Johannes Gutenberg

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Johannes Gutenberg

Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg

Born
1400
Mainz, Electorate of Mainz in the Holy Roman Empire
February 3, 1468 (aged about 68)
Died
Mainz, Electorate of Mainz in the Holy Roman Empire
Occupation Engraver, inventor, and printer
Known for The invention of the movable-type printing press
Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg (/ˈɡuːtənbɜːrɡ/;[1]  1400 [2] – February 3,
1468) was a German blacksmith, goldsmith, inventor, printer, and publisher who introduced
printing to Europe with the printing press. His introduction of mechanical movable type printing to
Europe started the Printing Revolution and is regarded as a milestone of the second millennium,
ushering in the modern period of human history.[3] It played a key role in the development of the
Renaissance, Reformation, the Age of Enlightenment, and the scientific revolution and laid the
material basis for the modern knowledge-based economy and the spread of learning to the masses.
[4]
Gutenberg in 1439 was the first European to use movable type. Among his many contributions to
printing are: the invention of a process for mass-producing movable type; the use of oil-based ink
for printing books;[5] adjustable molds;[6] mechanical movable type; and the use of a wooden
printing press similar to the agricultural screw presses of the period.[7] His truly epochal invention
was the combination of these elements into a practical system that allowed the mass production of
printed books and was economically viable for printers and readers alike. Gutenberg's method for
making type is traditionally considered to have included a type metal alloy and a hand mould for
casting type. The alloy was a mixture of lead, tin, and antimony that melted at a relatively low
temperature for faster and more economical casting, cast well, and created a durable type.
In Renaissance Europe, the arrival of mechanical movable type printing introduced the era of mass
communication which permanently altered the structure of society. The relatively unrestricted
circulation of information—including revolutionary ideas—transcended borders, captured the
masses in the Reformation and threatened the power of political and religious authorities; the sharp
increase in literacy broke the monopoly of the literate elite on education and learning and bolstered
the emerging middle class. Across Europe, the increasing cultural self-awareness of its people led to
the rise of proto-nationalism, accelerated by the flowering of the European vernacular languages to
the detriment of Latin's status as lingua franca. In the 19th century, the replacement of the hand-
operated Gutenberg-style press by steam-powered rotary presses allowed printing on an industrial
scale, while Western-style printing was adopted all over the world, becoming practically the sole
medium for modern bulk printing.
The use of movable type was a marked improvement on the handwritten manuscript, which was the
existing method of book production in Europe, and upon woodblock printing, and revolutionized
European book-making. Gutenberg's printing technology spread rapidly throughout Europe and
later the world.
His major work, the Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible), has been acclaimed for its
high aesthetic and technical quality.

Contents
• 1 Early life
• 2 Printing press
• 2.1 Court case
• 2.2 Later life
• 3 Printed books
• 4 Printing method with movable type
• 5 Legacy
• 6 See also
• 7 References
• 8 Sources
• 9 Further reading
• 10 External links
Early life

Gutenberg in a 16th-century copper engraving

Gutenberg was born in the German city of Mainz, the youngest son of the patrician merchant Friele
Gensfleisch zur Laden, and his second wife, Else Wyrich, who was the daughter of a shopkeeper. It
is assumed that he was baptized in the area close to his birthplace of St. Christoph.[8] According to
some accounts, Friele was a goldsmith for the bishop at Mainz, but most likely, he was involved in
the cloth trade.[9] Gutenberg's year of birth is not precisely known, but it was sometime between
the years of 1394 and 1404. In the 1890s the city of Mainz declared his official and symbolic date
of birth to be June 24, 1400.[10]
John Lienhard, technology historian, says "Most of Gutenberg's early life is a mystery. His father
worked with the ecclesiastic mint. Gutenberg grew up knowing the trade of goldsmithing."[11] This
is supported by historian Heinrich Wallau, who adds, "In the 14th and 15th centuries his [ancestors]
claimed a hereditary position as ... retainers of the household of the master of the archiepiscopal
mint. In this capacity they doubtless acquired considerable knowledge and technical skill in metal
working. They supplied the mint with the metal to be coined, changed the various species of coins,
and had a seat at the assizes in forgery cases."[12]
Wallau adds, "His surname was derived from the house inhabited by his father and his paternal
ancestors 'zu Laden, zu Gutenberg'. The house of Gänsfleisch was one of the patrician families of
the town, tracing its lineage back to the thirteenth century."[12] Patricians (the wealthy and political
elite) in Mainz were often named after houses they owned. Around 1427, the name zu Gutenberg,
after the family house in Mainz, is documented to have been used for the first time.[9]
In 1411, there was an uprising in Mainz against the patricians, and more than a hundred families
were forced to leave. As a result, the Gutenbergs are thought to have moved to Eltville am Rhein
(Alta Villa), where his mother had an inherited estate. According to historian Heinrich Wallau, "All
that is known of his youth is that he was not in Mainz in 1430. It is presumed that he migrated for
political reasons to Strasbourg, where the family probably had connections."[12] He is assumed to
have studied at the University of Erfurt, where there is a record of the enrolment of a student called
Johannes de Altavilla in 1418—Altavilla is the Latin form of Eltville am Rhein.[13][14]
Nothing is now known of Gutenberg's life for the next fifteen years, but in March 1434, a letter by
him indicates that he was living in Strasbourg, where he had some relatives on his mother's side. He
also appears to have been a goldsmith member enrolled in the Strasbourg militia. In 1437, there is
evidence that he was instructing a wealthy tradesman on polishing gems, but where he had acquired
this knowledge is unknown. In 1436/37 his name also comes up in court in connection with a
broken promise of marriage to a woman from Strasbourg, Ennelin.[15] Whether the marriage
actually took place is not recorded. Following his father's death in 1419, he is mentioned in the
inheritance proceedings.

Printing press

Early wooden printing press, depicted in 1568. Such presses could produce up to 240 impressions
per hour.[16]
Main articles: Printing press and Spread of the printing press
Around 1439, Gutenberg was involved in a financial misadventure making polished metal mirrors
(which were believed to capture holy light from religious relics) for sale to pilgrims to Aachen: in
1439 the city was planning to exhibit its collection of relics from Emperor Charlemagne but the
event was delayed by one year due to a severe flood and the capital already spent could not be
repaid. When the question of satisfying the investors came up, Gutenberg is said to have promised
to share a "secret". It has been widely speculated that this secret may have been the idea of printing
with movable type. Also around 1439–40, the Dutch Laurens Janszoon Coster came up with the
idea of printing.[17] Legend has it that the idea came to him "like a ray of light".[18]
Until at least 1444 Gutenberg lived in Strasbourg, most likely in the St. Arbogast parish. It was in
Strasbourg in 1440 that he is said to have perfected and unveiled the secret of printing based on his
research, mysteriously entitled Aventur und Kunst (enterprise and art). It is not clear what work he
was engaged in, or whether some early trials with printing from movable type may have been
conducted there. After this, there is a gap of four years in the record. In 1448, he was back in Mainz,
where he took out a loan from his brother-in-law Arnold Gelthus, quite possibly for a printing press
or related paraphernalia. By this date, Gutenberg may have been familiar with intaglio printing; it is
claimed that he had worked on copper engravings with an artist known as the Master of Playing
Cards.[19]
"All that has been written to me about that marvelous man seen at Frankfurt [sic] is true. I have not
seen complete Bibles but only a number of quires of various books of the Bible. The script was very
neat and legible, not at all difficult to follow—your grace would be able to read it without effort,
and indeed without glasses."
Future pope Pius II in a letter to Cardinal Carvajal, March 1455[10]
By 1450, the press was in operation, and a German poem had been printed, possibly the first item to
be printed there.[20] Gutenberg was able to convince the wealthy moneylender Johann Fust for a
loan of 800 guilders. Peter Schöffer, who became Fust's son-in-law, also joined the enterprise.
Schöffer had worked as a scribe in Paris and is believed to have designed some of the first
typefaces.
Gutenberg's workshop was set up at Hof Humbrecht, a property belonging to a distant relative. It is
not clear when Gutenberg conceived the Bible project, but for this he borrowed another 800
guilders from Fust, and work commenced in 1452. At the same time, the press was also printing
other, more lucrative texts (possibly Latin grammars). There is also some speculation that there may
have been two presses, one for the pedestrian texts, and one for the Bible. One of the profit-making
enterprises of the new press was the printing of thousands of indulgences for the church,
documented from 1454 to 1455.[21]
In 1455 Gutenberg completed his 42-line Bible, known as the Gutenberg Bible. About 180 copies
were printed, most on paper and some on vellum.

