Creative Industry: Publishing
Publishing is “to issue printed or otherwise reproduced textual or graphic material, computer software, etc. for sale or distribution to the public.” (Dictionary.com)
It allows individuals to express their creativity and their products. Publishing is a market that provides jobs as well as products, it allows societies to express their culture through the marketing of products and the creation of the products by individuals in said culture.
With the advancement and innovations of technology and social change, publishing was and still is a key factor in the spread of literacy. Publishing was first seen in ancient Greece, China, and Rome in the 6th century. The value of publishing came from the development of writing, most of which took place due to religion. Printing then developed in Europe in the 11th century. Most of the credit for the advancement of publishing in Europe is given to Johannes Gutenberg in Germany. However many of the inventions had been developed earlier in China, and as a result were brought to Europe through the Arabic travellers. Gutenberg’s did play a key point with the inventions of “movable metal type, ink, paper, and press” (Tucker). With the newly freed western Europe and North America of the18th century, publishing became a large role in society. Literacy and education expanded with the creation of efficient publishing and standards. From the 19th century onward, publishing became a large role in societies economies, offering occupations, innovation through creators, a new market with numerous products, and a financial risk with much to gain.
Since publishing is more hands on with the publishing company and those wanting their work to be published, they tend to follow a separate value chain compared to businesses. Always interacting face to face or through the use of emails or telephone conversations, both parties always are in the loop with one another and if there are extra steps needing to be done, both will know about it.
Publisher jobs in Portland Oregon:
Unfortunately, either due to the popularity of such a job or how scarce job openings can be, there are not very many publishing job opportunities in Portland right now. (Indeed). Rather than seeing publishing jobs available, you see book retail positions needing to be filled, which proves the scarceness of a job as a publisher. Whoever wishes to be a publisher does not have many options to become that, and rather needs to take up work in bookstores, newspaper companies, or anything along those lines to fulfill their wishes of publishing, as that is the closest thing they would get to becoming that in Portland.
While few jobs may not be available for hopeful publishers, according to Seattle PI (Siskin, 2016), requirements vary with the different options of the publishing field. An english, literature, and journalism major requires a Bachelors Degree, while business and technology majors just need to make sure that they understand writing and selling abilities behind publishing. All fields of work need internships to really grasp what publishing and being a publisher feels like. While getting work published is between the publisher and the person who sought them out for the work to be published, the only time that there is a middle person is when they negotiate cost for the publishing a piece of work of the artist, writer, ect. (Wikipedia). Otherwise the process of publishing is very connected and personal.
The problems that have arisen in the publishing community since the dawn of technology is just innovation and welcoming the wave of technology to aid them through their publishing processes. The lack of innovation is hurting them as publishers, because their potential customers (the person bringing them their work to be published), may not enjoy the lack of personal feeling and they will leave, losing the publishing company money. The lack of using technology is losing them work as well, as a lot of young writers opt to now publish their writings,artworks, and music on various websites like: tumblr.com, etsy.com, fanfiction.net, soundcloud.com, bandcamp.com, youtube.com -- all free websites that can promote their art and writing to possibly get money through doing it, at the very least getting their works promoted and gaining a following and popularity. If publishing companies saw what they were neglecting, the publishing businesses wouldn’t do as poorly as they have been, and start picking up work and artists who deserve the recognition.
In the publishing industry many resources have presented more opportunities for publishing, especially digital publishing. Self publishing and the open access movement have made it easier for creators to display their work. However, this new access has come with complications.The open access movement has increased the number of scholarly publishers (Beall, 2012). According to Beall to “become a scholarly publisher, all you need now is a computer, a website, and the ability to create unique journal titles.” Although consumers may enjoy the newly increased access to scholarly journals, these journals now become burdened with the demand of unworthy journals so that the publishers may appease all customers to make a dime, leading to a decrease in the value of scholarly communication. Another point of view is that with the new resources allowing self publishing, the publication market is being flooded with new material (Nelson, 2009). Nelson admits that self publishing does have a economical value, yeet she states “is this exploitation of romance authors who have been rejected by Harlequin but now have an opportunity to “publish” and a possible entry into traditional Harlequin publishing via a strong self-pub sales record or is this simply another option that empowers authors to get their work out there?” She goes on to claim that these authors who could not get through a publisher are now flooding the market, which is already struggling to handle the current number of products being produced each year. This, Nelson says “is not what the industry needs.”
In the United States, most publishing takes place in New York. Nathan Bransford points out that there are several effective publishing agencies in Chicago and San Francisco, yet many authors flock to New York. New York has played a large role in the American publishing industry since the early 1800’s. The six largest publishing agencies of America still reside in New York and Bransford says this is due to “The same reason Apple and Google are in Silicon Valley, Wall Street is on Wall Street, and Hollywood is in Hollywood: Industries tend to cluster in certain areas and derive more benefit from drawing upon a talent pool and networking than they lose in increased rent.” Location is everything when it comes to marketing, and for the publishing industry New York is the best location. The city holds the most history and opportunity for the market and thrives within the busy, intellectually advanced culture. About 60 companies hold produce globally. These companies are based out of China, Russia, Europe, and the United States. The more technological and economically advanced a city or country is the larger the role they play in the publishing industry.
Shaffi, Sarah. 2014. “Digital Minds debates publishing innovation.” Retrieved January 14, 2016 (http://www.thebookseller.com/news/digital-minds-debates-publishing-innovation)
Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2016. “Industry at a Glance.” Retreieved January 14, 2016 (http://www.bls.gov/iag/tgs/iag511.htm).
Unwin, George. 2015. “History of Publishing.” Retreived January 14, 2016 (http://www.britannica.com/topic/publishing).
Dictionary. 2016. “Publishing.” Retreived January 14, 2016 http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/publishing?s=t
Beall, Jeffrey. 2012. “Predatory Publishing.” Retrieved January 14, 2016 (http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/32426/title/Predatory-Publishing/)
The Impact of Online Networks on the publishing Value Chain. No Date. “The Publishing Value Chain.” Retrieved January 14, 2016 (http://www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/mdocs/en/wipo_ip_wk_del_07/wipo_ip_wk_del_07_www_215522.pdf)
Bransford, Nathan. 2011. “Why (Most) Publishers are still in New York.” Retreived January 14, 2016 (http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2011/03/why-most-publishers-are-still-in-new.html).
Nelson, Kristin. 2009. “Exploitation or Empowerment” Retrieved January 14, 2016 (http://nelsonagency.com/2009/11/exploitation-or-empowerment/)
Siskin, Teresa. 2016. “What do I study in college to become a book publisher.” Retrieved January 14, 2016 (http://education.seattlepi.com/study-college-become-book-publisher-1413.html)
http://www.indeed.com/q-publishing-l-Portland,-OR-jobs.html
