The Dynamics of Mass Communication

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The Dynamics ofMass Communication
Seventh Edition

• Joseph R. Dominick

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Part 2 The Print Media
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Chapter 6 Books
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Early Book History

• Hand copied and lavishly decorated
• Expensive and time consuming to make (1 year
  avg.)
• Johann Gutenbergs invention of moveable type in
  1455 allows books to be mass produced
• Printing spreads rapidly throughout Europe helps
  foster Protestant Reformation

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Books in Early America

• Colonial publishers often their own writer and
  printer
• Religious and political works dominate the 1700s
• In early 1800s, mass audiences, new technologies,
  libraries, and a better educated public spark
  book publishing during the Penny Press era
• Civil War years help start paperback boom

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Books in the 20th Century

• A move to commercialization brought on by
• literary agents focused on getting authors top
  dollar
• books expand further into the mass appeal market
• demand by financial backers to be profit oriented
• Paperbacks debut again in post WW II market
• Feature low prices, varied content, mass sales,
  quality works
• More leisure time and income spur reading
• Book industry becomes an attractive investment

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The Contemporary Book Industry

• A consolidation trend starts in the 1970s
• Big companies begin dominating industry
• The Internet opens up new a marketing and
  distribution approach with amazon.com et al
• Content gets more specialized and varied

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Books in the Digital Age

• Most manuscripts are now produced and edited with
  word processors and distributed via e-mail
• The emerging all-digitally processed e-books will
  establish all new approaches to book production,
  distribution, marketing
• E-books new challenges to an old industry --
  authors as their own publishers, promoters, and
  distributors

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The e-book Authors as Publishers and Retailers
E-book technology easily has the potential to
change the entire structure of the book industry,
with authors now conceivably able to write,
compose, promote, publish, and distribute their
own works, eliminating the need for a traditional
publisher.
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Printing on Demand

• Essentially a new way to distribute, buy, and
  print books right at the retail outlet
• Choose your book at the store
• Store downloads it from publishers database
• Book printed within 15 minutes at the store
• Publisher saves print and distribution costs

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DEFINING FEATURES OF BOOKS

• Least mass-like of the mass media
• Potential to have profound social effects
• Authoritative
• Permanent

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ORGANIZATION OF THEBOOK INDUSTRY

• The publishing industry has three main segments
• Publishers
• Distributors
• Retailers

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Publishers

• The Association of American Publishers lists 12
  major publishing divisions
• Trade books
• Religious books
• Professional books
• Book clubs
• Mail order publications

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Publishing Divisions (Cont)

• Mass market paperbacks
• University presses
• Elementary and secondary texts
• College textbooks
• Standardized tests
• Subscription reference books
• Audiovisual and other media

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Distributors

• Thanks to the Internet, there are now two main
  channels by which books can get to consumers
• The traditional method
• The online method

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Retailers

• 20,000 traditional book stores
• Major chain stores
• Online vendors
• College bookstores
• Book clubs and mail-order sales
• direct-to-consumer book-sellers

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Ownership

• The industry is dominated by large conglomerates
  with interests in other media. The top five
  companies as of mid-2000 were
• Pearson Publishing
• Random House
• Harper-Collins
• Simon Schuster
• Time-Warner Publishing

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PRODUCING THE BOOK

• Departments and Staff
• Editorial
• Production
• Marketing
• General administration of the business
• E-books

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PUBLISHING THE BOOK

• Book ideas come from three main sources
• Agent recommendations
• Unsolicited books a.k.a. slush
• Ideas generated by editors themselves

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General Steps in Getting a Book Published

• Author submits a book proposal which can include
• . cover letter and a brief description of the
  planned book
• . a list of reasons why the book should be
  published
• . an analysis of the potential readership market
• . an outline or a table of contents (and a sample
  chapter)
• Proposal forwarded to acquisitions editor for
  evaluation
• . If favorable, contract is signed and author
  begins work

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General Steps in Getting a Book Published (Cont)

• As chapters come in, editors review book for
  sense and achievement of original intent
• Book mechanics checked (writing, footnotes,
  grammar, permissions to reproduce other published
  materials)
• Design decisions made and production schedules
  set
• Book printed, sent to warehouses to await
  distribution

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ECONOMICS

• Cultural factors continue to cast promising
  economic growth for the book industry
• Two main sources of industry income
• money from book sales
• subsidiary rights

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FEEDBACK

• The primary form of audience feedback for the
  industry continues to be the best seller lists
  compiled by newspapers such as USA Today, the New
  York Times, and Publishers Weekly.
• Internet services like amazon.com are providing
  new feedback alternatives such as their purchase
  circles database and interactive reader reviews

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End of Chapter 6Books