Ultra Libris

Policy, Technology, and the Creative Economy of Book Publishing in Canada

By Rowland Lorimer, Nadia Halim

ECW PRESS

Copyright © 2012 Rowland Lorimer
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-77041-076-3
CHAPTER 1

Of books, publishing, and social context

What is a book?

The material heart of contemporary book publishing is an organized display of textual symbols meant to convey information and ideas. In the first decade of the twenty-first century, the predominant medium of display was print on paper within a bound volume of no less than forty-nine pages. The printed book is a manufactured physical object of some durability that can be purchased and owned by persons and institutions. One specific public institution, the public library, has as its primary mandate the purchase of books for lending to borrowers.

Current physical manifestations of the book have not been with us since the dawn of time, nor even since the dawn of writing in the seventh millennium BC. Following the universal development, from at least 3000BC, of symbol systems and, in the West, phonetic alphabets — starting with the consonants of the Phoenician alphabet, to which were added the vowels of the Greek alphabet — impressionable media such as clay were replaced gradually with lighter media, such as papyrus and parchment in sheet and scroll form, followed by paper. Inks, and the manner in which ink was applied to paper, also changed. By Gutenberg’s time (1398–1468), scrolls had already evolved into the codex — handwritten and hand-bound books with protective hard covers. Subsequently, there was a significant diminution in size, and soft covers reemerged, protecting the octavo, a readily portable volume popularized by Aldus Manutius (1450–1515) that freed books from reading rooms. As the twenty-first century proceeds, the e-book and myriad other digital forms knock at the door of print on paper.

Fairly early in its history, in the midst of these physical changes, the book came to be seen as a repository of thought and human creativity. Books also developed into beacons of the communities, societies, and civilizations to which they belonged; they came to reflect the confluence of individual expression of knowledge and ideas and, through both authorship and readership, the social and cultural nature of society.

In Canada, a modern, domestically owned book publishing industry emerged over the past six decades, driven in part by Canada’s determination to step outside the shadow of its colonizer, Great Britain, and to resist the spillover exuberance of its adjacent southern neighbour, the United States of America. The Canadian-owned or domestic industry established itself in collaboration with Canadian governments. To some degree, as we shall see, that state involvement was an inspired move. Canadian governments admirably eschewed interference with the nature of the ideas being published and concentrated on providing support for business operations and cultural titles in general. The major achievement of the domestic industry has been the articulation of a distinct Canadian cultural voice in the world of ideas. During the same period, the foreign-owned sector was also transformed: from an industry focused almost totally on importation and distribution of foreign titles, to one that also engages in the publication of a certain percentage of Canadian authors, dealing with Canadian subject matter, primarily for Canadians to read.

Today, new challenges arise, brought forth by changing business forms, technological developments, shifting social realities and priorities in Canada, and environmental concerns. Against the background of a cultural awakening, this study examines the formative roots of the contemporary Canadian book publishing industry, its current functioning, the challenges it faces, and the potential for book publishing to remain a vibrant contributor to Canadian society, Canadian and world culture, and the Canadian economy. But first, some fundamentals, in the form of an outline of the elements of the book publishing process.

Professional book publishing practice

The first task of a book publisher is to define a reason for being — that is, to set up a business with a guiding purpose and mission that define its path of development and establish somewhat permeable boundaries of activity. With a purpose and mission in place, a book publisher can announce itself to the world and begin to acquire manuscripts, guided by particular objectives that translate into an emphasis on selected genres, subject areas, and, sometimes, targeted authors.

While established writers of creative works tend to keep in touch with their publishers or their agents about work they are contemplating to obtain initial reactions, first-time authors of works of fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction are apt to submit letters of inquiry or full manuscripts to chosen publishers. In the case of non-fiction, publishers and authors seek each other out to discuss ideas and treatments, which develop into discussions of the organization and focus of the manuscript, as well as of the author’s voice or orientation to the subject. Ideally, such discussions are followed by the author’s submission of an outline, which gives the publisher a chance to engage in what is termed developmental editing. The outline often makes clear the author’s intent, and, given that intent, the developmental editor works with the author to create a good book that will work in the marketplace. There are many potential problems that a developmental edit can allay. For instance, authors often want to accomplish far too much in a single manuscript, and an editor can help the author focus on the truly distinguishing features of the work.

