Jonathan Galassi just published a little op-ed for the New York Times on publishing in the age of e-books.
The piece outlines the chain of events that lie between the writer and the reader of the book (in all its permutations). We are reminded of the role of the editor, giving his or her ‘scrupulous line-by-line attention’ and of the copy-editor. The designers that choose the typeface, binding, and create the dust jacket to ‘induce reviewers and reader to pick the book up and pay attention to it.’ The employees of the publicity department that talk the book up to anyone who will listen, who submit bound proofs to newspapers and magazines for reviews. The employees of the sales department who get advance orders from booksellers. The employees of the rights department who work with the author’s agent (certainly floating around the whole operation) to pitch the book to magazine editors, movie agents, and foreign publishers.
For each book, the publishing house “exploits its edition in every conceivable format,” in cheaper paperbacks, e-books, large-print and audio versions are produced, marketed and sold by the publisher or licensed to other houses.
As Mr. Galassi emphasizes, the details of contemporary bookmaking are not all that new. His is a reminder that the industry that promotes the consumption of literature not only acts as the gatekeeper for literary value but also defines it, not only prints but is part of the author.
But as a host of legal squeamishs has followed in the wake of virtual libraries, one can feel the pricking of lost revenue in the warning, “[i]n this increasingly virtual age of open access and universal availability, it’s important for readers to keep in mind what it is that a publisher does for an author.” The businesses of translation, (re) translation, and (when read) new prefaces, introductions, etc would protest the idea that “the constantly evolving, imperishable book” is given “its definitive form by a publisher.”
[storytelling is a tricky business]
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/opinion/03galassi.html?scp=1&sq=Jonathan%20Galassi&st=cse
