What is published material

Publishing

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. [1] Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newspapers, and magazines. With the advent of digital information systems, the scope has expanded to include electronic publishing such as ebooks, academic journals, micropublishing, websites, blogs, video game publishing, and the like.

Publishing may produce private, club, commons or public goods and may be conducted as a commercial, public, social or community activity. [2] The commercial publishing industry ranges from large multinational conglomerates such as Bertelsmann, RELX, Pearson and Thomson Reuters [3] to thousands of small independents. It has various divisions such as trade/retail publishing of fiction and non-fiction, educational publishing (k-12) and academic and scientific publishing. [4] Publishing is also undertaken by governments, civil society and private companies for administrative or compliance requirements, business, research, advocacy or public interest objectives. [5] This can include annual reports, research reports, market research, policy briefings and technical reports. Self-publishing has become very common.

«Publisher» can refer to a publishing company or organization, or to an individual who leads a publishing company, imprint, periodical or newspaper.

Publishing Industry

In the broadest sense, the publishing industry would include newspaper publishing, magazine publishing, music publishing, map publishing, government information publishing, comic book publishing, and book publishing. This entry, however, will be restricted to the modern book publishing industry.

Publishing may be defined as the commercial dissemination of literature or information in multiple copies and with the probability of multiple formats (e.g., paper, electronic, CD-ROM, microfilm, microfiche). Publishing is a business, and as such, it embraces the values of competition, sales, and profit. Publishers are as concerned with accounting, marketing and advertising, shipping and distribution, and inventory control as they are with their products—the intellectual, artistic, and cultural creations of the authors. The publishing business often operates under the tension of highly divergent interests. An author’s creative works or specialized knowledge may not meet the market values of profit, popularity, and standardization.

Publishing requires authors to create content. Editors work with authors to improve the writing. Scouts look for authors who have stories that may be profitable for the publisher. Literary agents work with authors to represent and protect the interests of the authors. Lawyers work with both the author and the publisher to finalize contracts. A publishing house usually divides its operation into editorial, design, production, publicity, sales, distribution, contracts, rights (e.g., translation, foreign republishing, licensing), and administration. Publishers must also work with printers who create the multiple copies or printings of a work, information processors who make works available electronically, distributors who pack and ship the finished product, and consumers (e.g., booksellers, libraries, school systems) who buy the content to resell at a profit or lend as a service.

While publishing is a complex combination of commerce and culture, it is much more multifaceted than that. It involves controversy (such as censorship, whether for political or propriety reasons), ethical considerations (related to authenticity, libel, plagiarism, and copyright), value considerations (with regard to taste, propriety, and aesthetics), international issues (including translations, politics, diplomacy, and markets), social conditions (related to literacy and education), and philosophical concerns (over authorship, com-modification, and commercialization). All of these are key factors in the publishing industry.

As for the physical product of the publishing industry, all books can be divided into the following categories: (1) trade books, which include both hardback and paperback publications that are available in easily accessible retail outlets, (2) religious works such as devotionals, scriptures, and prayers, (3) textbooks for students ranging from kindergarten through graduate or professional school, and (4) scientific, technical, and medical books. Trade books, which can obviously be divided into paperback publications and hard-back publications, can be further divided according to the age of the intended reader and the specific content. Adult books are generally intended for readers who are nineteen years of age or older. Juvenile books, which are intended for those individuals who are younger than nineteen years of age, can be further divided into books for young adults and books for children. The broad content genres for trade books are non-fiction, fiction, drama, and poetry, but these can each be divided into more specific sub-genres. For example, fiction can be divided into romance, mystery, westerns, science fiction, fantasy, adventure, military, historical, horror, and thriller, as well as the emerging areas of splatterpunk, cyberpunk, and prehistoric epics. Within each of these sub-genres, there are also niches that satisfy specific audiences and interests, such as African-American romance, urban fantasy, glitz and glamour romance, and technothrillers.

Literacy, Education, and Libraries

Publishing depends on both writers and readers. People read books for many different purposes. Those readers who purchase or borrow a book for voluntarily reading may be looking for recreation or inspiration. Those readers who purchase or borrow a book because it is required reading are looking for specific information. Publishing is intricately tied to literacy, education, cultural institutions such as libraries and museums, and societal respect and support for education and an educated populace. Authors need safe environments for free expression; they need time to think, write, read, and revise. The social conditions of peace, stability, and security are helpful for a healthy publishing environment, but war, instability, and insecurity can sometimes create an environment that encourages an active authorship and readership. Access to literature through a free public library system can create a large reading public and a guaranteed outlet for selling certain publications. Although public libraries are often thought of as a triumph of democracy, communist countries have also been supportive of libraries. Vladimir Lenin and his wife were strong supporters of libraries, and Cuba, with its high literacy rate, has an official government library system as well as, since 1998, a system of «independent» libraries (which are not part of the official government system).

