PUBLISHING COMPANIES

IES JOSEP MIQUEL GUARDIA , Carmen Nadal, Judit Silva and Neus Sintes, 1st of A Levels, group B/C

The steps to get a book read

As literacy gets more common and compulsory studies are for older teens, there are more people who keep in the world of literature, and this world is getting more and more shaped to the variety of the modern society. As a result of that, we can find a lot of books in each subject, which are many, from the happiest fantasy to the saddest true-stories.

With all that knowledge, I wonder: How does a book come to our hands? To answer it, we have to go back to the very beginning, where we find the author.

It all starts with an idea, an idea that the author has had, and which he or she develops all over the draft. But, is the author alone while creating his or her book, since the start until its final publication? Actually, he’s not, or, at least, he doesn’t have to be, because there are literary agents.

Nowadays, every author has its own literary agent. They look for the best publisher for each author and book. That means that their job is to intercede between author and publisher, and to manage the financial part, selling the draft copy. The publisher knows that the agent will show him a work or book with all the features that he and his publishing house are looking for, so he prefers to get the copy from the agent rather than from the author.

Once he has it, by an agent or by the author itself, the draft goes through different steps in the publishing house before it’s sold in bookshops and it reaches the reader’s hands. In the publishing house they have to pass through some tests, such as if it’s adequate for their policies and editions, following the specific rules of the company. They also want to know if it’s worth selling or not, its cost and the benefits they think it will get. They also try to improve it: its style, grammar or spelling. Before printing it, they decide its aesthetics, marketing… And they finish the last details. In the end, the book will be distributed to different bookshops to get it sold.

Even though this work, there are some things that bother the literary industry or that force it to change some of its steps. The most important are the online books, which will make the steps change and adapt to the new technologies, such as e-readers and e-books.

A stop: The marketing.

We all know some of the ways the publishers go through to get more benefits, apart from the number of books sold. When a book is popular, and the first parts have been commercial, it’s common to use it to sell the rest of parts, and to include special things, such as the author’s signature or some cards. As an example, we’re working on the newest series in fashion, the Twilight Saga. These books had a great welcoming in some wide -but limited- social circles. Then, the films were made. Now, the last one is being made, to avoid missing the burst and to take advantage of this passion, which has increased with the films. There’s also a TV series in process -it should be on in 2012, the same year as last film is supposed to be out-, and four note books are on sale, with their covers and white sheets with some of their most famous phrases. The release of the books and the films have been highly expected, and every shop deploys its best resources: special gifts to the first hundreds, draws, pints or T-shirts, to attract the reader’s attention. Now, this fever turned into an international fashion thanks to Hollywood, is exploited in a variety of ways. In big shop centers, there can be find toys, games, board, card and computer games, their soundtracks, chocolate, bookmarks, calendars, clothes, accessories and so on. Without speaking about all those extra gifts that come with other objects, such as the Italian Pepsi with the pictures of the second film or the North-American Burguer King, which gives cards, T-shirts and water bottles. In conclusion, nowadays best sellers’ marketing spreads into a unique world of different objects, the merchandise, which can make millions in benefit.