Component
Introduction to
Publishing
Techniques
By Dr Straton RURANGIRWA
How
a manuscript is turned into a
book?
The process is fairly straightforward
No two publishing houses (big or
small) do things quite alike
How the different departments work
together to give every book the best
possible chance of succes?
Lets assume a medium-size publishing
house, big enough to have a fairly clear
division of roles (in smaller houses these
roles frequently overlap),
First of all, communication is everything in
publishing,
While more and more business is done by
email, publishers still receive the majority of
their submissions by post.
So,
The post-room staff, the computer wizards,
the office management team, the
receptionist, all play a vital part in the
process of making a books.
But
It is the Managing Director who is the ‘fat
controller’ of a company, and who draws
all the threads together and gives the
company its direction and drive.
THE EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
-
-
-
Every Editorial Department has similar staff structure:
Commissioning Editors (sometimes called Acquiring
Editors) who take on a book and become its champion
in the company
Copy Editors (sometimes called Desk Editors) who do
the close work on the manuscript
Editorial Assistants who support them
Every
-
-
-
-
-
publishing company acquires their
books from similar sources:
Literay agents and scouts,
Others publishers throughout the world,
Direct commission from editors to author
Unsolicited proposal (very occasionally):
this is known in the business as the ‘slush
pile’.
The
in-house process goes sometimes
like this:
- The Commissioning Editor will make a
case for a book’s acceptance at an
‘acquisitions meeting’ which is
attended by all the other departments
directly involved in publishing the book,
including sales, marketing, publicity and
rights.
- Lively discussions follow and final
decisions are determined from a
mixture of commercial good sense
(estimated sales figures, likely
production costs and an author’s
track record) and taste (every
company’s and every editor’s taste is
different).
After acquisition (shortly after), an ‘advance
information sheet’ is drafted by the
Commissioning Editor.
This is the earliest attempt to harness the
excitement that led to the book being signed
It contains all the basic information needed
by the rest of the company (title, ISBN,
format, extent (length), price, rights holder,
sales points, short blurb and biographical
note)
It
is the first of many pieces of
‘copy’ that will be written about
the book and will be used as the
template for all others, such as
catalogue entry, jacket blurb or
press release.
It is now that the journey of the book really
begins, with the finishing line some 10-12
months away.
As soon as it arrives in the Editorial Department,
the manuscript will receive a ‘structural edit’.
This involves looking at the book as a whole, i.e.
everything from its structure and narrative
pacing to characterisation and general style, and
in the case of non-fiction, looking at illustrations,
appendices, biography, notes and index.
The actual copy-editing takes place when all
of the main structural editorial decisions
have been made. While Commissioning
Editors may see certain titles through from
beginning to end, it is more likly that they
will pass them to their editorial team to
manage, while still keeping a watching brief
on every aspect of publication.
It is at this stage that the more detailed
work begins.
The copy-edit is another filtering process
done with a very fine mesh net, designed to
catch all the errors and inconsistancies in
the text, from spelling and punctuation to
facts, figures and tics of style.
In some publishing houses this work is done
onscreen, but surprisingly many editors
prefer to work direct on the typescript
because it is easier to spot changes and see
where decisions have been made along the
way.
Once
the copy-edit has been completed,
the author will be asked to answer any
queries that may have arisen.
When the commissioning Editor, Copy-
Editor and author are happy that the
marked-up typescript is in the best
possible shape, it is sent to the
Production Department for design and
typesetting.
From now on the book will shuttle
between the Editorial Department and the
Production Department in the form of
proofs, usually in three separate stages.
- First proofs are read by the author and a
proofreader. This is the author’s last
chance to make any cuts or additions, as
amendmemts after this stage become
tricky and expensive to implement.
Both sets of amendments are then collated
and sent to the Production Department to
be made into second proofs. ( an index, if
needed, will be compiled at this stage).