Court case
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Some time in 1456, there was a dispute between Gutenberg and Fust, and Fust demanded his money
back, accusing Gutenberg of misusing the funds. Meanwhile the expenses of the Bible project had
proliferated, and Gutenberg's debt now exceeded 20,000 guilders. Fust sued at the archbishop's
court. A November 1455 legal document records that there was a partnership for a "project of the
books," the funds for which Gutenberg had used for other purposes, according to Fust. The court
decided in favor of Fust, giving him control over the Bible printing workshop and half of all printed
Bibles.
Thus Gutenberg was effectively bankrupt, but it appears he retained (or re-started) a small printing
shop, and participated in the printing of a Bible in the town of Bamberg around 1459, for which he
seems at least to have supplied the type. But since his printed books never carry his name or a date,
it is difficult to be certain, and there is consequently a considerable scholarly debate on this subject.
It is also possible that the large Catholicon dictionary, 300 copies of 754 pages, printed in Mainz in
1460, was executed in his workshop.
Meanwhile, the Fust–Schöffer shop was the first in Europe to bring out a book with the printer's
name and date, the Mainz Psalter of August 1457, and while proudly proclaiming the mechanical
process by which it had been produced, it made no mention of Gutenberg.
Later life
In 1462, during the devastating Mainz Diocesan Feud, Mainz was sacked by archbishop Adolph
von Nassau, and Gutenberg was exiled. An old man by now, he moved to Eltville where he may
have initiated and supervised a new printing press belonging to the brothers Bechtermünze.[12]
In January 1465, Gutenberg's achievements were recognized and he was given the title Hofmann
(gentleman of the court) by von Nassau. This honor included a stipend, an annual court outfit, as
well as 2,180 litres of grain and 2,000 litres of wine tax-free.[22] It is believed he may have moved
back to Mainz around this time, but this is not certain.
Gutenberg died in 1468 and was buried in the Franciscan church at Mainz, his contributions largely
unknown. This church and the cemetery were later destroyed, and Gutenberg's grave is now lost.
[22]
In 1504, he was mentioned as the inventor of typography in a book by Professor Ivo Wittig. It was
not until 1567 that the first portrait of Gutenberg, almost certainly an imaginary reconstruction,
appeared in Heinrich Pantaleon's biography of famous Germans.[22]

Printed books
Main article: Gutenberg Bible

Gutenberg Bible, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Between 1450 and 1455, Gutenberg printed several texts, some of which remain unidentified; his
texts did not bear the printer's name or date, so attribution is possible only from typographical
evidence and external references. Certainly several church documents including a papal letter and
two indulgences were printed, one of which was issued in Mainz. In view of the value of printing in
quantity, seven editions in two styles were ordered, resulting in several thousand copies being
printed.[23] Some printed editions of Ars Minor, a schoolbook on Latin grammar by Aelius
Donatus may have been printed by Gutenberg; these have been dated either 1451–52 or 1455.
In 1455, Gutenberg completed copies of a beautifully executed folio Bible (Biblia Sacra), with 42
lines on each page. Copies sold for 30 florins each,[24] which was roughly three years' wages for an
average clerk. Nonetheless, it was significantly cheaper than a manuscript Bible that could take a
single scribe over a year to prepare. After printing, some copies were rubricated or hand-illuminated
in the same elegant way as manuscript Bibles from the same period.
48 substantially complete copies are known to survive, including two at the British Library that can
be viewed and compared online.[25] The text lacks modern features such as pagination,
indentations, and paragraph breaks.
An undated 36-line edition of the Bible was printed, probably in Bamberg in 1458–60, possibly by
Gutenberg. A large part of it was shown to have been set from a copy of Gutenberg's Bible, thus
disproving earlier speculation that it was the earlier of the two.[26]

Printing method with movable type

Movable metal type, and composing stick, descended from Gutenberg's press.

Martin Luther's 95 Theses which sparked off the Reformation in a print edition from 1522. Within
the span of only two years, Luther's tracts were distributed in 300,000 printed copies throughout
Germany and Europe.[27]

European output of books printed with movable types from Gutenberg to 1800[28]
Gutenberg's early printing process, and what texts he printed with movable type, are not known in
great detail. His later Bibles were printed in such a way as to have required large quantities of type,
some estimates suggesting as many as 100,000 individual sorts.[29] Setting each page would take,
perhaps, half a day, and considering all the work in loading the press, inking the type, pulling the
impressions, hanging up the sheets, distributing the type, etc., it is thought that the Gutenberg–Fust
shop might have employed as many as 25 craftsmen.
Gutenberg's technique of making movable type remains unclear. In the following decades, punches
and copper matrices became standardized in the rapidly disseminating printing presses across
Europe. Whether Gutenberg used this sophisticated technique or a somewhat primitive version has
been the subject of considerable debate.
In the standard process of making type, a hard metal punch (made by punchcutting, with the letter
carved back to front) is hammered into a softer copper bar, creating a matrix. This is then placed
into a hand-held mould and a piece of type, or "sort", is cast by filling the mould with molten type-
metal; this cools almost at once, and the resulting piece of type can be removed from the mould.
The matrix can be reused to create hundreds, or thousands, of identical sorts so that the same
character appearing anywhere within the book will appear very uniform, giving rise, over time, to
the development of distinct styles of typefaces or fonts. After casting, the sorts are arranged into
type cases, and used to make up pages which are inked and printed, a procedure which can be
repeated hundreds, or thousands, of times. The sorts can be reused in any combination, earning the
process the name of "movable type". (For details, see Typography.)

