|
|
Writers and editors face keen competition for these highly sought-after jobs in the industry. The ability to meet tight deadlines is crucial for most jobs in this industry. Mergers and computerization will make firms more productive and limit employment growth.
Most occupations in the publishing industry fall into 1 of 4 categories: Writing and editing; production; advertising sales and marketing; and general administration. However, variations in the number and type of workers employed occur by type of publication. For example, most book publishing companies employ few writers because most of their content is acquired from freelance writers and photographersp. In contrast, newspapers employ a number of writers and reporters, who supply the content for the paper. Also, newspapers generally perform their own printing, whereas most books and magazines are printed by companies in the printing industry. Differences also exist depending on the size of the company and the variety of media in which the company publishes.
In the printing industry, most firms are small, employing fewer than 10 people. Computerization is changing or eliminating occupations, resulting in a slight decline in projected employment. Printing occupations range in skill from those found in quick printing to specialized production occupations rarely found in other industries. In the United States printing machine operators still account for the most employment of any single occupation in the industry, at 13.3 percent. However, relatively newer occupations such as graphic designers and desktop publishers are expected to experience the fastest growth.
|
|
Everything that is published in this industry must first be written. Writers and authors and reporters and correspondents write the articles, stories, and other text that end up in publications. Writers are assigned stories to write by editors. At newspapers and news magazines, reporters usually specialize in certain categories, or “beats,” such as education, crime, sports, or world news. Writers and reporters gather information on their topic by performing Internet and library research and by interviewing people either in person or by telephone. They must then organize their material and write it down in a coherent manner that will interest and entertain readers. Copywriters, who write advertising copy, also are common in this industry.
Editors are essential to a publication. They review, rewrite, and edit the work of writers. They may also do original writing, such as producing editorials for newspapers or columns for magazines. In book publishing, they oversee the acquisition and selection of material, often working directly with the authors to achieve the final product. Most publishing companies employ several types of editors. The executive editor generally has the final say about what will be published and how it will be covered and presented. The managing editor is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the editorial department and makes sure that material produced conforms to guidelines and that deadlines are met. Associate and assistant editors give assignments to writers and reporters, oversee projects, and do much of the editing of text. Copy editors review manuscripts or reporters’ copy for accuracy, content, grammar, and style.
Other occupations that work closely with the editorial department are art and design workers and photographers, whose work often complements the written material. They illustrate children’s books, photograph news events, and design book jackets and magazine covers, and lay out every page of publications. The art director determines the overall look of the publication, overseeing placement of text, artwork and photographs, and any advertising on the page, and selecting type sizes and styles, or fonts.
|
|
Industrial production managers, with the help of production and planning clerks, oversee the production of the publication. They set up production schedules and see that deadlines are met. They also try to keep printing costs under control while maintaining quality. The production manager also determines how much it will cost to produce, for example, a 300-page textbook or an advertising insert in a magazine. In newspaper publishing, the production manager also oversees and controls the entire production operation.
Other production occupations found mainly in newspaper printing plants are prepress technicians and printing machine operators. Prepress technicians scan images and do page layout and camera work. They then process the film and make plates from it. Printing machine operators set up and run the printing presses and work with the inks. Driver/sales workers deliver the newspapers to newsstands and residential customers.
Production occupations make up 52.3 percent of printing industry employment in the United States. Prepress technicians and workers prepare material for printing presses. Included among their tasks are: Composing text; designing page layout incorporating text, photographs and illustrations, and advertisements, if any; and making printing plates of the pages. Increasingly, prepress technicians receive the material for the pages as electronic computer files, which they load into their computers, and use digital imaging software to layout the pages. “Preflight” technicians examine and edit the pages to ensure that the design, format, settings, quality and all other aspects of the automated desktop work are acceptable, and that the finished product will be completed according to the client’s specifications before it is printed.
Printing plants that use older technology, which are declining in number, may still employ people in older, manual occupations. These include typesetting and composing machine operators to prepare text. Camera operators start the process of making a lithographic plate by photographing and developing negatives of the material to be printed. Scanner operators employ electronic or computerized scanning equipment to produce and screen film separations of photographs or art to use in lithographic printing plates. Operators review all work and adjust the equipment if they need to make corrections to the original. Lithographic dot etchers retouch negatives by sharpening or reshaping the images on the negatives. They work by hand, using chemicals, dyes, and special tools. Film strippers cut the film to required size and arrange and tape the pieces of negatives onto “flats,” or layout sheets, used to make press plates. Platemakers produce printing plates by exposing sensitized metal sheets to special light through a photographic negative. Some platemakers operate machines that process the plates automatically. In letterpress and gravure printing, photoengravers photograph copy, develop negatives, and prepare photosensitized metal plates for use.