After the author has drafted and polished the book, it moves on to a substantive edit, in which the editor assesses whether the author has created an appropriately lively, engaging, or authoritative book manuscript. Some publishers and editors use the terms developmental and substantive editing interchangeably, and substantive editing can be seen as part of the development of the manuscript. In fiction, where editors are often dealing with more skilled and language-sensitive authors, a substantive edit may involve asking questions about the characters, setting, plot, or such implicit elements as atmosphere. In non-fiction, the editor will focus on the logic and structure of the argument, narrative, and information. That said, in the same way that character and events come together to create a living fiction, a good piece of serious non-fiction relies on the author’s ability to come up with an overarching structure that readers can understand, one that generates new insights even for authors as they explore various facets of that structure.

After substantive editing and author revisions come stylistic editing and copy editing, where words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs, and chapters are fine-tuned to allow the reader to follow the text unhindered by semantic and grammatical gaffes. Then comes fact-checking, where references are reviewed and facts are checked by an editor and/or by the author, often at the behest of the editor. At the completion of this process, the copy editor or another editor gives the manuscript a complete read-through to catch any last-minute typos, repetitions, or inconsistencies.

As the manuscript moves into production, other pre-press elements are given attention. Once the font, page size, margins, line spacing, style for headers and footers, and so on are determined, the manuscript is flowed into the established format by means of a page-layout program, and any graphics being used are integrated with the copy. The result is then tweaked by the designer. At the same time, the cover design is commissioned — front cover, back cover, and spine, plus flaps in some cases. When the pages and cover are complete, a proofreader will check the page proofs or galleys (an image of the work to be printed), to insure that there have been no glitches and that no extraneous elements have been introduced that detract from the meaning on the page.

As the book comes together, the publisher solicits bids from printers, makes decisions on the weight and type of paper to be used, determines how many copies of the book will be printed, and sets up a schedule for delivering files to the printer. When those files are in hand, the printer will produce a set of printer’s proofs, which are sent to the publisher to ensure the book corresponds to expectations. After these proofs are okayed, the print run is produced.

Marketing, which prepares the book for the public sphere, overlaps with production in that such elements as cover design and cover copy serve the dual purpose of presenting and marketing the book. While those responsible for sales and marketing are usually involved from the initial stages, advising acquiring editors and publishers on the market potential of a manuscript, they become more active as the book takes form. The marketing department will set a book’s release date; decide how to present it in a catalogue; work with the cover designer to make the book stand out in a particular section of a bookstore; create shelf talkers, posters, and bookmarks; circulate review copies; and work with the publicity department, which carries out a specialized extension of marketing. The job of the publicist is to gain media attention for the book and its author beyond the attention being purchased by marketers. Marketers often speak of the four Ps of marketing: product, price, placement (distribution), and promotion (including sales and publicity).

The sales force also becomes increasingly involved as the book takes shape and a publication date is set. Publishers generally conduct biannual sales conferences, in which books are presented to the sales staff as they prepare to go out into the field to sell the new titles to bookstores. The essential tasks of sales reps are to maintain a relationship with bookstores, booksellers, and their clientele; to pre-select appropriate titles from many lists; and to convey enthusiasm in a memorable way, so that booksellers order an appropriate number of copies and bear the title in mind as worth mentioning to customers. Additionally, sales reps may make special sales to non-traditional retail outlets, or to organizations that will buy numerous copies of a book as gifts for members or clients.

Warehousing, fulfillment, and distribution begin as the books roll off the press. Some copies are sent directly to retailers, while others are sent to various warehouses belonging to the publisher or its distributor. The key element in distribution is getting the books out the door and to retailers in time to meet demand, whether this demand occurs as a result of marketing and publicity activity; for seasonal reasons, as with the Christmas shopping spree and the summer fiction boom; or perhaps because a title has won, or been nominated for, an award, and has begun to sell at levels beyond anyone’s wildest expectations. Fulfillment of initial orders is usually not a problem, but fulfillment of re-orders — that is, the replenishment of stock to booksellers as they sell out and order more — can be challenging.