Second proofs or ‘revises’ are checked
against the collated first proofs and any
last-minute queries are attended to. They
are then returned to the Production
Department to be made into ‘final’ proofs.
Final
proofs are, in a perffect
publishing world, what the name
implies. They are checked against
the second proofs, the index (if
there is one) is proofread, the
prelim pages double-checked and
when all is present and correct- the
text is ready for press.
THE DESIGN DEPARTMENT
Its work on a new book begins usually 10
months in advance of the publication date
The Hardback jackets and the paperback
covers are publishing’s main selling tool
Most (if not all) buying decisions are made by
trade’s buyers before the book is printed and
up-until that time the cover is the book!
It’s
what makes the buyer believe in
a book enough to order it,
It’s one of the most important things
that makes the browsing customer
pick up a book in the bookshop and
pay for it at the till,
The Design Department also produces all
other sales material that the Marketing
Department decides it needs to make a
good job of the ‘sale in’ (catalogues, order
forms, ‘blads’ (illustrated sales material),
‘samplers’ (booklets containing tantalising
extracts), posters, book proofs (boud
reading proofs) and advertisements.
Most companies try to develop a distinctive
look for their books and it’s the Design
Department that creates it.
THE PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT
The Production Department handles all
aspects of book production including text
design,
But some of the very big companies have a
separate department for this.
The Production Department styles (format)
the copy-edited typescript by drafting a brief
known as ‘type specification’ or ‘spec’
The
spec may be designed
specifically for a unique book or if
the book is part of series, the series
spec will be used to give the books
the same look and feel
The typescript is usually despatched
to an out-of-house typesetter
Some companies do typesetting in-
house
Meanwile,
the Production Manager (working
with Commissioning Editor) choose the
binding materials and any embellishments
(handband, coloured or printed endpapers, or
marker ribbon)
The print run is then decided (based on
advance sales and track record) and an order
is placed with the printer.
Most publishing companies use only a few
printers, negociating the best possible rate
per book depending on the volume of work
they agree to place with the printer
A key role of the Production Department is
to buy print at a rate that allows each tightly
budgeted book to make money, and equally
important (especially when a book takes off)
to manage the supply of reprints so that the
publisher’s warehouse is never short of
stock.
SALES DEPARTMENT
-Selling in’ in the home market is done increasingly
by key account managers working with the chain
buyers, as well as by a team of sailes
representatives
-The reps visit bookshops in their designed area
and try to achieve the sales targets for each book
The number of copies sold pre-publication is
known as the subscription sale, or ‘sub’
Selling books effectively to bookshops, both
chains and independants and nowdays to
supermarkets and other retails, takes time
and careful planning
The actual besiness of selling may not begin
in earnest until eight or nine months prior to
publication (the work of preparing sales
material begins up to year ahead).
However, it can be achieved in a shorter
time frame and this allows a degree of
flexibility for the publisher in case of crisis
or to take advantage of prime
opportunities, such as issuing instant
books on a burning topic of the day.
Many sales are also made in-house by
phone, email and fax and, nowdays, the
Internet (bookselling websites)
Most
publishers have their own websites
and provide customers with the
opportunity to buy their books either
directly or by link to another bookselling
website.
Book clubs still remain an important
market for publishers, but they are
having a tough time of it in the face of
stiff competition from the Internet and
the supermarkets.
Export sales are achieved using teams of
international agents and reps run from in-
house by the export sales department
While the bigger companies their own
teams and smaller companies use freelance
agencies and reps, all face different range
of challenges to the home sales team
Here format, discount, royalty rates,
shipping, and exchange rates are the key
components
The
margins are much tighter
and it requires a lot of skill
and chutzpah to generate
significant sales and then to
maintain a successful
international prescience.