"Modern Book Printing" − sculpture commemorating its inventor Gutenberg

The invention of the making of types with punch, matrix and mold has been widely attributed to
Gutenberg. However, recent evidence suggests that Gutenberg's process was somewhat different. If
he used the punch and matrix approach, all his letters should have been nearly identical, with some
variation due to miscasting and inking. However, the type used in Gutenberg's earliest work shows
other variations.[citation needed]
In 2001, the physicist Blaise Agüera y Arcas and Princeton librarian Paul Needham, used digital
scans of a Papal bull in the Scheide Library, Princeton, to carefully compare the same letters (types)
appearing in different parts of the printed text.[30][31] The irregularities in Gutenberg's type,
particularly in simple characters such as the hyphen, suggested that the variations could not have
come either from ink smear or from wear and damage on the pieces of metal on the types
themselves. Although some identical types are clearly used on other pages, other variations,
subjected to detailed image analysis, suggested that they could not have been produced from the
same matrix. Transmitted light pictures of the page also appeared to reveal substructures in the type
that could not arise from traditional punchcutting techniques. They hypothesized that the method
involved impressing simple shapes to create alphabets in "cuneiform" style in a matrix made of
some soft material, perhaps sand. Casting the type would destroy the mould, and the matrix would
need to be recreated to make each additional sort. This could explain the variations in the type, as
well as the substructures observed in the printed images.
Thus, they speculated that "the decisive factor for the birth of typography", the use of reusable
moulds for casting type, was a more progressive process than was previously thought.[32] They
suggested that the additional step of using the punch to create a mould that could be reused many
times was not taken until twenty years later, in the 1470s. Others have not accepted some or all of
their suggestions, and have interpreted the evidence in other ways, and the truth of the matter
remains uncertain.[33]

Page-setting room - c. 1920

A 1568 history by Hadrianus Junius of Holland claims that the basic idea of the movable type came
to Gutenberg from Laurens Janszoon Coster via Fust, who was apprenticed to Coster in the 1430s
and may have brought some of his equipment from Haarlem to Mainz. While Coster appears to
have experimented with moulds and castable metal type, there is no evidence that he had actually
printed anything with this technology. He was an inventor and a goldsmith. However, there is one
indirect supporter of the claim that Coster might be the inventor. The author of the Cologne
Chronicle of 1499 quotes Ulrich Zell, the first printer of Cologne, that printing was performed in
Mainz in 1450, but that some type of printing of lower quality had previously occurred in the
Netherlands. However, the chronicle does not mention the name of Coster,[26][34] while it actually
credits Gutenberg as the "first inventor of printing" in the very same passage (fol. 312). The first
securely dated book by Dutch printers is from 1471,[34] and the Coster connection is today
regarded as a mere legend.[35]
The 19th-century printer and typefounder Fournier Le Jeune suggested that Gutenberg was not
using type cast with a reusable matrix, but wooden types that were carved individually. A similar
suggestion was made by Nash in 2004.[36] This remains possible, albeit entirely unproven.
It has also been questioned whether Gutenberg used movable types at all. In 2004, Italian professor
Bruno Fabbiani claimed that examination of the 42-line Bible revealed an overlapping of letters,
suggesting that Gutenberg did not in fact use movable type (individual cast characters) but rather
used whole plates made from a system somewhat like a modern typewriter, whereby the letters were
stamped successively into the plate and then printed. However, most specialists regard the
occasional overlapping of type as caused by paper movement over pieces of type of slightly unequal
height.

Legacy
"What the world is today, good and bad, it owes to Gutenberg. Everything can be traced to this
source, but we are bound to bring him homage, … for the bad that his colossal invention has
brought about is overshadowed a thousand times by the good with which mankind has been
favored."
American writer Mark Twain (1835−1910)[37]

Mainz, 1840 Gutenberg Denkmal on the medal for Gutenberg's Printing Press 400th anniversary,
obverse.

The reverse of this medal.

Although Gutenberg was financially unsuccessful in his lifetime, the printing technologies spread
quickly, and news and books began to travel across Europe much faster than before. It fed the
growing Renaissance, and since it greatly facilitated scientific publishing, it was a major catalyst for
the later scientific revolution.
The capital of printing in Europe shifted to Venice, where visionary printers like Aldus Manutius
ensured widespread availability of the major Greek and Latin texts. The claims of an Italian origin
for movable type have also focused on this rapid rise of Italy in movable-type printing. This may
perhaps be explained by the prior eminence of Italy in the paper and printing trade. Additionally,
Italy's economy was growing rapidly at the time, facilitating the spread of literacy. Christopher
Columbus had a geographical book (printed by movable types) bought by his father. That book is in
a Spanish museum. Finally, the city of Mainz was sacked in 1462, driving many (including a
number of printers and punch cutters) into exile.
Printing was also a factor in the Reformation. Martin Luther's 95 Theses were printed and circulated
widely; subsequently he issued broadsheets outlining his anti-indulgences position (certificates of
indulgences were one of the first items Gutenberg had printed). The broadsheet contributed to
development of the newspaper.
A Gutenberg press replica at the Featherbed Alley Printshop Museum, in Bermuda
In the decades after Gutenberg, many conservative patrons looked down on cheap printed books;
books produced by hand were considered more desirable.
Today there is a large antique market for the earliest printed objects. Books printed prior to 1500 are
known as incunabula.
There are many statues of Gutenberg in Germany, including the famous one by Bertel Thorvaldsen
(1837) in Mainz, home to the eponymous Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz and the
Gutenberg Museum on the history of early printing. The latter publishes the Gutenberg-Jahrbuch,
the leading periodical in the field.

United States Postal Service stamp issued in 1952 commemorating the 500th anniversary of
Gutenberg's first printed Bible
Project Gutenberg, the oldest digital library,[38] commemorates Gutenberg's name. The Mainzer
Johannisnacht commemorates the person Johannes Gutenberg in his native city since 1968.
In 1952, the United States Postal Service issued a five hundredth anniversary stamp
commemorating Johannes Gutenberg invention of the movable-type printing press.
In 1961 the Canadian philosopher and scholar Marshall McLuhan entitled his pioneering study in
the fields of print culture, cultural studies, and media ecology, The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making
of Typographic Man.
Regarded as one of the most influential people in human history, Gutenberg remains a towering
figure in the popular image. In 1999, the A&E Network ranked Gutenberg the No. 1 most
influential person of the second millennium on their "Biographies of the Millennium" countdown.
In 1997, Time–Life magazine picked Gutenberg's invention as the most important of the second
millennium.[3]
In space, he is commemorated in the name of the asteroid 777 Gutemberga.
Two operas based on Gutenberg are G, Being the Confession and Last Testament of Johannes
Gensfleisch, also known as Gutenberg, Master Printer, formerly of Strasbourg and Mainz, from
2001 with music by Gavin Bryars;[39] and La Nuit de Gutenberg, with music by Philippe Manoury,
premiered in 2011 in Strasbourg.[40]
In 2018, WordPress, the open-source CMS platform, named it's new editing system Gutenberg in
tribute to him.[41]