Once sold to retailers, publishers’ books are in the hands of their business partners, the booksellers. This transfer of responsibility presumes that the retailer is not the publisher itself (as was Chapters/Indigo with its now inactive imprint Prospero Books). It also presumes that the major retail venue for the publisher’s titles is not the publisher’s own book sales operation, although selling directly to the public from a website is increasingly seen as a viable option. Books have traditionally sold to booksellers at a discount of 40 percent off the retail price, with an escalating discount as more books are ordered. Terms of sale normally allow unsold books to be returned after three months and not more than twelve months after the invoice date.

Beyond retail sales are rights sales. Copyright law provides for infinite divisibility of rights, of the whole manuscript or its parts, in one format or another, in one language or another, in one territory or another. The costs of making rights sales are relatively low, since, strictly speaking, these sales do not involve manufacture. Hence, publishers are keen to exploit their potential if there is any realistic expectation of a market. For the publisher, a crucial element of the contract negotiations over a manuscript is establishing the rights it wishes to, or can afford to, acquire. Holding all rights is obviously most advantageous, in part because such rights can be partitioned and sold to others. However, it is a fairer contract if a publisher seeks only those rights it has the resources to exploit, either by itself or through sales to others. An author’s agent will insist on this, and the tradition in the industry is to be flexible, at least with unestablished authors, should they be successful in attracting offers for rights as a result of their own efforts.

Professional practices of cultural value

While all the practices outlined above are necessary, several are key to the cultural value and market success of a book. As such, they distinguish one company from another and contribute directly to a company’s survival and competitiveness in the marketplace.

Acquisition

The nature and quality of what a publisher acquires is the foundation of its identity and success in achieving its goals. These goals are at times market driven, especially for large publishers, but just as often, and particularly with smaller publishers, they are determined by the firm’s founding purpose and mission. For example, university presses almost never seek out blockbuster titles. Regional presses do not look for international bestsellers. Few children’s publishers accept crime fiction. Publishing houses that specialize in non-fiction may choose not to acquire fiction, and vice versa. In the end, the nature and quality of the titles published within a press’s market niche bring recognition from booksellers, critics, and readers and attract new and established authors.

Editing

Acquiring quality manuscripts is an important starting point, but what a house does with its manuscripts is equally important. Here begins an intimate creative partnership between author and publisher that starts with developmental and substantive editing. Shyla Seller has documented the developmental editing process for Gardens of Shame: The Tragedy of Martin Kruze and the Sexual Abuse at Maple Leaf Gardens by Cathy Vine and Paul Challen, published in 2002 by Douglas & McIntyre, a trade-oriented house that produces mainly non-fiction titles. The subject of Gardens of Shame is the childhood sexual abuse of NHL player Martin Kruze at one of Canada’s hockey shrines, Maple Leaf Gardens. As an adult, Kruze brought his abusers to court, obtained a judgement against them, and subsequently committed suicide.

In their first outline, the authors proposed a book whose central focus was an analysis of the effects of sexual abuse on children, with the life story of Martin Kruze as an example. The authors proposed to undertake extensive research and to reveal the devastation of sexual abuse. The book would begin with Martin Kruze’s suicide, followed by alternating chapters on general issues surrounding sexual abuse and Kruze’s specific experiences.

The acquiring editor responded to this original proposal by saying that while the story was compelling, she believed the manuscript attempted to cover too much information. She suggested that instead of an academically tinged discussion of the effects of child abuse, the authors write a chronological, descriptive narrative focusing on Kruze, with stories of the other men abused at Maple Leaf Gardens as a secondary element.

The authors went back to the drawing board. Their revised outline began with a prologue describing Kruze’s going public. Chapter 1 chronicled Kruze’s childhood. Chapter 2 introduced the voices of other men abused at Maple Leaf Gardens. Chapters 3 and 4 showed Kruze’s struggle to live with himself after the abuse, his decision to sue Maple Leaf Gardens, and the difficulties he experienced in going to the police and the media. Chapter 5 detailed the trial and included the reactions of other abuse survivors to the trial and sentence. Chapter 6 focused on Kruze’s suicide, the reaction of his family, and the reactions of the other abused men. Chapter 7 described Kruze’s funeral and the pledge of the other men to keep his memory alive. An epilogue included an apology from Ken Dryden on behalf of Maple Leaf Gardens, information about the Martin Kruze Memorial Fund, and an update on the other men.

(Continues…)Excerpted from Ultra Libris by Rowland Lorimer, Nadia Halim. Copyright © 2012 Rowland Lorimer. Excerpted by permission of ECW PRESS.
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