THE MARKETING DEPARTMENT
The
Marketing Department is the
engine room of the Sales
Department
It’s responsible for preparing all the
sales material (catalogues, blads,
samplers, etc) used by the sales team
to persuade others in the book trade to
buy the company’s book
Marketing also works alongside the Sales
Department in dealing directly with the big
bookshops on special promotions(‘Book of the
Month’ 3 for 2’, etc) that are now such a common
feature of the large chains.
This department also prepares the advertising for
the trade, such as the post-publication press
advertising that, along with reviews and other
publicity, persuades customers into the shops to buy
a particular book
This
department also organises the
company sales conferences where
the new season’s publishing is for
the first time presented to the sales
reps and overseas agents
The run up to the sales conference
and the event itself is an exciting
time and stimulates many of the best
ideas on how to sell the new books.
PUBLICITY DEPARTMENT
As the Marketing Department works to sell
books with the emphasis on the ‘sell in’, the
Publicity Department works with the author
and the media on ‘free’ publicity with the
emphasis on the ‘sell trough’
This covers reviews, features, author
interviews, bookshop readings and signings,
festival appearances, book tours and radio
and television interviews, etc.
For
each author and their book, the Publicity
Department devises campaign that will play to
the book’s or the author’s strengths
For instance, best use will be made of written
features or radio interviews for authors who are
shy in public, just as full advantage will be made
of public appearances for those authors who
thrive on the thrill of showmanship
In
short, the publicist’s careful work
(which like much of publishing is a
mixture of inspiration and
enthusiasm on the one hand and
efficient planning and flexibility on
the other) is designed to get the
best results for each individual
author and book.
THE RIGHTS DEPARTMENT
The aim of this department is to make the best
use of all rights that were acquired when the
contract was first negotiated between publisher
and author or the author’s agent
While literary agents are understandably keen to
handle foreign and serial rights, many publishing
houses have well-developped Rights Departments
with good contacts and are also well placed to sell
the rights of the book
Selling rights is very varied and includes
anything from request for firm or television
rights, translation rights to other countries,
or serial rights to a newspaper, to small
permission requests to reprint a poem or an
extract
All are opportunities to promote the book
and earn additional income for author and
publisher, and at the time of first publication
the rights, sales, marketing departments all
work closily together.
Book
fairs are the key venues for the
sale of foreign rights
Here, editors have the opportunities
to hear about and buy new books
from publishing houses all over the
world
Occasionally, rights are sold on the
spot but more commonly the
acquision process is completed later.
THE PAPERBACKS
Paperbacks are books with a cover made
of thin card
They are published approximately a year
after the original publication
Paperback publishing is a key part of
publishing today but is a quite different
skill to hard back publishing, and is in
many respects all about marketing
Efforts
are made to identify and
broaden the likely market
(readership) for a book, making sure
that the cover and presentation will
appeal to a wide audiance, and being
ingenious about positioning an
author’s books in the marketplace
where they can be best seen, bought
and read.
The
means used vary from in-store
promotions and advertising campains to
author-led publicity and renewed press
coverage in the paperback round-ups.
But the energy that drives this inspired and
careful work of reinvention comes from the
paperback publisher’s vision and passion for
the book, author and the list as a whole.
THE FINANCE DEPARTMENT
Every successiful business need a good Finance
Department.
Most publishing houses split the work into two areas:
purchase ledger and royalties.
The Royalties Department deals exclusively with
author’s advances (payable on acquisition, and on
delivery or publication of a book) and with keeping
account of the different royalty percentages payable
on a book sales, serial deals, film rights permissions,
etc.
This
is done so that both author and
agent can see that an accurate
record has been kept against the day
when the book earns back its
advance (the point at which the
royalties earned equal the advance
paid) and the author starts earning
additional income.
CONCLUSION
Publishing is a business, and commercial
considerations will be apparent in every
department, but it is a very special kind of
business, one which breaks many of the
accepted rules and often seems to make no
sense at all- just think of the hundreds of
different lines, formats, price points and
discounts. At time it shouldn’t work work- but
somehow, miraculously, it does.
