BOOKS

The Publishing Industry

Amazon
KINDLE
 OTHER (not so recent) Trends
• Harry Potter
 Trends
• “The Oprah Effect”
 History of Books
• Papyrus Egypt, 2400 B.C. -made from
reeds
Plato
• China: bamboo strips
(1600 BC)
 History of Books

• Parchment- treated animal skin, 300 BC

 History of Books

• Vellum- the term for high quality

parchment
• Smooth
• durable
 History of Books

• Codex - protomodern book form, 2nd-

3rd century A.D.
 History of Books
• Paper: 13th century

(cheaper than
vellum…)
 Manuscript Culture
• Middle Ages, 400-
1500 A.D.
• Illuminated
manuscripts
• ALLINCAPITALLETTERSTHATRANTO
GETHERSOITWASREALLYHARDTOR
EADTHEWORDS
History of Books
History of Books
PRINTING
 PRINTING
• China: movable type, 1000 AD
• Koreans: 1400 AD
 The Gutenberg Revolution
• 1453-56
• Printing press with
movable type
 The Gutenberg Revolution
• Social transformations - information spreads
beyond localities
• People see themselves as individuals -- not
solely dependent upon leaders and families
• Can challenge traditional wisdom
 Books in the U.S.
• 1830s - machine-made paper
• Cloth rather than leather covers
• mid-1800s: paperback books
• 1860s - paperback dime novels
• Also known as pulp fiction
 Advances in Printing

• Linotype: mid
1880s. Allows
type to be set
mechanically with
typewriter-like
keyboard.
 Advances in Printing
• Offset lithography: Books printed from
photographic plates rather than metal
casts.
Types of Books
 Types of Books
• Trade Books - for general readers,
sold at bookstores (fiction and
nonfiction, biographies, literary
classics, art books, cook books,
etc.) Can be hard or “quality”
softbound.
• Is the largest segment in sales ($).

COLLEEN?
 Types of Books
• Professional Books -
Target occupational
groups, not general
public. Law, business,
medicine, technical-
scientific.
 Types of Books
• Textbooks -
• El-hi
– influence of Texas and California
• College
– Average cost $72.83.
– Average student spends $832 a year on
textbooks and supplies.
 Think-Pair-Share
1. how much money did you spend this
semester on textbooks?
2. which books cost the most money?
3. if you returned any books last
semester, how much $$ did you get
back?
4. what choices are available at your
university or college for purchasing
textbooks?
 Media & Culture
• $78.95

Authors:
– Richard Campbell: 9.00
– Bettina Fabos: 75 cents
– Chris Martin: 75 cents

TOTAL: $10.50
• Publisher (Bedford/St. Martins)
– Paper, printing, editorial: $20.50
– General Administrative costs: $7
– Marketing costs: $10.50
– Pre-tax income: $4.90
TOTAL: $42.90

• Freight Expense:
TOTAL: $1
• College Bookstore
– Personnel: $8.90
– Operations: $8.1
– Pre-tax income: $7.55

TOTAL: $24.55
 Types of Books
• Mass-market paperbacks - most sold,
but not most profitable segment (low
margins of profit)
• Religious books - most popular book
of all-time?
 Types of Books
• Reference Books

• University Press Books

 Types of Books
• Reference Books

• University Press Books

– Wrong Turn
 Organization of Industry
• Acquisitions editors
• Subsidiary rights
• Advance money
• Developmental editor
• Promote books with “dumps”
 Organization of Industry
• Superstores
– Borders-Waldenbooks
– Barnes & Noble, B.Dalton, Doubleday
• Online stores
– Amazon.com
– Barnes&noble.com
 Ownership in Book Industry
• Bertelsmann - owns Random House,
Bantam-Doubleday-Dell
• Viacom - owns Simon & Schuster
• Time Warner - Little, Brown; Time/Life
Books
• More books published now than ever
before: 160,000 annually in U.S. alone.
 THINK PAIR SHARE
• What kinds of trade books (novels,
nonfiction, etc.) do you like to read?

• How do you find out about a book you

might like?

• Where do you buy books?

• Do you check books out of a library?