See also
• Laurens Janszoon Coster
• History of books

References
1.
• Company, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing. "The American Heritage Dictionary
entry: Gutenberg, Johann". www.ahdictionary.com.
• Childress 2008, p. 14
• See People of the Millenium for an overview of the wide acclaim. In 1999, the A&E
Network ranked Gutenberg no. 1 on their "People of the Millennium" countdown. In 1997,
Time–Life magazine picked Gutenberg's invention as the most important of the second
millennium Archived 2010-03-10 at the Wayback Machine.; the same did four prominent
US journalists in their 1998 resume 1,000 Years, 1,000 People: Ranking The Men and
Women Who Shaped The Millennium. The Johann Gutenberg entry of the Catholic
Encyclopedia describes his invention as having made a practically unparalleled cultural
impact in the Christian era.
• McLuhan 1962; Eisenstein 1980; Febvre & Martin 1997; Man 2002
• Soap, Sex, and Cigarettes: A Cultural History of American Advertising By Juliann Sivulka,
page 5
• "Gutenberg's Invention - Fonts.com". Fonts.com.
• "How Gutenberg Changed the World". livescience.com.
• St. Christopher's – Gutenberg's baptismal church
• Hanebutt-Benz, Eva-Maria. "Gutenberg and Mainz". Archived from the original on 2006-
12-11. Retrieved 2006-11-24.
• Childress 2008, p. 62
• "Lienhard, John H". Uh.edu. 2004-08-01. Retrieved 2012-08-15.
• Wallau, Heinrich. "Johann Gutenberg". The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 7. New York:
Robert Appleton Company, 1910. [1]
• Martin, Henri-Jean (1995). "The arrival of print". The History and Power of Writing.
University of Chicago Press. p. 217. ISBN 0-226-50836-6.
• Dudley, Leonard (2008). "The Map-maker's son". Information revolutions in the history of
the West. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar. p. 78. ISBN 978-1-84720-790-6.
• "Gutenberg und seine Zeit in Daten (Gutenberg and his times; Timeline)". Gutenberg
Museum. Archived from the original on 2006-12-22. Retrieved 2006-11-24.
• Wolf 1974, pp. 67f.
• Burke, James (1978). Connections. London: Macmillan Publishers. p. 101. ISBN 0-333-
24827-9.
• Burke, James (1985). The Day the Universe Changed. Boston, Toronto: Little, Brown and
Company. ISBN 0-316-11695-5.
• Lehmann-Haupt, Hellmut (1966). Gutenberg and the Master of the Playing Cards. New
Haven: Yale University Press.
• Klooster, John W. (2009). Icons of invention: the makers of the modern world from
Gutenberg to Gates. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. p. 8. ISBN 978-0-313-34745-0.
• Kelley, Peter. "Documents that Changed the World: Gutenberg indulgence, 1454". UW
Today. University of Washington. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
• Sumner, Tracy M. (2009). How Did We Get the Bible? (unabridged ed.). Barbour
Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60742-349-2.
• Meggs, Philip B., Purvis, Alston W.History of Graphic Design. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley, 2006.
p.71.
• Cormack, Lesley B.; Ede, Andrew (2004). A History of Science in Society: From Philosophy
to Utility. Broadview Press. ISBN 1-55111-332-5.
• "Treasures in Full: Gutenberg Bible". British Library. Retrieved 2006-10-19.
• Kapr, Albert (1996). Johannes Gutenberg: the Man and His Invention. Scolar Press. p. 322.
ISBN 1-85928-114-1.
• Duchesne 2006, p. 83
• Buringh, Eltjo; van Zanden, Jan Luiten: "Charting the "Rise of the West": Manuscripts and
Printed Books in Europe, A Long-Term Perspective from the Sixth through Eighteenth
Centuries", The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 69, No. 2 (2009), pp. 409–4 45 (417,
table 2)
• Singer, C.; Holmyard, E.; Hall, A.; Williams, T. (1958). A History of Technology, vol.3.
Oxford University Press.
• Agüera y Arcas, Blaise; Needham, Paul (November 2002). "Computational analytical
bibliography". Proceedings Bibliopolis Conference The future history of the book. The
Hague (Netherlands): Koninklijke Bibliotheek.
• "What Did Gutenberg Invent?". Retrieved Aug 16, 2011.
• Adams, James L. (1991). Flying Buttresses, Entropy and O-Rings: the World of an Engineer.
Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-30688-0.
• Nash, Paul W. "The 'first' type of Gutenberg: a note on recent research" in The Private
Library, Summer 2004, pp. 86-96.
• Juchhoff 1950, pp. 131f.
• Costeriana. While the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition had attributed the
invention of the printing press to Coster, the more recent editions of the work attribute it to
Gutenberg to reflect, as it says, the common consent that has developed in the 20th century.
"Typography – Gutenberg and printing in Germany." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007.
• See Nash (2004).
• Childress 2008, p. 122
• Thomas, Jeffrey (20 June 2007). "Project Gutenberg Digital Library Seeks To Spur
Literacy". U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International Information Programs.
Retrieved 20 August 2007.
 • Gavin Bryars (2011-04-18). "Gavin Bryars Introduces". WQXR. Retrieved 2015-01-16.
• "UC San Diego Composer Philippe Manoury Wins French Grammy" (Press release).
University of California San Diego News Center. 2012-03-20. Retrieved 2015-01-16.
•

41."The new Gutenberg editing experience - WordPress.org". wordpress.org.

Sources
• Childress, Diana (2008). Johannes Gutenberg and the Printing Press. Minneapolis: Twenty-
First Century Books. ISBN 978-0-7613-4024-9.
• Duchesne, Ricardo (2006). "Asia First?". The Journal of the Historical Society. 6 (1): 69–
91. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5923.2006.00168.x.
• Juchhoff, Rudolf (1950). "Was bleibt von den holländischen Ansprüchen auf die Erfindung
der Typographie?". Gutenberg-Jahrbuch: 128–133.
• Wolf, Hans-Jürgen (1974). "Geschichte der Druckpressen" (1st ed.). Frankfurt/Main:
Interprint.

Further reading
• Blake Morrison, The Justification of Johann Gutenberg (2000) [Novel, describing social and
technical aspects of the invention of printing]
• Albert Kapr, Johann Gutenberg: the Man and his Invention. Translated from the German by
Douglas Martin, Scolar Press, 1996. "Third ed., revised by the author for...the English
translation.
• Eisenstein, Elizabeth (1980). The Printing Press as an Agent of Change. Cambridge
University Press. ISBN 0-521-29955-1.
• Eisenstein, Elizabeth (2005). The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe (2nd, rev.
ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-60774-4. [More recent, abridged version]
• Febvre, Lucien; Martin, Henri-Jean (1997). The Coming of the Book: The Impact of
Printing 1450–1800. London: Verso. ISBN 1-85984-108-2.
• Man, John (2002). The Gutenberg Revolution: The Story of a Genius and an Invention that
Changed the World. London: Headline Review. ISBN 978-0-7472-4504-9.
• McLuhan, Marshall (1962). The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man (1st
ed.). University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-6041-9.

External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Johannes Gutenberg.
• English homepage of the Gutenberg-Museum Mainz, Germany.
• The Digital Gutenberg Project: the Gutenberg Bible in 1,300 digital images, every page of
the University of Texas at Austin copy.
• Treasures in Full – Gutenberg Bible View the British Library's Digital Versions Online
 • Texts on Wikisource:
• "Gutenberg, Johannes". New International Encyclopedia. 1905.
• "Gutenburg, Johannes". The Nuttall Encyclopædia. 1907.
• "Gutenberg, Johann". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.
• "Johann Gutenberg". Catholic Encyclopedia. 1913.
• "Gutenberg, Johannes". The New Student's Reference Work. 1914.
• "Gutenberg, Johannes". Encyclopedia Americana. 1920.
• "Gutenberg, Johannes". Collier's New Encyclopedia. 1921.

