code in Ascii text files on computers from programers, automatically converted them to machine language code and electronically shipped the resultant programs to end-user computers.
While this horse&buggy/millennium falcon comparison of the pre-Web state is overdrawn, it is only slightly so. All software users have computers, making it easy for softrware houses to be 100% digital from start to finish. Today all 1.03 billion Web users worldwide have computers, or access to them. This now makes it possible for book publishers to go digital. The Web is facilatating a paradigm shift in literary publishing.
The median aged [34 years] U.S. citizen was taught about literature by the previous generation [54 year olds] of English majors when romantic stories about Hemmingway, Steinbeck, et al. and relationships with their agents and publishers abounded. Now, all the mystique associated with relationships between great authors and their well-known publishers has evaporated — bad news for classic book publishers, but good news for yet-to-be-famous authors like you and me.
V.N.
posted by jakeane at 11:01 AM
0 comments