Literacy, education, and the right to opinion and expression are essential for human dignity. In fact, the United Nations, in its Universal Declarationof Human Rights (1948) states: «Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers» (Article 19). «Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit»(Article 26). «Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits. Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author» (Article 27). Many nations have their own statements on the freedom to read, write, and disseminate information and knowledge. These political and social structures are important to the publishing industry.

Authors, Writers, and the Publishing Process

The term «author» can refer to many different situations in the publishing industry. An author can be a commodity, a name brand that sells titles to an eager readership, an individual or a succession of creators who contribute to a series. An author may be a ghostwriter—someone who writes for another person. In many cases, a pseudonym is an assigned name under which many different authors may write—for example, the Stratemeyer Syndicate, which was created by Edward Stratemeyer, chose a pseudonym for each of its series, including the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew series, but multiple authors contributed to each series. An author may be a professional who makes his or her living by writing and may be under contract to one publishing house. An author may be an amateur who is defined by some other circumstance or occupation, such as a prisoner, student, teacher, policeman, doctor, lawyer, or housewife.

The relationship between a publisher and an author is defined by a contract, which generally stipulates what the content of the manuscript will be, how and when it will be submitted, who is responsible for proofreading, and what amount the author will be paid—in initial payments and in royalties. (Royalties are additional payments that are made to an author for each copy of the work that is sold.)

The publication process follows a standard sequence that is often modified according to the type of book that is being produced. The basic stages are as follows:

Publishing Houses

Historically, publishing houses were relatively small family-owned businesses, but they have evolved into multinational corporations, many of which are publicly traded on the various stock exchanges (e.g., Elsevier is listed on the Amsterdam, London, and New York Stock Exchanges). Some houses are subsidiaries of corporations that are centered on the entertainment industry. Other houses are minor subsidiaries of corporations that have little else to do with literature and publishing. The effects of corporate mergers and acquisitions are shaping the modern book industry in ways that are yet to be determined.

Some of the major houses in the history of publishing include Elsevier, Macmillan, Longman, Charles Scribner’s Sons, and Harry N. Abrams. Elsevier, which was founded in 1583 by the Dutch family Elzevir (or Elsevier), is a publisher of scientific literature. It is often cited as the first important European publishing house. The Elzevirs were businessmen, and their business of printing and selling books grew as literacy increased across Europe. Macmillan was founded in 1843 by Daniel and Alexander Macmillan. These Scottish booksellers and publishers created one of the largest and most influential publishing houses of textbooks and works of literature and science. Long-man was founded in 1724 by Thomas Longman when he bought a British bookshop and publisher. It is an imprint known for its textbooks and important monographs in the social sciences and humanities. Charles Scribner’s Sons, one of the first important American publishing houses, was founded in 1846. It is notable for its legendary editor Maxwell Perkins, who assisted F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe, and many other giants of twentieth-century U.S. literature.Harry N. Abrams, an American publisher of art books, was founded in 1950.

These historic publishing houses, which represent just a small portion of the publishing houses worldwide, have not been immune to the corporate practices of buying, selling, and merging of companies and imprints. Longman is now a subsidiary of the publishing house Addison-Wesley, Longman. The Macmillan company operating in the United Kingdom has no connection to the Macmillan companies in the United States, and even the Macmillan companies operating in the United States are not all owned by the same corporation. In addition, Scribner reference books are no longer published by the same corporation that publishes Scribner trade books. New names that have grown in importance in the publishing world are Bertels-mann, Viacom, Time Warner, and Disney. Bertelsmann is a German publisher that has purchased American publishers such as Doubleday, Dell, and Random House. Viacom, a global mega-corporation with entertainment interests in film, video, television, amusement parks, and sports teams, purchased American publisher Simon & Schuster in 1994 and subsequently sold off several of its imprints. Time Warner is a corporation that publishes books, operates book clubs, and owns large segments of the communication and entertainment industry. With the announcement of its merger with America Online, the synergy of publishing (production and distribution of cultural content) with electronic multimedia points to the future of the dissemination of information, ideas, knowledge, and art. Critics are concerned that these types of mergers and acquisitions will lead to the «corporatization» of culture. The prominence of the Disney Corporation, which owns movie studios, operates theme parks, and licenses characters that were not created originally by Disney (e.g., Winnie-the-Pooh, Pinocchio), has critics asking the question «Can companies own culture and thus control it?» With the foreign acquisition of publishing houses, those who study the publishing industry also ask if there are dangers in having foreign ownership of a nation’s information outlets. For example, does it matter if Germany publishes American textbooks? Will content and editorial changes occur that may not be in the national interest of those people who are purchasing the books? Or will it make no difference to have foreign ownership of publishing houses?