Introduction to
Publishing
Techniques
By Dr Straton RURANGIRWA
How
a manuscript is turned into a
book?
The process is fairly straightforward
No two publishing houses (big or
small) do things quite alike
How the different departments work
together to give every book the best
possible chance of succes?
Lets assume a medium-size publishing
house, big enough to have a fairly clear
division of roles (in smaller houses these
roles frequently overlap),
First of all, communication is everything in
publishing,
While more and more business is done by
email, publishers still receive the majority of
their submissions by post.
So,
The post-room staff, the computer wizards,
the office management team, the
receptionist, all play a vital part in the
process of making a books.
But
It is the Managing Director who is the ‘fat
controller’ of a company, and who draws
all the threads together and gives the
company its direction and drive.
THE EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
-
-
-
Every Editorial Department has similar staff structure:
Commissioning Editors (sometimes called Acquiring
Editors) who take on a book and become its champion
in the company
Copy Editors (sometimes called Desk Editors) who do
the close work on the manuscript
Editorial Assistants who support them
Every
-
-
-
-
-
publishing company acquires their
books from similar sources:
Literay agents and scouts,
Others publishers throughout the world,
Direct commission from editors to author
Unsolicited proposal (very occasionally):
this is known in the business as the ‘slush
pile’.
The
in-house process goes sometimes
like this:
- The Commissioning Editor will make a
case for a book’s acceptance at an
‘acquisitions meeting’ which is
attended by all the other departments
directly involved in publishing the book,
including sales, marketing, publicity and
rights.
- Lively discussions follow and final
decisions are determined from a
mixture of commercial good sense
(estimated sales figures, likely
production costs and an author’s
track record) and taste (every
company’s and every editor’s taste is
different).
After acquisition (shortly after), an ‘advance
information sheet’ is drafted by the
Commissioning Editor.
This is the earliest attempt to harness the
excitement that led to the book being signed
It contains all the basic information needed
by the rest of the company (title, ISBN,
format, extent (length), price, rights holder,
sales points, short blurb and biographical
note)
It
is the first of many pieces of
‘copy’ that will be written about
the book and will be used as the
template for all others, such as
catalogue entry, jacket blurb or
press release.
It is now that the journey of the book really
begins, with the finishing line some 10-12
months away.
As soon as it arrives in the Editorial Department,
the manuscript will receive a ‘structural edit’.
This involves looking at the book as a whole, i.e.
everything from its structure and narrative
pacing to characterisation and general style, and
in the case of non-fiction, looking at illustrations,
appendices, biography, notes and index.
The actual copy-editing takes place when all
of the main structural editorial decisions
have been made. While Commissioning
Editors may see certain titles through from
beginning to end, it is more likly that they
will pass them to their editorial team to
manage, while still keeping a watching brief
on every aspect of publication.
It is at this stage that the more detailed
work begins.
The copy-edit is another filtering process
done with a very fine mesh net, designed to
catch all the errors and inconsistancies in
the text, from spelling and punctuation to
facts, figures and tics of style.
In some publishing houses this work is done
onscreen, but surprisingly many editors
prefer to work direct on the typescript
because it is easier to spot changes and see
where decisions have been made along the
way.
Once
the copy-edit has been completed,
the author will be asked to answer any
queries that may have arisen.
When the commissioning Editor, Copy-
Editor and author are happy that the
marked-up typescript is in the best
possible shape, it is sent to the
Production Department for design and
typesetting.
From now on the book will shuttle
between the Editorial Department and the
Production Department in the form of
proofs, usually in three separate stages.
- First proofs are read by the author and a
proofreader. This is the author’s last
chance to make any cuts or additions, as
amendmemts after this stage become
tricky and expensive to implement.
Both sets of amendments are then collated
and sent to the Production Department to
be made into second proofs. ( an index, if
needed, will be compiled at this stage).