When the material is ready, Printing machine operators install and adjust the printing plate on the press, mix fountain solution, adjust pressure, ink the printing presses, load paper, and adjust the press to paper size. Operators also must correct any problems that might occur during a press run. Job printers, who usually work in small print shops, perform the prepress work as well as operate the press.
During the binding or postpress stage, the printed sheets are transformed into products such as books, catalogs, magazines, or directories. Bookbinders assemble books from large, flat, printed sheets of paper. They cut, saw, and glue parts to bind new books and perform other finishing operations, such as decorating and lettering, often using handtools.
A small number of bookbinders work in hand binderies. These highly skilled workers design original or special bindings for publications with limited editions, or restore and rebind rare books. In many other shops, bindery workers fold and fasten groups of sheets together, often using a machine stapler, to make “signatures.” They then feed the signatures into various machines for stitching or gluing. More of these workers are now using computers on the job, and consequently must learn new skills to operate the more complex machinery.
|
|
Magazines, newspapers, and directories, in particular, employ many advertising sales agents, who generate most of the revenue for these publications. Using demographic data produced by the market research department, they make presentations to potential clients promoting the use of their publication for advertising purposes. Increasingly, advertising agents sell integrated packages that include advertisements to be placed online or with a broadcast subsidiary, along with additional promotional tie-ins. This job can require substantial travel for some, while others may sell advertising over the telephone. Classified advertising sales are handled by telemarketers or customer service representatives, depending on who is making the call. Advertising and promotions managers, called circulation directors at some magazines and newspapers, study trends and devise promotion campaigns to generate new readers. They also work with the driver/sales workers to ensure that the publications are delivered on time.
Because books do not have advertising, book publishers generate sales through the use of publicity campaigns and a sales force. Public relations specialists promote books by setting up media interviews with authors and book signings, and by placing advertisements in relevant publications. Sales representatives go to places such as libraries, schools, and bookstores to promote the sale of their books.
|
|
The publishing industry, as with most industries, has a variety of general managers, accountants, and administrative support staff who help to run the company.
There are also computer specialists to keep the computer systems running and to implement new technologies. Others work as Internet website developers, who work with the design, editorial, and production departments in order to implement content changes and redesigns of Web sites operated by the publication.
But the industry also has other occupations that are unique or important to its operations. For example, publishers are the chief executives of the company. Publishers are in charge of the business side of the organization and are responsible for implementing company policies.
Subsidiary rights and permissions personnel are business operations specialists who negotiate the copyrights for material and also license to others the right to reproduce or reprint copyrighted material.
Stock clerks and order fillers and customer service representatives keep track of books in publisher’s warehouses and respond to customer inquiries.
There are also various other specialist occupations. As publications, particularly books, are published in more than one format, workers are needed to develop the new formats. Audio books, for example, require sound engineering technicians to transfer the books to tape.
In addition to specialized printing occupations, office and administrative support workers, marketing and sales workers, workers in professional and related occupations, and management, business, and financial operations workers also are employed in the printing industry. One occupation becoming more common is customer service representative; workers in this job track the various processes of production and act as liaison between clients and technicians. The representative ensures the customer’s satisfaction with the timely delivery of a high-quality product. Also important are graphic designers, who use a variety of print and film media to create and execute art that meets a client’s needs. They increasingly use computers to lay out and test various designs, patterns, and colors before printing a final design.
|
|
Meeting deadlines is one of the primary conditions of employment in this industry. Magazines and newspapers, in particular, are published on a very tight schedule and workers must be prepared to meet these deadlines. This can often make for a very chaotic and stressful environment, and employees frequently may be required to work overtime. Working nights, weekends, and holidays also is common, especially for those working on newspapers.
The average nonsupervisory worker in newspaper publishing worked 33.0 hours per week in 2002, compared with 33.9 hours per week across all industries. Within periodical publishing, nonsupervisory workers worked an average of 36.1 hours per week, and 39.5 hours per week in book publishing. Part-time employment is significant in this industry, with 17 percent working part time. Newspaper distributors and drivers usually work 5 to 6 hours a day, often in the middle of the night. Also, some telephone advertising and classified sales representatives work part time.