•
Pioneers of Printing Press
• Jean Brito
• Panfilo Castaldi
• Laurens Janszoon Coster
• Johannes Gutenberg
• Procopius Waldvogel

• WorldCat Identities
• BIBSYS: 90193262
• BNE: XX994236
• BNF: cb119782521 (data)
• GND: 118543768
• ISNI: 0000 0001 2120 0528
• LCCN: n50034916
• LNB: 000076880
Authority control • NDL: 00620777
• NKC: jn20000602739
• NLA: 35158523
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Publishing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Publisher)

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"Publisher" redirects here. For other uses, see Publisher (disambiguation).
This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has
insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise
citations. (July 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

• Printer working an early Gutenberg letterpress from the 15th century. (engraving date
unknown)

Publishing is the dissemination of literature, music, or information—the activity of making

information available to the general public. In some cases, authors may be their own publishers,
meaning originators and developers of content also provide media to deliver and display the content
for the same. Also, the word publisher can refer to the individual who leads a publishing company
or an imprint or to a person who owns/heads a magazine.
Traditionally, the term refers to the distribution of printed works such as books (the "book trade")
and newspapers. With the advent of digital information systems and the Internet, the scope of
publishing has expanded to include electronic resources such as the electronic versions of books and
periodicals, as well as micropublishing, websites, blogs, video game publishers, and the like.
Publishing includes the following stages of development: acquisition, copy editing, production,
printing (and its electronic equivalents), marketing and distribution.
Publication is also important as a legal concept:
1. As the process of giving formal notice to the world of a significant intention, for example, to
marry or enter bankruptcy;
2. As the essential precondition of being able to claim defamation; that is, the alleged libel
must have been published, and
3. For copyright purposes, where there is a difference in the protection of published and
unpublished works.
There are two basic business models in book publishing:
1. Traditional or commercial publishers: Do not charge authors at all to publish their books, for
certain rights to publish the work and paying a royalty on books sold.[1]
2. Self-publishing: The author has to meet the total expense to get the book published. The
author should retain full rights,[2] also known as vanity publishing.

Contents
• 1 History
• 2 The process of publishing
• 2.1 Acceptance and negotiation
• 2.2 Pre-production stages
• 2.2.1 Editorial stage
• 2.2.2 Design stage
• 2.2.3 Sales and marketing stage
• 2.3 Printing
• 2.4 Binding
• 2.5 Distribution
• 3 Publishing as a business
• 4 Industry sub-divisions
• 4.1 Newspaper publishing
• 4.2 Periodical publishing
• 4.3 Book publishing
• 4.4 Directory publishing
• 4.5 Academic publishing
• 4.6 Tie-in publishing
• 4.7 Independent publishing alternatives
• 5 Recent developments
• 6 Standardization
 • 7 Legal issues
• 8 Privishing
• 9 See also
• 10 References
• 10.1 Citations
• 10.2 Sources
• 11 External links

History
Publishing became possible with the invention of writing, and became more practical upon the
introduction of printing. Prior to printing, distributed works were copied manually, by scribes. Due
to printing, publishing progressed hand-in-hand with the development of books.
The Chinese inventor Bi Sheng made movable type of earthenware circa 1045, but there are no
known surviving examples of his printing. Around 1450, in what is commonly regarded as an
independent invention, Johannes Gutenberg invented movable type in Europe, along with
innovations in casting the type based on a matrix and hand mould. This invention gradually made
books less expensive to produce, and more widely available.
Early printed books, single sheets and images which were created before 1501 in Europe are known
as incunables or incunabula. "A man born in 1453, the year of the fall of Constantinople, could look
back from his fiftieth year on a lifetime in which about eight million books had been printed, more
perhaps than all the scribes of Europe had produced since Constantine founded his city in A.D.
330."[3]
Eventually, printing enabled other forms of publishing besides books. The history of modern
newspaper publishing started in Germany in 1609, with publishing of magazines following in 1663.
Historically, publishing has been handled by publishers, with the history of self-publishing
progressing slowly until the advent of computers brought us electronic publishing, which has been
made evermore ubiquitous from the moment the world went online with the Internet. The
establishment of the World Wide Web in 1989 soon propelled the website into a dominant medium
of publishing, as websites are easily created by almost anyone with Internet access. The history of
wikis started shortly thereafter, followed closely by the history of blogging. Commercial publishing
also progressed, as previously printed forms developed into online forms of publishing, distributing
online books, online newspapers, and online magazines.
Since its start, the World Wide Web has been facilitating the technological convergence of
commercial and self-published content, as well as the convergence of publishing and producing into
online production through the development of multimedia content.

The process of publishing

Book and magazine publishers spend a lot of their time buying or commissioning copy; newspaper
publishers, by contrast, usually hire their staff to produce copy, although they may also employ
freelance journalists, called stringers. At a small press, it is possible to survive by relying entirely on
commissioned material. But as activity increases, the need for works may outstrip the publisher's
established circle of writers.
For works written independently of the publisher, writers often first submit a query letter or
proposal directly to a literary agent or to a publisher. Submissions sent directly to a publisher are
referred to as unsolicited submissions, and the majority come from previously unpublished authors.
If the publisher accepts unsolicited manuscripts, then the manuscript is placed in the slush pile,
which publisher's readers sift through to identify manuscripts of sufficient quality or revenue
potential to be referred to acquisitions editors for review. The acquisitions editors send their choices
to the editorial staff. The time and number of people involved in the process are dependent on the
size of the publishing company, with larger companies having more degrees of assessment between
unsolicited submission and publication. Unsolicited submissions have a very low rate of acceptance,
with some sources estimating that publishers ultimately choose about three out of every ten
thousand unsolicited manuscripts they receive.[4]
Many book publishers around the world maintain a strict "no unsolicited submissions" policy and
will only accept submissions via a literary agent. This policy shifts the burden of assessing and
developing writers out of the publisher and onto the literary agents. At these publishers, unsolicited
manuscripts are thrown out, or sometimes returned, if the author has provided pre-paid postage.
Established authors may be represented by a literary agent to market their work to publishers and
negotiate contracts. Literary agents take a percentage of author earnings (varying between 10 and
15 percent) to pay for their services.
Some writers follow a non-standard route to publication. For example, this may include bloggers
who have attracted large readerships producing a book based on their websites, books based on
Internet memes, instant "celebrities" such as Joe the Plumber, retiring sports figures and in general
anyone a publisher feels could produce a marketable book. Such books often employ the services of
a ghostwriter.
For a submission to reach publication, it must be championed by an editor or publisher who must
work to convince other staff of the need to publish a particular title. An editor who discovers or
champions a book that subsequently becomes a best-seller may find their reputation enhanced as a
result of their success.

Acceptance and negotiation

Once a work is accepted, commissioning editors negotiate the purchase of intellectual property
rights and agree on royalty rates.
The authors of traditional printed materials typically sell exclusive territorial intellectual property
rights that match the list of countries in which distribution is proposed (i.e. the rights match the
legal systems under which copyright protections can be enforced). In the case of books, the
publisher and writer must also agree on the intended formats of publication —mass-market
paperback, "trade" paperback and hardback are the most common options.
The situation is slightly more complex if electronic formatting is to be used. Where distribution is to
be by CD-ROM or other physical media, there is no reason to treat this form differently from a
paper format, and national copyright is an acceptable approach. But the possibility of Internet
download without the ability to restrict physical distribution within national boundaries presents
legal problems that are usually solved by selling language or translation rights rather than national
rights. Thus, Internet access across the European Union is relatively open because of the laws
forbidding discrimination based on nationality, but the fact of publication in, say, France, limits the
target market to those who read French.
Having agreed on the scope of the publication and the formats, the parties in a book agreement must
then agree on royalty rates, the percentage of the gross retail price that will be paid to the author,
and the advance payment. The publisher must estimate the potential sales in each market and
balance projected revenue against production costs. Royalties usually range between 10–12% of
recommended retail price. An advance is usually 1/3 of the first print run total royalties. For
example, if a book has a print run of 5000 copies and will be sold at $14.95 and the author is to
receive 10% royalties, the total sum payable to the author if all copies are sold is $7475 (10% x
$14.95 x 5000). The advance in this instance would roughly be $2490. Advances vary greatly
between books, with established authors commanding larger advances.

