Book Publishing

D

Modern North American Publishing

Modern publishing began in North America just before 1800, when Mathew Carey, a young printer from Dublin, Ireland, came to Philadelphia and founded the first general publishing house, modeled on a style that already existed in England. During the first half of the 19th century a number of great American publishing firms were established, such as Harper & Brothers (1817), John Wiley & Sons (1828), Little, Brown & Company (1837), Charles Scribner's Sons (1846), and Houghton Mifflin Company (1849). Major Canadian firms included the Ryerson Press (1829) and John Lovell and Son (1835).

During this period the book trade was revolutionized by the invention in France of the cylinder press. Printing technology had scarcely changed since Gutenberg's day, but the cylinder press made it possible to print large numbers of books and magazines quickly and to reach a mass market. Paperbacks appeared in the United States in the 1840s, first as supplements to newspapers, but later as small-sized books. They were so popular by the time of the American Civil War (1861-1865) that they had to be shipped in bales to the soldiers' camps. By the mid-1890s, however, the paperback boom had ended, owing to excessive competition as well as to the passage of the Copyright Act of 1891, which halted pirating of the English titles that made up an important part of many North American publishers' lists.

Booksellers began to concentrate on hardback editions, and by the end of the 19th century hundreds of publishers were issuing and distributing books in most parts of the world. In the United States, the publishing center was New York City, but smaller centers were established in Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago. In Canada, publishing was centered around Montréal, Québec, and Toronto, Ontario.

The chief trends of the 19th century were the development of specialization in publishing and the separation of publishing from bookselling, which eventually became largely the province of wholesale dealers and individual or corporate retailers. At the end of the century the American Booksellers Association and the American Publishers Association (later the Association of American Publishers) were organized.

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E

20th-Century Developments

The publishing industry grew in size and scope during the 20th century. In the 1920s, the Literary Guild and the Book-of-the-Month Club were founded. These ventures developed into major commercial distributors, selling books by mail on a subscription basis and on a national scale. These major book clubs were the prototypes of many smaller organizations, some formed by publishing houses as outlets for their own books. Paperbacks were virtually reborn after World War II (1939-1945). Mass promotion and various technical achievements made possible broad distribution and low retail prices.

In publishing generally, the literary agent gradually assumed new importance with the escalation of the value of subsidiary rights of an author's work. Both traditional agents and lawyers acting as agents negotiated contracts for paperback or serialization rights, as well as for television, film, and dramatic rights, sometimes involving millions of dollars for their author-clients.

Another new business element in the publishing industry was the packager. Packagers do the editorial work involved with individual titles and series of books, and then contract with regular trade, text, or reference houses to have the books produced and distributed.

By the 1980s book publishing had become a thriving international industry. Many countries were publishing and reading more than ever, especially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Japan. Many underdeveloped countries also established their own publishing industries.

F

Technological Advances

In the late 20th century publishers began producing books in new formats, and technological advances had a huge impact on the book publishing industry. Audiobooks, which had been produced and marketed since the 1950s, exploded in growth in the 1990s. Audiobooks offer readers the option of listening to a book that has been narrated and recorded onto a cassette or compact disc. They are especially valued by people who are blind or have low vision.

Another new form for books was CD-ROM. Many saw CD-ROM as the perfect means of publishing books, especially reference works, because searching databases could be made so easy for readers, and because writers and editors could incorporate images, sounds, and videos into their products. But many publishers struggled with changing technical standards and a widespread reluctance by users to read off a computer screen for long periods of time.

In the late 1990s several companies introduced electronic books, or e-books. These computerized devices display the text of books on a small screen designed to make reading easy. Booksellers and publishers sell e-books over the Internet in the form of computer files. A reader makes a purchase, then downloads the text to a personal computer or a personal digital assistant (PDA), or directly to a specially designed e-book device.

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