Writers, editors, reporters, and correspondents have the most varied working conditions. Many work from home, particularly in book publishing, sending manuscripts back and forth using electronic mail. For most writers and reporters, travel is required to perform research and conduct interviews. News correspondents for large metropolitan newspapers or national news publications may be stationed in cities around the world, reporting on events in their territory.
Many advertising sales agents also travel in order to meet with potential customers, although some sell over the telephone. Rejection by clients and the need to meet quotas can be stressful for some agents.
At headquarters, many in publishing work in comfortable, private offices, while others—particularly at newspapers—work in large, noisy, cubicle-filled rooms. Classified advertising clerks and customer service representatives increasingly work in call-center environments, manning telephones much of the day. Newspaper pressrooms are manufacturing plants that can be noisy and dangerous if safety procedures are not followed, but computerization of the machines has reduced injuries. Occurrences of work-related injury and illness for 2002 in the publishing industry ranged from an average of 1.4 per 100 full-time workers in periodical publishing to 4.2 per 100 full-time workers in newspaper publishing, lower than the average of 5.3 for all private industry.
In the printing industry, the average nonsupervisory worker in the printing and related support activities industry worked 38.4 hours per week in 2002, compared with 40.5 hours per week across all manufacturing industries. Workers in the industry generally put in an 8-hour day, but overtime often is required to meet production deadlines. Larger companies tend to have shiftwork. There is a fair amount of flexibility with shift schedules and overtime options, which are based largely on seniority.
Working conditions vary by occupation. For example, press operators work in noisy environments and often wear ear protectors. On the other hand, prepress technicians and related workers usually work in quiet, clean, air-conditioned offices. Fortunately, with the advanced technology in machinery, there is not as much strain on the eyes as in the past. Most printing work involves dealing with fine detail, which can be tiring both mentally and physically.
Even with more safety-enhanced machinery, some workers still are subject to occupational hazards. Platemakers, for example, may work with toxic chemicals that can cause skin irritations, and press operators work with rapidly moving machinery that can cause injuries. In recent years, working conditions have become less hazardous as the industry has become more automated. Also, companies are using fewer chemicals and solutions than in the past and are experiencing fewer equipment-related accidents.
|
|
In 2002, average weekly earnings for workers in the publishing industry varied by type of publication. Average weekly earnings for those working in periodical publishing were $595, for book publishing $585, and in newspaper publishing $483 compared with $506 for all industries. Writers, editors, and reporters working on major metropolitan newspapers or those with technical expertise writing for specialized magazines usually have the highest salaries. Advertising sales representatives usually earn a base salary plus an amount based on sales. The Newspaper Guild is the major union representing most nonsupervisory employees in the newspaper industry.
In the printing industry in 2002, average weekly earnings for production workers in the printing industry were $573, compared with $619 for all production workers in manufacturing. Weekly wages in the printing industry can vary significantly by industry sector ranging from $431 in commercial screen printing, to $638 in commercial lithograph printing. Average hourly earnings of the largest occupations in the industry also vary as shown in table 3.
The principal union in the printing industry is the Graphic Communications International Union. About 6 percent of printing industry employees are union members or are covered by a union contract, compared with 15 percent of workers throughout the economy, but this proportion varies greatly from city to city.
|
|
The publishing industry provided almost 714,000 wage and salary jobs in 2002. In addition, there were 39,000 self-employed workers. The industry does not include independent (or “freelance”) writers, artists, journalists, or photographers, whose jobs are included in the arts, entertainment, and recreation industry, but whose contributions of content material to this industry are significant.
Newspaper publishing companies employ the largest number of people in this industry, because they write much of their own material and typically print, and sometimes distribute, their newspapers. While newspaper publishing is done throughout the country, magazine and book publishers are based mostly in large cities. The largest concentration of publishers is in New York City. Although most establishments in this industry are small, most workers work at the largest ones.
In 2002, the printing industry had about 710,000 wage and salary jobs, in addition to 33,000 self-employed workers, ranking it among the largest manufacturing industries. More than 13 percent of wage and salary jobs were in establishments employing fewer than 10 workers. About 40 percent were in the largest industry sector—commercial lithographic printing. Printing plants are widely dispersed throughout the country; however, more specialized types of printing tend to be regionally concentrated. For example, financial printing is concentrated in New York City.
|
|