Aviva Directory » Business & Industry » Printing & Publishing

Printing and publishing generally go together, or at least that was true prior to the advent of digital publishing.

The printing industry began with the invention of movable type by Johannes Gutenberg in the 15th century. His invention made it possible to mass-produce books far quicker and cheaper than the previous method, in which scribes carefully copied the text by hand. However, the publishing industry didn't emerge as its own entity for another century and a half. Often cited as the beginning of the modern publishing industry was when Francis Bacon published his first book of essays in 1605.

Printing refers to the physical production of books, magazines, journals, newspapers, textbooks, and other printed materials. The process generally includes binding printed materials together, such as perfect binding or case binding, as well as other post-production processes, which might include lamination.

When a book or a text is published in digital form, this is sometimes referred to as printing, as well, but it is more commonly termed publishing.

Publishing is generally viewed as the business side of creating a book or another document. It includes all of the activities necessary for bringing a book from concept to completion, which includes editing, marketing, distribution, and everything in between. Also involved in publishing are concerns like rights management and licensing agreements between publishers and authors, detailing the terms of use, compensation, and so on. Publishing includes everything involved in the production of a book or magazine after the author has written it, with the exception of printing it. In most cases, publishing includes strategic planning, marketing, and promotion.

The completion of a physical book includes both publishing and printing, although the process may appear to be one, as the publisher usually arranges for the printing. While some publishers actually print the books that they accept, most publishers deal with an outside printing service.

Although it is possible for an author to make direct arrangements with a printer, this type of arrangement is often known as vanity printing. A vanity press, or vanity publisher, will require the author to pay the costs of printing, and the service is generally deficient in editing, promotion, distribution, and other essential elements of a successful product. Although the business may be defined as a publishing house, a vanity press neglects the functions of a publishing company.

The traditional publishing process for producing most books, magazines, and journals includes some or all of the following stages: commissioning, writing, copy editing, design, copywriting, typesetting, proofreading, correction cycles, indexing, final corrections, web publishing, prepress, printing, post-press, distribution, and marketing.

It is important to differentiate between a vanity press and self-publishing, however. In self-publishing, the author maintains control of the copyright, as well as the editorial and publishing process, including marketing and distribution.

A traditional publishing house relies on printers to print their books and other publications. However, for a book or publication to reach its intended audience, the task doesn't end with the physical printing of the product. Today, books that are produced in physical form are also distributed digitally, which requires both printing and digital publishing services, to make the book available as an e-book that can be distributed through Amazon Kindle or another platform.

With the rising popularity of e-books, a lot of books are only distributed in digital format, and several newspapers and magazines have ended their production and distribution of paper copies, and are available only in digital format.

For those that are still printed in book, magazine, or newspaper format, the collaboration between printers and publishers makes the process smoother and more effective.

Categories

Academic

Book Publishers

Business Cards

Comics

Labels

Products

 

 

Recommended Resources


Search for Printing & Publishing on Google or Bing