University presses were initially created to publish the specialized works written by the faculty members of the respective universities. The presses later developed into publishers of scholarly works that were not restricted to those written by an institution’s own faculty and students. Traditionally, university presses have not been expected to make a profit, but rising costs, diminishing resources, and shifting values regarding education and profitability are pressuring university presses to print books that have a wider popular appeal. For example, in 1999, Northeastern University Press published a new edition of Peyton Place, a popular 1956 novel about New England life. In other cases, university presses have been sold to commercial publishers. In July 2000, Iowa State University agreed to merge Iowa State University Press (founded in 1934) with Blackwell Science, an international scientific and technical publishing company. Some important university presses include Oxford University Press (founded in England in 1478), Harvard University Press (officially created in 1913, but Harvard has published faculty materials since the seventeenth century), and University of Chicago Press (established in 1891). The last press is also the home of the definitive work in manuscript preparation: The Chicago Manual of Style.

Vanity Presses are publishing houses that publish books at the authors’ expense. Often considered unscrupulous, vanity presses rely on the authors wanting so strongly to see their works in print that they will pay all of the expenses of having the books published. However, book distributors, bookstores, and libraries generally do not purchase books printed by vanity presses, and reviewers do not accept them to review for journals, newspapers, and magazines. Therefore, although it is published, there is very little recognition of the work. Electronic self-publishing on the Internet is modifying how some authors get into print. Similar to the vanity presses, websites that allow for self-publishing are changing the avenues for new voices to be heard and read, but unlike vanity presses, websites are somehow not yet tainted with the association of narcissism. Other forms of electronic publishing mimic the traditional format of the publishing process with the exception that the author publishes the work online first and then has it picked up by a major publishing house. Websites that allow for authors and publishers to negotiate rights in an auction format are part of electronic publishing.

Publisher Associations

Publishers have organized international, national, and regional associations to protect their interests. They also collect statistics and follow trends in the field regarding technology, commerce, trade, taste, and new markets.

The International Publishers Association (IPA) was established in Paris in 1896 to serve as a worldwide organization of the individual national associations, which are recognized as representative of the book and music publishers in each country. The office of the secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland. The IPA has a statement on the «Freedom to Publish,» collects and maintains statistics on publishing as reported by member nations, and celebrates «World Book and Copyright Day» every year on April 23.

The national book publishers associations include the Association of American Publishers, the Bulgarian Bookpublishers Association, the Canadian Publishers Council, the Den Danske Forläggerforening (Denmark), the Cámara Ecuatoriana del Libro (Ecuador), the Egyptian Publishers’ Association, the Syndicat National de l’Edition (France), the Ghana Book Publishers Association, the Icelandic Publishers Association, the Federation of Indian Publishers (India), the Ikatan Penerbit (Indonesia), the Book Publishers Association of Israel, the Japan Book Publishers, the Fédération Luxembourgeoise (Luxembourg), the Malaysian Book Publishers’ Association, the Cámara Nacional de la Industria Editorial (Mexico), the Nigerian Publishers Association, and the Philippine Educational Publishers’ Association.

Book Fairs

Publishers, authors, agents, and scouts attend international, national, and regional book fairs. They show their wares, attract new clients (e.g., authors, translators, booksellers, book buyers), discuss trends, buy rights to works (e.g., foreign rights to publish or distribute a book in a country other than the original country of publication), make licensing agreements, and attend meetings, seminars, and training programs. Regional book fairs, such as those held in Frankfurt, Guadalajara, and Zimbabwe, are important for highlighting the works published in various countries. Given the large number of countries in the world, international and regional book fairs are important to the publishing industry. Some the most important fairs include the Frankfurt Book Fair, Book Expo America, the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, the Guadalajara International Book Fair, the Zimbabwe International Book Fair, the New Delhi World Book Fair, the Asia International Book Fair, the London Book Fair, and the Havana International Book Fair.