Pre-production stages
Although listed as distinct stages, parts of these occur concurrently. As editing of text progresses,
front cover design and initial layout takes place, and sales and marketing of the book begins.

Editorial stage
A decision is taken to publish a work, and the technical legal issues resolved, the author may be
asked to improve the quality of the work through rewriting or smaller changes and the staff will edit
the work. Publishers may maintain a house style, and staff will copy edit to ensure that the work
matches the style and grammatical requirements of each market. Editors often choose or refine titles
and headlines. Editing may also involve structural changes and requests for more information.
Some publishers employ fact checkers, particularly regarding non-fiction works.

Design stage
When a final text is agreed upon, the next phase is design. This may include artwork being
commissioned or confirmation of layout. In publishing, the word "art" also indicates photographs.
Depending on the number of photographs required by the work, photographs may also be licensed
from photo libraries. For those works that are particularly rich in illustrations, the publisher may
contract a picture researcher to find and license the photographs required for the work. The design
process prepares the work for printing through processes such as typesetting, dust jacket
composition, specification of paper quality, binding method and casing.
The type of book being produced determines the amount of design required. For standard fiction
titles, the design is usually restricted to typography and cover design. For books containing
illustrations or images, design takes on a much larger role in laying out how the page looks, how
chapters begin and end, colours, typography, cover design and ancillary materials such as posters,
catalogue images, and other sales materials. Non-fiction illustrated titles are the most design
intensive books, requiring extensive use of images and illustrations, captions, typography and a
deep involvement and consideration of the reader experience.
The activities of typesetting, page layout, the production of negatives, plates from the negatives and,
for hardbacks, the preparation of brasses for the spine legend and Imprint are now all computerized.
Prepress computerization evolved mainly in about the last twenty years of the 20th century. If the
work is to be distributed electronically, the final files are saved in formats appropriate to the target
operating systems of the hardware used for reading. These may include PDF files.

Sales and marketing stage

The sales and marketing stage is closely intertwined with the editorial process. As front cover
images are produced, or chapters are edited, sales people may start talking about the book with their
customers to build early interest. Publishing companies often produce advanced information sheets
that may be sent to customers or overseas publishers to gauge possible sales. As early interest is
measured, this information feeds back through the editorial process and may affect the formatting of
the book and the strategy employed to sell it. For example, if interest from foreign publishers is
high, co-publishing deals may be established whereby publishers share printing costs in producing
large print runs thereby lowering the per-unit cost of the books. Conversely, if initial feedback is not
strong, the print-run of the book may be reduced, the marketing budget cut or, in some cases, the
book is dropped from publication altogether.

Printing
After the end of editing and design work, the printing phase begins. The first step involves the
production of a pre-press proof, which the printers send for final checking and sign-off by the
publisher. This proof shows the book precisely as it will appear once printed and represents the final
opportunity for the publisher to find and correct any errors. Some printing companies use electronic
proofs rather than printed proofs. Once the publisher has approved the proofs, printing – the
physical production of the printed work – begins.
Recently new printing process have emerged, such as printing on demand (POD) and web-to-print.
The book is written, edited, and designed as usual, but it is not printed until the publisher receives
an order for the book from a customer. This procedure ensures low costs for storage and reduces the
likelihood of printing more books than will be sold. Web-to-print enables a more streamlined way
of connecting customers to printing through an online medium.

Binding
Main article: Bibliopegy
In the case of books, binding follows upon the printing process. It involves folding the printed
sheets, "securing them together, affixing boards or sides to it, and covering the whole with leather or
other materials".[5]

Distribution
The final stage in publication involves making the product available to the public, usually by
offering it for sale. In previous centuries, authors frequently also acted as their own editor, printer,
and bookseller, but these functions have become separated. Once a book, newspaper, or another
publication is printed, the publisher may use a variety of channels to distribute it. Books are most
commonly sold through booksellers and through other retailers. Newspapers and magazines are
typically sold in advance directly by the publisher to subscribers, and then distributed either through
the postal system or by newspaper carriers. Periodicals are also frequently sold through newsagents
and vending machines.
Within the book industry, printers often fly some copies of the finished book to publishers as sample
copies to aid sales or to be sent out for pre-release reviews. The remaining books often travel from
the printing facility via sea freight. Accordingly, the delay between the approval of the pre-press
proof and the arrival of books in a warehouse, much less in a retail store, can take some months. For
books that tie into movie release-dates (particularly for children's films), publishers will arrange
books to arrive in store up to two months prior to the movie release to build interest in the movie.

Publishing as a business

Eslite Bookstore in Taiwan.

Derided in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica as "a purely commercial affair" that cared more about
profits than about literary quality,[6] publishing is fundamentally a business, with a need for the
expenses of creating, producing, and distributing a book or other publication not to exceed the
income derived from its sale. Publishing is now a major industry with the largest companies Reed
Elsevier and Pearson PLC having global publishing operations.
The publisher usually controls the advertising and other marketing tasks, but may subcontract
various aspects of the process to specialist publisher marketing agencies. In many companies,
editing, proofreading, layout, design, and other aspects of the production process are done by
freelancers.[7][8]
Dedicated in-house salespeople are sometimes replaced by companies who specialize in sales to
bookshops, wholesalers, and chain stores for a fee. This trend is accelerating as retail book chains
and supermarkets have centralized their buying.
If the entire process up to the stage of printing is handled by an outside company or individuals, and
then sold to the publishing company, it is known as book packaging. This is a common strategy
between smaller publishers in different territorial markets where the company that first buys the
intellectual property rights then sells a package to other publishers and gains an immediate return on
capital invested. The first publisher will often print sufficient copies for all markets and thereby get
the maximum quantity efficiency on the print run for all.
Some businesses maximize their profit margins through vertical integration; book publishing is not
one of them. Although newspaper and magazine companies still often own printing presses and
binderies, book publishers rarely do. Similarly, the trade usually sells the finished products through
a distributor who stores and distributes the publisher's wares for a percentage fee or sells on a sale
or return basis.
The advent of the Internet has provided the electronic way of book distribution without the need of
physical printing, physical delivery and storage of books. This, therefore, poses an interesting
question that challenges publishers, distributors, and retailers. The question pertains to the role and
importance the publishing houses have in the overall publishing process. It is a common practice
that the author, the original creator of the work, signs the contract awarding him or her only around
10% of the proceeds of the book.[9] Such contract leaves 90% of the book proceeds to the
publishing houses, distribution companies, marketers, and retailers. One example (rearranged) of
the distribution of proceeds from the sale of a book was given as follows:[10]
• 45% to the retailer
• 10% to the wholesaler
• 10.125% to the publisher for printing (this is usually subcontracted out)
• 7.15% to the publisher for marketing
• 12.7% to the publisher for pre-production
• 15% to the author (royalties)

