The Publishing Business: From p-books to e-books (Creative Careers) 1st Edition

I've been using this book for 4 years to teach my undergraduate course "Editing and the Publishing Industry." It works well with the way I've set up the course. Students divide into individual publishing teams of 5, with a Managing/Production Editor, an Acquisitions Editor, a Copy Editor, a Design Editor, and a Marketing Director to create and market an actual anthology. The textbook demystifies these unique roles and explains how these areas are coordinated to produce and sell books in p-version or e-version. It's also a beautiful book which the graphic designers and productions editors in the class always appreciate. My only problem is that the information and examples are already outdated. Please, Kelvin Smith, release a new edition soon, or I will be forced to find a new textbook.

This book is full of information...so full that it feels like it is being thrown at you by a major league pitcher. I have read three chapters of this book and still have no idea what I have read. I have even gone back to reread them thinking it was just me being scatter-brained...nope. Others in my class have also complained about the composition of this text and how incomprehensible it is. It is typically referred to as the "Busy Book" because every page is so busy with an overload of information, discussion questions, graphics, and side information.The discussion questions for the readings are not organized appropriately. The question being asked may come from the overload of information read several pages before where another discussion question was presented. The graphics on the page are also very overwhelming for the reader and many times do not correspond to information in the text.For a book about the publishing business, this is definitely not the best example of an academic publishing.For you professors out there contemplating the use of this textbook, don't do it.

Readers of The Independent Publishing Magazine will know that we don't do many book reviews here. In fact, over a period of five years, I think we have reviewed less than six books, and two of those reviews were editions of Mark Levine's Fine Print of Self-Publishing. Revealing this will probably alert readers of TIPM to the fact that we only review books within the business/education genre--specifically books on the business of publishing, the publishing industry, and, of course, self-publishing--and there is a shortage of really good books in this area. Take note; I said really good ones!In reality, there is actually an abundance of books about self-publishing and e-book publishing--some written by freewheeling marketers out to make a quick few dollars; many others are self-published, and are perfect examples of how not to self-publish! With so many changes in the industry, it is understandable that mainstream publishers have been reluctant to release books about the industry containing any definitive blueprints as to where the future lies.Kelvin Smith's The Publishing Business: From p-books to e-books, the first book published in AVA's Creative Careers series, makes no bold prophecies of the future, but, instead, seeks to bridge the gap for creative graduates between education and a first job in the industry. However, after reading the book, I couldn't help feeling that the book would be more suitable as a general accompaniment to a graduate or post-graduate course, rather than a book suitable for those making the step into the industry. Kelvin Smith does a fine job by including discussion questions at the end of each of the seven chapters, and many of those questions lead seamlessly to the next chapter. I did feel that a graduate would have asked many of those questions long before completing their degree. But this is actually where the book really has its strongest appeal--not engaging in academic language, and, instead, trying to demystify the industry rather than present it as some complex and unique form of business. In doing so, Smith has done more to make the publishing industry appealing to young creative graduates than any academic with a beard and wire-rimmed glasses. This book will appeal to anyone with a casual interest in the intriguing world of the modern publisher and many self-publishers would learn a thing or two about how publishing works from the ground up.The book, packed with plenty of colour illustrations, is beautifully designed and well formulated with chapters ranging from publishing fundamentals; the planning and choices modern publishers have to make; the roles in publishing; the flow of a book from an author's manuscript to a reader's hands; the various intermediaries in the process; print, design and production processes; through to marketing, distribution and sales. Too many books like this one can spend chapter upon chapter examining the history of publishing and the revolution the print press had, but while Smith does doff his cap to history, the book is grounded in quotes from some of the most insightful and seminal pieces written about publishing over the past couple of years.Some of the chapters finish up with case studies, activity pieces and questions and I did feel that these could have been greatly expanded upon. It was as if the book was first conceptualised as a book for course study and accompaniment or one for those interested in the industry in general, but somehow changed during its writing and commission and ended up falling between both stools without fully delivering on either application. That should not take away from what Smith's book offers the reader, and it is a masterful accomplishment to bring together so much between the covers about an industry literally changing month by month. I'm reminded--just as one example--of his thoroughly expansive pieces in the book on pricing and bookseller discounts, and how news today of HarperCollins' abandonment of Agency Pricing following the USA DOJ's legal declaration can quickly change the digital landscape in publishing.The real core of the book comes into its own in the final two chapters, examining print and digital publishing and its effects on workflow within a publishing house and the changes in marketing communication, the way sales teams work, and the book supply chain. This is perhaps the most insightful part of the book and the place many coffee and pizza-stained fingerprints will be left. Smith takes a look at the thorny issues of consumer choice, discoverability and disintermediation (bringing the creator and consumer closer together) and I felt it was the one real area where the author could and should have spent greater time exploring the models of business now operating in the publishing world. This was a real opportunity to examine self-publishing (not something specifically aligned to digital publishing), new monetization streams for publishers, and the converging worlds of publishers as content managers and service providers. I'm thinking of those graduates again, and I know many may have dreams of working for Random House, Hachette, HarperCollins or Penguin, but the reality is that most will end up working within the service side of the industry in the years to come and not the glamour side.This book was a real pleasure and experience to read and Smith clearly had his pulse on what is new and developing in the industry. It is thorough and sticks firmly to how the core of the industry works today. His final case study featured Persephone Books, a publisher very much of the modern age, but with an eye on quality and tradition. It was apt to finish on such a publisher because it represents what is important and good about publishing--proving that the best of the old and new can work harmoniously together. Therein lies the real message within the pages of this book. Smith didn't pander to my interests in self-publishing or feel the need overplay it or beef up its impact on the industry. It was subtly mentioned and acknowledged in many areas without a fuss being made. Maybe that is how it should be.The Publishing Business: From p-books to e-books is an introduction to the publishing industry as it is today. It stimulates and promotes curiosity and investigation from the graduate to the accidental author and publisher. This is neither a history nor complete compendium of publishing today, but it is essential reading for anyone wishing to understand how the modern publishing world works and wants to play any part within it.

So much valuable information! Took a book publishing class Spring term 2014, and this was the book we used. It was very informational and easy to understand, it was a huge help!

the design on this is stunning

I wanted to see how the latest developments (e-publishing, POD etc) fitted into the overall industry. It was a useful overview of the developments but I would have liked a bit more detail. But it's a great book to use as a starting point.

Bought this book for my niece who is planning a career in publishing. This will give her a better idea about how the industry and publishing businesses work. Nice looking and well organized too.

Does what it says on the box

This book can surely be used as a basis to understand all aspects of publishing today up to e-books.It depicts all stakeholders and their place in the value chain of the publishing businesseasy to read and actual.