The Frankfurt Book Fair was established in 1949 in Frankfurt, Germany. This annual six-day event, organized by Ausstellungs und Messe GmbH (a subsidiary company of the German Publishers’ and Booksellers’ Association), is the world’s biggest international trade fair for publishing. This is an important event for publishers to attend if they wish to obtain information about the international publishing industry.

BookExpo America, formerly known as the American Booksellers Association Convention & Trade Exhibit, is another one of the largest fairs in the world. Usually held in Chicago, this event showcases books in all formats (e.g., paper, audio, comic books), presents new technology and services for publishers, and shows sideline merchandise such as greeting cards, calendars, stickers, and other non-book products for bookstores. It is an education forum that looks at the business of books from many viewpoints.

The Bologna Children’s Book Fair, which has been held in Italy since 1963, is uniquely devoted to children’s publishing. Organized by the Bologna Fiere Group, this fair includes textbooks and reference works as well as picture books and works that feature licensed characters. Exhibited works exist in a variety of formats, including paper, electronic, and multimedia.

The Guadalajara International Book Fair was founded in 1987. Organized by the University of Guadalajara, it is one of the most important book fairs for Latin American and Spanish-language materials. Its goals are to promote and consolidate the Mexican and Latin American publishing industry and to contribute toward encouraging reading among children and young adults.

The Zimbabwe International Book Fair is the most important annual book event in Africa. Administered by an independent trust (comprising a broad cross-section of Zimbabwe’s book industry) and attended by some of the major writers of the continent, this fair provides the opportunity for the free interchange of ideas and expression between those people living in North Africa and those living in sub-Saharan Africa—as well as between Africa and the rest of the world.

Organized by the National Book Trust at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, the New Delhi World Book Fair occurs every other year. The fair highlights India’s eleven thousand publishers, the multilingual publishing industry of India, and its world presence as the third largest publisher of English-language books.

Held in Singapore and organized by the Reed Exhibition Companies, the Asia International Book Fair is a trade event that serves the growing intellectual property rights market in Asia. It is a unique marketplace for the buying and selling of rights for publishing, reprinting, distribution, translation, and co-edition of books in print or electronic format.

The London Book Fair was established in 1970 and targets a wide variety of publishers, booksellers, and printing services. It also features a variety of non-book products that are of interest to readers and book buyers.

Since 1990, the Havana International Book Fair has highlighted the literary achievements and strengths of Cuba. Although the United States has a trade embargo with Cuba, some of the larger U.S. publishers participate in the event regularly.

Book Festivals and Awards

Many cities celebrate books and reading by organizing festivals. Often these festivals account for a high percentage of a book’s overall sales. For example, in the United Kingdom, it is estimated that 50 percent of all children’s book sales are made through book festivals or school book clubs. Some festivals concentrate on local or regional authors or on authors who have a connection to the state, province, or city. Cities may hold many book festivals in the course of a year. Some examples of book festivals held in the United States include the Harlem Book Fair (New York City), the San Francisco Bay Area Book Festival, the Great Basin Book Festival (Nevada), Bumbershoot (Seattle), the Texas Book Festival, the Virginia Festival of the Book, and the New York is Book Country Festival (New York City).

Book fairs and festivals are not the only ways to recognize outstanding works. Publishers, professional associations, and governments honor authors by presenting awards for books of unusual merit. Often, awards are presented for works that are published in specific categories. For example, the National Book Awards given in the United States bestow honors in the areas of fiction; poetry; arts and letters; history and biography; and science, philosophy, and religion. These awards are important to both publisher and author because the honor raises their profile, attracts attention, and generates interest in reading and the exchange of ideas. Some of the other important book prizes and awards include the Nobel Prize for Literature, the Pulitzer Prize in Letters, the Caldecott Medal, the Newbery Medal, the Booker Prize, the Prix de Goncourt, and the Black Caucus of the American Library Association Literary Awards.

Censorship, Banning, and Embargo

Because publishing is the human communication of ideas, desires, information, and knowledge, publishers often face attempts to stop their dissemination of literature. The reasons may be political (e.g., if a ruling government wants to suppress publication of specific ideas), or the reasons may involve personal tastes (e.g., if a person or group believes that a publication contains obscene material).

Publishers vehemently protect the right to free expression and often provide support when a specific publisher’s rights are being infringed. For example, in the United States, a joint legal defense fund was launched by what some may consider to be unlikely allies: the American Booksellers Association, the Association of American Publishers, Playboy Enterprises, and Penthouse International. These four entities came together in response to the 1985 Meese Commission, which sent letters to convenience stores saying that if they sold the Playboy and Penthouse magazines, then the commission would identify them as stores that sold «pornography.» In this case, a Federal District Court ruled that the commission had overstepped its authority.

