A Career in Book Publishing

MANY PEOPLE WHO WORK IN AND around the book publishing industry readily explain that they became involved in the industry because of their love of books. This is often not just a love of reading, but of the books themselves as physical objects. If you are one of those who take physical pleasure from handling books and get a kick out of how they look and feel, then aiming for a career in book publishing is a great choice. Of course, if an appreciation of printed books is part of your motivation, you should also be aware that you are entering this industry as it is making a huge shift toward digital publishing with electronic reading devices such as the Kindle and IPad. In just one recent year, sales of e-books, as they are known, rose over 100 percent, generating revenues of nearly $1 billion, and that is just at those companies that report sales to the Association of American Publishers (AAP). The AAP projects further dramatic growth as the number of digital reading device owners increases, leading to the sale of more titles. This is good news if you are a book lover and also computer savvy, adept at translating information from the printed page to a digital format. Along with the emergence of electronic book publishing is the arrival of self-publishing. Long-time industry participants were astonished when, in 2008, more books were self-published than were published in the traditional way - by a publisher paying authors for the rights to print and distribute their work. In 2009, three out of four books were self-published. The number of publishers is growing, as new companies emerge to help self-published authors get their books to market. This is almost a completely new industry in itself. In decades past, self-publishing was looked down on and authors who pursued it depended on a small number of "vanity presses" to print their books. Now there is a growing number of companies all over the country that support authors (both in their local area, or from anywhere in the nation, and worldwide) by offering editing and design support, as well as skills for setting up websites and Facebook pages, blogs, and Twitter accounts, helping to create press releases and marketing plans, and providing many of the other elements that are involved in bringing a book to market. Of course, all of these things are also being done by employees in large publishing houses, where they tend to specialize in a particular task. In the smaller publishing companies, there is a good chance that one person will be performing several of these jobs. Whether you work for a large publisher or a small one, there are many jobs that need to be done: acquisitions, editing, sales, marketing, public relations, negotiating contracts, graphic design, translation, business management, fulfillment, and customer service. You can even start your own publishing company! This new Careers Ebook contains a wealth of unbiased information about an occupational field, based on the latest national surveys. Careers Ebooks cover attractive and unattractive sides, opportunities, education necessary, personal qualifications required, earnings, descriptions of different job specialties, first person accounts by those in the field, and how to get started; including practical advice on what to do now. There are live links to schools and colleges, associations, periodicals and other sources of reliable information.