Second proofs or ‘revises’ are checked
against the collated first proofs and any
last-minute queries are attended to. They
are then returned to the Production
Department to be made into ‘final’ proofs.
Final
proofs are, in a perffect
publishing world, what the name
implies. They are checked against
the second proofs, the index (if
there is one) is proofread, the
prelim pages double-checked and
when all is present and correct- the
text is ready for press.
THE DESIGN DEPARTMENT
Its work on a new book begins usually 10
months in advance of the publication date
The Hardback jackets and the paperback
covers are publishing’s main selling tool
Most (if not all) buying decisions are made by
trade’s buyers before the book is printed and
up-until that time the cover is the book!
It’s
what makes the buyer believe in
a book enough to order it,
It’s one of the most important things
that makes the browsing customer
pick up a book in the bookshop and
pay for it at the till,
The Design Department also produces all
other sales material that the Marketing
Department decides it needs to make a
good job of the ‘sale in’ (catalogues, order
forms, ‘blads’ (illustrated sales material),
‘samplers’ (booklets containing tantalising
extracts), posters, book proofs (boud
reading proofs) and advertisements.
Most companies try to develop a distinctive
look for their books and it’s the Design
Department that creates it.
THE PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT
The Production Department handles all
aspects of book production including text
design,
But some of the very big companies have a
separate department for this.
The Production Department styles (format)
the copy-edited typescript by drafting a brief
known as ‘type specification’ or ‘spec’
The
spec may be designed
specifically for a unique book or if
the book is part of series, the series
spec will be used to give the books
the same look and feel
The typescript is usually despatched
to an out-of-house typesetter
Some companies do typesetting in-
house
Meanwile,
the Production Manager (working
with Commissioning Editor) choose the
binding materials and any embellishments
(handband, coloured or printed endpapers, or
marker ribbon)
The print run is then decided (based on
advance sales and track record) and an order
is placed with the printer.
Most publishing companies use only a few
printers, negociating the best possible rate
per book depending on the volume of work
they agree to place with the printer
A key role of the Production Department is
to buy print at a rate that allows each tightly
budgeted book to make money, and equally
important (especially when a book takes off)
to manage the supply of reprints so that the
publisher’s warehouse is never short of
stock.
SALES DEPARTMENT
-Selling in’ in the home market is done increasingly
by key account managers working with the chain
buyers, as well as by a team of sailes
representatives
-The reps visit bookshops in their designed area
and try to achieve the sales targets for each book
The number of copies sold pre-publication is
known as the subscription sale, or ‘sub’
Selling books effectively to bookshops, both
chains and independants and nowdays to
supermarkets and other retails, takes time
and careful planning
The actual besiness of selling may not begin
in earnest until eight or nine months prior to
publication (the work of preparing sales
material begins up to year ahead).
However, it can be achieved in a shorter
time frame and this allows a degree of
flexibility for the publisher in case of crisis
or to take advantage of prime
opportunities, such as issuing instant
books on a burning topic of the day.
Many sales are also made in-house by
phone, email and fax and, nowdays, the
Internet (bookselling websites)
Most
publishers have their own websites
and provide customers with the
opportunity to buy their books either
directly or by link to another bookselling
website.
Book clubs still remain an important
market for publishers, but they are
having a tough time of it in the face of
stiff competition from the Internet and
the supermarkets.
Export sales are achieved using teams of
international agents and reps run from in-
house by the export sales department
While the bigger companies their own
teams and smaller companies use freelance
agencies and reps, all face different range
of challenges to the home sales team
Here format, discount, royalty rates,
shipping, and exchange rates are the key
components
The
margins are much tighter
and it requires a lot of skill
and chutzpah to generate
significant sales and then to
maintain a successful
international prescience.