There is a common misconception that publishing houses make large profits and that authors are the
lowest paid in the publishing chain. However, most publishers make little profit from individual
titles, with 75% of books not breaking even. Approximately 80% of the cost of a book is taken up
by the expenses of preparing, distributing, and printing (with printing being one of the lowest costs
of all). On successful titles, publishing companies will usually make around 10% profit, with the
author(s) receiving 8–15% of the retail price. However, given that authors are usually individuals,
are often paid advances irrespective of whether the book turns a profit and do not normally have to
split profits with others, it makes them the highest paid individuals in the publishing process.
Within the electronic book path, the publishing house's role remains almost identical. The process
of preparing a book for e-book publication is exactly the same as print publication, with only minor
variations in the process to account for the different mediums of publishing. While some costs, such
as the discount given to retailers (normally around 45%)[10] are eliminated, additional costs
connected to ebooks apply (especially in the conversion process), raising the production costs to a
similar level.[citation needed]
Print on demand is rapidly becoming an established alternative to traditional publishing. In 2005,
Amazon.com announced its purchase of Booksurge and selfsanepublishing, a major "print on
demand" operation. CreateSpace is the Amazon subsidiary that facilitates publishing by small
presses and individual authors. Books published via CreateSpace are sold on Amazon and other
outlets, with Amazon extracting a very high percentage of the sales proceeds for the services of
publishing. printing and distributing. One of the largest bookseller chains, Barnes & Noble, already
runs its successful imprint with both new titles and classics — hardback editions of out-of-print
former best sellers. Similarly, Ingram Industries, the parent company of Ingram Book Group (a
leading US book wholesaler), now includes its print-on-demand division called Lightning Source.
In 2013, Ingram launched a small press and self-publishing arm called Ingram Spark.[11] Payment
terms are much closer to those of Amazon and less favorable than those they offer to more
established publishers via Lightning Source. Among publishers, Simon & Schuster recently
announced that it will start selling its backlist titles directly to consumers through its website.
[citation needed]
Book clubs are almost entirely direct-to-retail, and niche publishers pursue a mixed strategy to sell
through all available outlets — their output is insignificant to the major booksellers, so lost revenue
poses no threat to the traditional symbiotic relationships between the four activities of printing,
publishing, distribution, and retail.

Industry sub-divisions
Newspaper publishing
Main article: Newspaper
Newspapers are regularly scheduled publications that present recent news, typically on a type of
inexpensive paper called newsprint. Most newspapers are primarily sold to subscribers, through
retail newsstands or are distributed as advertising-supported free newspapers. About one-third of
publishers in the United States are newspaper publishers.[12]

Periodical publishing
Main article: Periodical publication
Nominally, periodical publishing involves publications that appear in a new edition on a regular
schedule. Newspapers and magazines are both periodicals, but within the industry, the periodical
publishing is frequently considered a separate branch that includes magazines and even academic
journals, but not newspapers.[12] About one-third of publishers in the United States publish
periodicals (not including newspapers).[12]

Book publishing
See also: History of books
"Book publishing company" redirects here. For the publisher named Book Publishing Company, see
The Farm (Tennessee).
The global book publishing industry accounts for over $100 billion of annual revenue, or about 15%
of the total media industry.[13]
Book publishers represent less than a sixth of the publishers in the United States.[12] Most books
are published by a small number of very large book publishers, but thousands of smaller book
publishers exist. Many small- and medium-sized book publishers specialize in a specific area.
Additionally, thousands of authors have created publishing companies and self-published their own
works.
Within the book publishing, the publisher of record for a book is the entity in whose name the
book's ISBN is registered. The publisher of record may or may not be the actual publisher.
Approximately 60%[14] of English-language books are produced through the "Big Five" publishing
houses: Penguin Random House, Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Macmillan. (See
also: List of English-language book publishing companies.)

Directory publishing
Directory publishing is a specialized genre within the publishing industry. These publishers produce
mailing lists, telephone books, and other types of directories.[12] With the advent of the Internet,
many of these directories are now online.
Academic publishing
Main article: Academic publishing
Academic publishers are typically either book or periodical publishers that have specialized in
academic subjects. Some, like university presses, are owned by scholarly institutions. Others are
commercial businesses that focus on academic subjects.
The development of the printing press represented a revolution for communicating the latest
hypotheses and research results to the academic community and supplemented what a scholar could
do personally. But this improvement in the efficiency of communication created a challenge for
libraries, which have had to accommodate the weight and volume of literature.
One of the key functions that academic publishers provide is to manage the process of peer review.
Their role is to facilitate the impartial assessment of research and this vital role is not one that has
yet been usurped, even with the advent of social networking and online document sharing.
Today, publishing academic journals and textbooks is a large part of an international industry.
Critics claim that standardised accounting and profit-oriented policies have displaced the publishing
ideal of providing access to all. In contrast to the commercial model, there is non-profit publishing,
where the publishing organization is either organised specifically for the purpose of publishing,
such as a university press, or is one of the functions of an organisation such as a medical charity,
founded to achieve specific practical goals. An alternative approach to the corporate model is open
access, the online distribution of individual articles and academic journals without charge to readers
and libraries. The pioneers of Open Access journals are BioMed Central and the Public Library of
Science (PLoS). Many commercial publishers are experimenting with hybrid models where certain
articles or government funded articles are made free due to authors' payment of processing charges,
and other articles are available as part of a subscription or individual article purchase.

Tie-in publishing
Main article: Tie-in
Technically, radio, television, cinemas, VCDs and DVDs, music systems, games, computer
hardware and mobile telephony publish information to their audiences. Indeed, the marketing of a
major film often includes a novelization, a graphic novel or comic version, the soundtrack album, a
game, model, toys and endless promotional publications.
Some of the major publishers have entire divisions devoted to a single franchise, e.g. Ballantine Del
Rey Lucasbooks has the exclusive rights to Star Wars in the United States; Random House UK
(Bertelsmann)/Century LucasBooks holds the same rights in the United Kingdom. The game
industry self-publishes through BL Publishing/Black Library (Warhammer) and Wizards of the
Coast (Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, etc.). The BBC has its publishing division that does very
well with long-running series such as Doctor Who. These multimedia works are cross-marketed
aggressively and sales frequently outperform the average stand-alone published work, making them
a focus of corporate interest.[15]

Independent publishing alternatives

See also: Alternative media
Writers in a specialized field or with a narrower appeal have found smaller alternatives to the mass
market in the form of small presses and self-publishing. More recently, these options include print
on demand and ebook format. These publishing alternatives provide an avenue for authors who
believe that mainstream publishing will not meet their needs or who are in a position to make more
money from direct sales than they could from bookstore sales, such as popular speakers who sell
books after speeches. Authors are more readily published by this means due to the much lower costs
involved.

