|
|
The processes and business of making information publicly available in many forms including textual, visual and auditory is known as publishing. Publishers are those who publish material.
Traditionally publishers have been involved in the print and paper media, but increasingly other forms of publishing are becoming important, including the World Wide Web (WWW).
|
|
Book publishing is also dominated by a few very large companies, primarily based in New York City. However, some midsized and small publishers across the country are thriving, particularly those that specialize in certain subjects. Textbooks and technical, scientific, and professional books provide nearly half of the revenues of the book publishing industry. The other half consists of adult trade—which is what is typically found in a bookstore—and juvenile, religious, paperback, mail-order, book club, and reference books.
|
|
Magazine and periodical publishers run the gamut from small one- or two-person shops to large media conglomerates that may publish dozens of magazines. There are two types of magazines—business-to-business, called “trade,” and consumer magazines. Trade magazines serve a particular industry, profession, or service, while consumer magazines are written for general audiences.
|
|
Much of the publishing industry is venturing online. Newspapers, in particular, and some magazines have extensive Web sites that are updated around the clock as news breaks. These Web sites may have their own writers and editors to supply content, but, for the most part, they reformat material developed by the print publication’s regular staff. Books are also beginning to be reproduced electronically, so that they can be read on hand-held “readers” or on computers.
Computerization, in particular digital technology, is having a significant impact on the publishing industry. Digital photography eliminates the need for film processing and allows for easy manipulation of images. Electronic mail also allows advertisers to send their ads directly to the publisher’s production department for insertion. In the latest print technologies, computers use lasers to burn images and text into the printing plate, eliminating the need to produce a film negative of each page.
|
|
Newspapers employ the largest number of workers in the publishing industry. With a staff of reporters and correspondents, newspapers report on events taking place locally and around the world. Despite the local nature of most newspaper reporting, the newspaper industry is dominated by several large corporations that own most of the newspapers in the country. It also is becoming common for companies to buy several newspapers in a single region, called “clustering.” In this way, newspapers can be produced more efficiently. For example, advertising sales agents can now sell advertising space for multiple newspapers, which also share the same printing plant.
|
|