Book Publishing Is a Business

By Rick Frishman - Jun 29 , 2007

Publishing is a business—a big business that is bottom line oriented.

Publishing companies need to make profits to survive. Virtually every major decision made in the publishing industry is filtered through a business, profit-oriented lens. Publishers are business operators who deal in the commodity of books.

While many publishing companies have high artistic standards, they are not charities or benevolent associations. They are not cultural foundations that exist solely to serve writers and the public good—they are businesses that exist to make money.

Publishing Facts

1. Publishers love to find exciting new authors.
2. However, publishers are not first and foremost in the talent-discovery business.
3. Publishers are primarily in the money-making business, and most try to make it artfully.

As an author, you may have an idea for the most interesting, brilliant, or even earth-shattering book. Your writing skill may move curmudgeons to tears or goad the meek to destructive outbursts. However, if publishers don’t think your work will be commercially successful, you’ll have trouble getting it through their acquisition processes.

Understand the business realities of publishing and keep them prominently in mind through every stage of the book-selling and publishing process: Idea formation, proposal writing, agent/publisher selection/interaction, manuscript development, submission, and promotion.

Find out what agents and publishers want and make your writing more attractive to them by giving them what they request. Otherwise, the public will probably never get the chance to appreciate your genius.

How big a business is publishing?

According to statistics compiled by the Association of American Publishers (AAP), net sales for the publishing industry for 2005 were a grand total of $25.1 billion. This amounted to a 9.9 percent increase from 2004. And the total number of new titles in books published in 2005 is 282,500. (Statistics for 2006 are not yet finalized.)

So, as you can see, publishing is a HUGE business. As a writer, it’s essential to always remember that when publishing decisions are made—remember that they will usually be based primarily on dollars-and-cents business considerations, not on art!