Recent developments
The 21st century has brought some new technological changes to the publishing industry. These
changes include e-books, print on demand, and accessible publishing. E-books have been quickly
growing in availability in major publishing markets such as the USA and the UK since 2005.
Google, Amazon.com, and Sony have been leaders in working with publishers and libraries to
digitize books. As of early 2011, Amazon's Kindle reading device is a significant force in the
market, along with the Apple iPad and the Nook from Barnes & Noble.[citation needed] Along with
the growing popularity of e-books, some companies like Oyster and Scribd have pursued the
subscription model, providing members unlimited access to a content library on a variety of digital
reading devices.
The ability to quickly and cost-effectively print on demand has meant that publishers no longer
have to store books at warehouses, if the book is in low or unknown demand. This is a huge
advantage to small publishers who can now operate without large overheads and large publishers
who can now cost-effectively sell their backlisted items.
Accessible publishing uses the digitization of books to mark up books into XML and then produces
multiple formats from this to sell to consumers, often targeting those with difficulty reading.
Formats include a variety larger print sizes, specialized print formats for dyslexia,[16] eye tracking
problems and macular degeneration, as well as Braille, DAISY, audiobooks and e-books.[17]
Green publishing means adapting the publishing process to minimise environmental impact. One
example of this is the concept of on-demand printing, using digital or print-on-demand technology.
This cuts down the need to ship books since they are manufactured close to the customer on a just-
in-time basis.[18]
A further development is the growth of on-line publishing where no physical books are produced.
The ebook is created by the author and uploaded to a website from where it can be downloaded and
read by anyone.
An increasing number of authors are using niche marketing online to sell more books by engaging
with their readers online.[19] These authors can use free services such as Smashwords or Amazon's
CreateSpace to have their book available for worldwide sale. There is an obvious attraction for first
time authors who have been repeatedly rejected by the existing agent/publisher model to explore
this opportunity. However, a consequence of this change in the mechanics of book distribution is
that there is now no mandatory check on author skill or even their ability to spell, and any person
with an internet connection can publish whatever they choose, regardless of the literary merit or
even basic readability of their writing.
Standardization
Refer to the ISO divisions of ICS 01.140.40 and 35.240.30 for further information.[20][21]

Legal issues

World Intellectual Property Organization, Geneva

Main article: Publication
Publication is the distribution of copies or content to the public.[22][23] The Berne Convention
requires that this can only be done with the consent of the copyright holder, which is initially
always the author.[22] In the Universal Copyright Convention, "publication" is defined in article VI
as "the reproduction in tangible form and the general distribution to the public of copies of a work
from which it can be read or otherwise visually perceived."[23]
In providing a work to the general public, the publisher takes responsibility for the publication in a
way that a mere printer or a shopkeeper does not. For example, publishers may face charges of
defamation, if they produce and distribute libelous material to the public, even if the libel was
written by another person.

Privishing
Privishing (private publishing) is a modern term for publishing a book in such a small amount, or
with such lack of marketing, advertising or sales support from the publisher, that the book
effectively does not reach the public.[24] The book, while nominally published, is almost
impossible to obtain through normal channels such as bookshops, often cannot be special-ordered
and will have a notable lack of support from its publisher, including refusals to reprint the title. A
book that is privished may be referred to as "killed". Depending on the motivation, privishing may
constitute breach of contract, censorship,[25] or good business practice (e.g., not printing more
books than the publisher believes will sell in a reasonable length of time).

See also
General: Publishing on specific contexts:
• Journalism
 • Accessible publishing
• Concentration of media
ownership
• Lists of publishing
companies portal
• List of book distributors • Academic publishing
• Mass media • Books published per Publishing tools:
• Media proprietor country per year
• List of best-selling books • Desktop publishing
• Open access publishing
• Document management • Electronic
• Open publishing
system publishing
• Publication
• Scientific literature • Mobile publishing
• Self-publishing
• Writing circles • Web publishing
• Serials, periodicals and
tools
journals
• Small press
• Writing
• Zines

References
Citations
1.
• Steven, Daniel. "Self-publishing – In traditional royalty publishing". publishlawyer.com.
Daniel N. Steven, LLC. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
• Steven, Daniel. "What is self-publishing". publishlawyer.com. Daniel N. Steven, LLC.
Retrieved 1 March 2018.
• Clapham, Michael, "Printing" in A History of Technology, Vol 2. From the Renaissance to
the Industrial Revolution, edd. Charles Singer et al. (Oxford 1957), p. 377. Cited from
Elizabeth L. Eisenstein, The Printing Press as an Agent of Change (Cambridge University,
1980).
• Tara K. Harper (2004). "On Publishers and Getting Published". Retrieved 28 May 2010.
• Hannett, John (2010) [1836]. Bibliopegia: Or the Art of Bookbinding, in All Its Branches.
Cambridge Library Collection: Printing and Publishing History (2 ed.). Cambridge
University Press. p. 3. ISBN 9781108021449. Retrieved 19 February 2013. Binding is the
art of folding the sheets of a book, securing them together, affixing boards or sides thereto,
and covering the whole with leather or other materials
• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Publishing". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.).
Cambridge University Press.
• "Jobs and Careers – Help". Random House, Inc. Retrieved 13 August 2008.
• "Jobs with Penguin". Penguin Books Ltd. Archived from the original on 6 September 2008.
Retrieved 13 August 2008.
• "Sample Publishing Contract". Indexbooks.net. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
• "Book Cost Analysis – Cost of Physical Book Publishing - Kindle Review – Kindle Phone
Review, Kindle Fire HD Review". Kindle Review.
 • "How to Publish a Book – eBook Publishing". ingramspark.com. Archived from the original
on 24 December 2013.
• Bureau of Labor Statistics (17 December 2009). "Career Guide to Industries, 2010–11
Edition: Publishing, Except Software". U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 28 May 2010.
• IPA Global. Publishing Statistics (PDF).
• Losowsky, Andrew (20 February 2013). "Indie Bookstores File Lawsuit Against Amazon".
Huffington Post.
• Shelagh Vainker in Anne Farrer (ed.), "Caves of the Thousand Buddhas", 1990, British
Museum publications, ISBN 0714114472.
• Dwight Garner (20 May 2008). "Making Reading Easier – Paper Cuts Blog". NYTimes.com.
• "Overview of the Technology- Awards, Cost Savings". Radhowyouwant.com. Retrieved 19
November 2012.
• Kanter, James (2 December 2008). "Reading Green On Demand". Green blogs, New York
Times. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
• Rinzler, Alan (29 July 2010). "The Magic of Niche Marketing for Authors". Forbes.
Retrieved 3 July 2012.
• International Organization for Standardization. "01.140.40: Publishing". Retrieved 14 July
2008.
• International Organization for Standardization. "35.240.30: IT applications in information,
documentation and publishing". Retrieved 14 July 2008.
• WIPO. "Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works". Wipo.int.
Retrieved 19 November 2012.
• "Microsoft Word – The Universal Copyright Convention _Geneva Text—September" (PDF).
Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 November 2012. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
• Winkler, David (11 July 2002). "Journalists Thrown 'Into the Buzzsaw'".
CommonDreams.org. Archived from the original on August 4, 2007.
25.Sue Curry Jansen of Muhlenberg College, Pennsylvania and Brian Martin of University of
Wollongong, Australia (July 2003). "Making censorship backfire". Counterpoise. 7.

Sources
• Epstein, Jason. Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future.
• Schiffrin, André (2000). The Business of Books: How the International Conglomerates Took
Over Publishing and Changed the Way We Read.
• Ugrešić, Dubravka (2003). Thank You for Not Reading.
• Abelson et al. (2005). Open Networks and Open Society: The Relationship between
Freedom, Law, and Technology
• Leonard Shatzkin (1982). In Cold Type: Overcoming the Book Crisis. Boston, Mass.:
Houghton-Mifflin. xiii, 297 pp. ISBN 0395321603

External links
 Publishingat Wikipedia's sister projects

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• GND: 4132033-5
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Authority control
• NDL: 00572431

Categories:
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