#Publishing house

[writingwithfolklore]

5 Things about working in a (small) publishing house that surprised me

My experiences definitely aren’t true of the entire industry. I work in a very small, very local publishing house as a marketing assistant, and I’m certain that you’d have a much different experience at Penguin Random House, or even another small house on the other side of the country. That being said, here’s five things that really surprised me about what I’ve seen from the industry so far…

1. Very few of the people who work in publishing are writers

Okay this was one of the biggest surprises but also kind of makes sense? Publishing is a lot about the business side of things—numbers and marketing strategies and event planning, etc. People who are talented in design and accounting and other essential pieces to book publishing aren’t necessarily good at or practiced writers, and not all people who love reading also love writing!

I guess this surprised me so much because I’ve never been a reader without being a writer, but we often actually rely on the author’s writing on their own works (summaries, bios, etc.) to populate the backs of books and other marketing. Including me, there are three writers in my entire office.

2. Big booksellers (think Indigo) release yearly cover palettes for book covers

When we’re deciding the colours for a book cover, one thing that goes into that consideration is actually the different palettes Indigo releases! They have different palettes for different sections they update every year. I imagine it’s to fit a certain look for their shelves for new releases, but it’s not something I had ever really thought about, or thought that they would care about!

3. On that topic—publishing houses don’t sell to readers

My first day in marketing, my manager told me, “you’d think we’re selling to readers” I did think that. She said, “we’re actually selling to bookstores and libraries, they sell to readers.” How the money works is booksellers buy our books to put on their shelf. Everything they don’t sell, they’re allowed to trade back for credit, so we want them to buy big upfront, and then sell big to readers. Every book they send back is inventory we can’t get rid of and a “free” book for them down the line, so we don’t want books to come back!

If you want to support authors and your favourite publishing houses, buy from local bookstores who can’t afford to keep underselling books on their shelves for as long as say Indigo. If you really want to support authors, check out their books from libraries (yes really). Libraries are great because they buy books from publishing houses and can use the same one book to get into the hands of several readers, (in Canada) authors get a small amount every time a book is checked out (up to a certain amount so that the library’s entire budget doesn’t go to one book/author). Often, an author’s largest cheque is from libraries.

Unfortunately in the States authors don’t get the same boon, but still supporting your local libraries is just as good as supporting your local indie bookstores!

4. Soo many people look at covers, and soo much goes into creating them

I’m not really a designer, so I’m certain this wouldn’t surprise those of you who actually do graphic design, but they seriously look at every single detail and how it will benefit or hurt the sales. The placement of blurbs, choice of fonts, colours, subtitles, even the placement of raindrops for a rainy background, everything is discussed and tested and tried several different ways. So yes, DO judge a book by its cover, we work so hard on making covers perfect for the audience we’re trying to reach.

5. Publishing houses don’t necessarily have in-house editors, publicity, or other roles

I had always assumed that every publishing house had its own editors and publicists and what not. That’s probably true for the bigger ones, but if you’re being published by a smaller one (which you may be for your debut) you may be working with freelance editors and publicists who work somewhat with your publishing house and also with others as well. We have one in-house publicist, and no editors!

I wouldn’t turn down a publishing house just because they use freelancers (our freelancers are amazing!) but it’s important that they’re upfront about it. Huge red flag if they say they have in-house editors and they don’t actually—I would pass on a publishing house that lies to you.

Any other questions you have about the industry I’ll try to answer!

[panimoonchild]

Russian culture is great just because they constantly erase literature and kill artists from the country that russians want to conquer

This photo speaks volumes 💔😭

Today, the Russians struck one of the largest printing complexes in Europe, the Factor-Druk in Kharkiv. "Kharkiv used to be the center of book publishing in Ukraine and remains so even under constant shelling. Every third book published in the country is printed by Factor-Druk," wrote the Sense bookstore chain. "This is one of the largest full-cycle printing complexes in Europe, so books from almost all Ukrainian publishers are printed there," Vivat Publishing House reported. ❗Since the beginning of the year, more than 700 libraries have been destroyed or vandalized in Ukraine.

[brucesterling]

*You would literally have to excavate under the ground to get more underground than “Shake Underground” from Milan

[filmcourage]

I've Written 7 Books... Here's Why I've Never Self Published - Chip Jacobs

Watch the video interview on Youtube here.

[djmunden]

I’ve been signed!!

Alright, the big news! I'm signed with DYB Publishing with Tavern! I actually landed a book deal! Anyone who signed up for my Kickstarter will have an email showing how this new publishing is going to change your rewards for the better but yeah! It's official! I've been signed. We're taking it one book at a time and seeing how it goes!

[rafamonzo]

Les Editions SHIROKURO PRINTS & PHOTOBOOKS

[leseditionsshirokuro]

Special Limited Edition "TINTANEGRA" By R.Tanaka

Smooth photographic Paper 320gr.

30x40cm

50eur. without frame

contact : https://www.facebook.com/ShirokuroEditions

[gothicquakercollective]

Welcome to The Gothic Quaker Collective!

We are a Quaker-run collective of art and publishing houses, theology, reviews, businesses, and so much more. We aim to create diverse and open spaces for artists and alternative people in religious spaces to express themselves freely without fear of ramifications or judgment for doing so. It is a place to foster and house ideas, concepts, and expressions often overlooked by spaces of conformity. Everyone at GQC hopes you enjoy traversing our page and we hope you may consider one day contributing to the movement that is GQC. 

- Paige G. (Founder)

[emsdrawsthings]

Quick question: is it normal when a Publishing House asks to use one of your already existing illustration for one of their upcoming publications without asking for a license or mentioning the topic at all?

[paper-spines-publishing-house]

Cracks in the Vertebrae, a Paper Spines Production

Chapter 2: Luna 🌙✨ PART 1

[happywebdesign]

https://hato.co/

[wotchergiorgia]

july. july july july. I'll send my manuscript in july. I'm determined. july. july july july.

[reconstructwriter]

Is my memory wrong or is this not also a time-honored tradition among pirates who are posthumously thanked for their contributions by the historians of present

I support piracy obviously but I double support academic piracy because there’s not even any argument to be made about taking away royalty money from academics, you don’t get paid for publications, you’re literally just submitting your work to a private publishing house that makes millions of dollars off of it

[pen2print]

Book Publishing offer for Scholars

Open Access Book Publication with EduPub: A Call to Authors Are you an academic, researcher, or professional looking to publish your book and make it accessible to a global audience? EduPub is inviting authors to contribute their scholarly works to our open access book publication program. Whether you have a completed manuscript or are in the early stages of writing, this is an excellent…

[leseditionsshirokuro]