Impact of Desktop Publishing on Printing

Interesting article about how the increase in desktop publishing has affected the printing industry — especially prepress jobs:

Desktop Publishing's Legacy: 230,000 Fewer Commercial Printing Workers, and An Explosion in Content Creation Workers

As someone who started working in publishing at the tail end of the "camera ready" era and starting into the digital era, it is interesting to see some of these numbers. Ten years ago you had to go to prepress houses to prepare files for press, pay an incredible amount of money to have hi-resolutions scans done, ship bluelines overnight to meet deadlines, and pay large prep costs for plating jobs. Now, most of that can be done at a home office and loaded directly to the printer without leaving the seat of your chair.

The Problem With the Publishing Industry

Dallas News Commentary
I came across this commentary and found it very interesting.

The barriers to entry in the book business get lower each year. There are thousands of independent publishers and even more self-publishers. These players will soon have the same access to readers as major publishers do, once digital distribution and print-on-demand technology enter the mainstream.

When that happens, publishers will lose their greatest competitive advantage: the ability to distribute books widely and effectively. Those who publish generic books for expedient purposes will face new competitors. Like the music companies, some of those publishers may shrink or die.

Although I do have to disagree with this point he makes:

Readers of old-fashioned genre fiction will die off, and the next generation will have so many different entertainment options that it's hard to envision the same level of loyalty to brand-name formula fiction coming off the conveyor belt every year.

True, there are many more options, but the majority of kids today have grown up on Harry Potter, have seen the resurgence of the Lord of the Rings, and the success of the Eragon books. Having grown up being a voracious reader myself and still being a book buying nerd in my mid-30s, I think the next generation of readers will still enjoy the satisfaction of reading a printed book.

Publishing Going Green

An interesting article on the impact of book publishing on the environment and how some have "gone green" to help do their part.

Green publishing: turning over a new leaf

According to the Green Press Initiative, 30 million trees are used to make books to be sold in the United States every year, and sources include endangered, ecologically sensitive and old-growth forests. The carbon footprint of a single book is 8.85 pounds, and the book publishing industry as a whole emits a net 12.4 million pounds of carbon dioxide every year, taking into account all steps of the production cycle, from tree harvesting to incinerating that paperback you left out in the rain

Self Publishing Sites

There are many companies out there now who will publish your book for you. With millions of manuscripts written every year and with over 200,000 new books and editions published through traditional methods every year, the chances of an unknown author becoming the next Stephen King are slim to none. But with new technology, such as print on demand publishing, many people are now able to fulfill their dream of being a published author - just without the large advances and media tours. So here is a list of some companies who will help self publish your book for you. There are a number of forums discussing the pros and cons of each. Here is a short list to get started:

CreateSpace They are owned by Amazon, so you obviously are going to be able to sell you book there.

Xlibris These guys have been around a while, which says a lot in such a cutthroat business.

BookSurge Purhcased by Amazon in 2005, Booksurge has also been around for quite a while.

iUniverse Started in 1999, iUniverse has worked with Barnes & Noble in the past.

rssHugger experiment.

Since this is a new blog, I thought I'd try some new techniques for building traffic. One site I came across was http://www.rsshugger.com. Hopefully it will help build some hits and views to this site, since there is already quite a few blogs and websites about book publishing. We'll see!

2007 Book Production Statistics

Here is an encouraging, but also sobering, number for those who are looking to get published: 276,649. That is the number of new books and editions published in the United States last year. However, that is only counting "traditional" books, when you add in 134,773 Print On Demand short run books, the number soars to 411,422 new books produced in 2007.

These numbers are encouraging because it would appear getting published has never been easier. They are sobering because it also means the competition and market saturation has never been higher.

Bowker Reports U.S. Book Production Flat in 2007

5 Books to Buy Before You Begin

These are in no particular order, or by any means exhaustive. But they are five books any writer looking to get published—or wanting to self-publish—would benefit from having in their libraries.

1001 Ways to Market Your Books
Quite simply, this is the bible when it comes to marketing your book.

Complete Guide to Writing Fiction and Nonfiction, and Getting it Published
A no-nonsense, practical book that covers all the fundamentals of getting published.

The Elements of Style
Every writer needs to own this book.

Chicago Manual of Style
Every writer/editor needs this one.

Complete Guide to Self Publishing
An all-inclusive book for the self-publisher.