THE MARKETING DEPARTMENT
The
Marketing Department is the
engine room of the Sales
Department
It’s responsible for preparing all the
sales material (catalogues, blads,
samplers, etc) used by the sales team
to persuade others in the book trade to
buy the company’s book
Marketing also works alongside the Sales
Department in dealing directly with the big
bookshops on special promotions(‘Book of the
Month’ 3 for 2’, etc) that are now such a common
feature of the large chains.
This department also prepares the advertising for
the trade, such as the post-publication press
advertising that, along with reviews and other
publicity, persuades customers into the shops to buy
a particular book
This
department also organises the
company sales conferences where
the new season’s publishing is for
the first time presented to the sales
reps and overseas agents
The run up to the sales conference
and the event itself is an exciting
time and stimulates many of the best
ideas on how to sell the new books.
PUBLICITY DEPARTMENT
As the Marketing Department works to sell
books with the emphasis on the ‘sell in’, the
Publicity Department works with the author
and the media on ‘free’ publicity with the
emphasis on the ‘sell trough’
This covers reviews, features, author
interviews, bookshop readings and signings,
festival appearances, book tours and radio
and television interviews, etc.
For
each author and their book, the Publicity
Department devises campaign that will play to
the book’s or the author’s strengths
For instance, best use will be made of written
features or radio interviews for authors who are
shy in public, just as full advantage will be made
of public appearances for those authors who
thrive on the thrill of showmanship
In
short, the publicist’s careful work
(which like much of publishing is a
mixture of inspiration and
enthusiasm on the one hand and
efficient planning and flexibility on
the other) is designed to get the
best results for each individual
author and book.
THE RIGHTS DEPARTMENT
The aim of this department is to make the best
use of all rights that were acquired when the
contract was first negotiated between publisher
and author or the author’s agent
While literary agents are understandably keen to
handle foreign and serial rights, many publishing
houses have well-developped Rights Departments
with good contacts and are also well placed to sell
the rights of the book
Selling rights is very varied and includes
anything from request for firm or television
rights, translation rights to other countries,
or serial rights to a newspaper, to small
permission requests to reprint a poem or an
extract
All are opportunities to promote the book
and earn additional income for author and
publisher, and at the time of first publication
the rights, sales, marketing departments all
work closily together.
Book
fairs are the key venues for the
sale of foreign rights
Here, editors have the opportunities
to hear about and buy new books
from publishing houses all over the
world
Occasionally, rights are sold on the
spot but more commonly the
acquision process is completed later.
THE PAPERBACKS
Paperbacks are books with a cover made
of thin card
They are published approximately a year
after the original publication
Paperback publishing is a key part of
publishing today but is a quite different
skill to hard back publishing, and is in
many respects all about marketing
Efforts
are made to identify and
broaden the likely market
(readership) for a book, making sure
that the cover and presentation will
appeal to a wide audiance, and being
ingenious about positioning an
author’s books in the marketplace
where they can be best seen, bought
and read.
The
means used vary from in-store
promotions and advertising campains to
author-led publicity and renewed press
coverage in the paperback round-ups.
But the energy that drives this inspired and
careful work of reinvention comes from the
paperback publisher’s vision and passion for
the book, author and the list as a whole.
THE FINANCE DEPARTMENT
Every successiful business need a good Finance
Department.
Most publishing houses split the work into two areas:
purchase ledger and royalties.
The Royalties Department deals exclusively with
author’s advances (payable on acquisition, and on
delivery or publication of a book) and with keeping
account of the different royalty percentages payable
on a book sales, serial deals, film rights permissions,
etc.
This
is done so that both author and
agent can see that an accurate
record has been kept against the day
when the book earns back its
advance (the point at which the
royalties earned equal the advance
paid) and the author starts earning
additional income.
CONCLUSION
Publishing is a business, and commercial
considerations will be apparent in every
department, but it is a very special kind of
business, one which breaks many of the
accepted rules and often seems to make no
sense at all- just think of the hundreds of
different lines, formats, price points and
discounts. At time it shouldn’t work work- but
somehow, miraculously, it does.
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