Sometimes publishers come up against national laws and international access. Adolf Hilter’s Mein Kampf cannot be sold in Germany, but it can be (and is) published and sold in the United States. When Amazon.com, a U.S.-based online bookstore, was filling orders that German customers had placed for Mein Kampf, German officials objected and cited German laws for banning sales of hate literature. As a result, in 1999, Amazon.com stopped selling Mein Kampf to German customers. In 1989, the American Association of Publishers published The Starvation of Young Black Minds: The Effects of Book Boycotts in South Africa in an attempt to have books excluded from the economic embargo against South Africa under apartheid. The publication did not have the desired effect, and books remained part of the sanctions while they were in effect.

International Publishing

While figures for new titles published in the United States generally fall between 55,000 and 75,000 books per year and the Publishers Association of the United Kingdom indicates that British publishers produced more than 100,000 new titles in 1997, these are not the only two countries in the world that have a publishing industry. In fact, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has reported that, for example, Egypt produced 2,215 new titles in 1996, while Iran produced 15,073 new titles, Israel produced 30,487 new titles, Japan produced 56,221 new titles, Argentina produced 9,850 new titles, and Peru produced 612 new titles. Specific international cities that are known for their strong publishing houses and communication industry include—in addition to the American cities of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago—the cities of Buenos Aires, Toronto, London, Paris, Vienna, Florence, Milan, Zurich, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Leipzig, Singapore, and Tokyo.

The global exchange of ideas and literature, however, is complicated by inequalities between developed and developing nations. Access to raw materials (e.g., paper, ink, glue) and technology, opportunities for authors to write, currency exchanges, diplomacy, politics, war, tariffs, taxes, and distribution systems (e.g., postal services, roads, shipping) are all key factors that can vary from country to country. Consider the variations that exist in Africa, Central Europe, Latin America, Asia, and North America.

The publishing of African authors by African publishers has continually grown since the 1960s. With the emergence of independent African nations after World War II, national pride and postcolonial scholarship fueled the publishing industry. However, challenges such as economic recessions, chronic foreign exchange constraints, war, famine, drought, and political unrest have impeded the development of a robust publishing industry for the African continent. In 1989, a group of African publishers organized to found the African Books Collective, a self-help initiative that was established to promote, sell, and distribute African books in European and North American markets and to promote an intra-African book trade. The African Books Collective is registered in the United Kingdom, and books are shipped from its United Kingdom warehouse. The Swedish International Development Authority supports the African Books Collective website, which helps librarians, educators, and general readers find African books to buy. African publishing still reflects colonial influences, so the industry may generally be divided into Francophone (French-speaking), Lusophone (Portuguese-speaking), and English-speaking markets, in addition to the markets for the native languages and dialects of the many African nations.

With the break up of the former Soviet Union, Central European nations (e.g., Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania) moved from communism and state-owned publishing companies to free market economies and a new horizon for publishing. Challenges in Central Europe include foreign exchange rates, political changes, attempts to nurture local authors and increase interest in a nation’s classic literature, and the need to balance the new influx of Western European and North American literature with indigenous literature so the culture is not homogenized. Still, there is a concerted effort to build the infrastructure of technology, expertise, and distribution and to re-create the publishing industry in the Central European nations.

Latin American nations are producers and consumers of Spanish-language and Portuguese-language works. Many of the region’s nations have strong educational systems with fine universities that produce high-quality scholarship. Recognition of the importance of the translation process has allowed many Latin America authors and poets to reach readers in other countries around the world. More similar to Africa, or perhaps Central Europe, than to North America in terms of robustness of the Latin American publishing industry, the main Latin American book producers and exporters are Cuba, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Venezuela, and Brazil.

Asia, the world’s largest continent, also features a large diversity in its publishing industries. Japan, with its high literacy rate and excellent educational system, has a strong publishing industry that is characterized by quality content and some of the highest standards for the physical aspects of publishing (e.g., paper, ink, binding, and color quality). China, on the other hand, has a long and strong book tradition, but a climate of suppression and government control stifles publishing and the import and export of cultural materials. Singapore, with its cosmopolitan population and British ties, has poised itself to be part of progressive Eastern-Western publishing activities. Western publishers and Australia look to Asia as a profitable marketplace. India, the third largest publisher of English-language works is a major player in Asian publishing and in worldwide publishing.

In North America, there is a shared popular culture, there is a shared language (i.e., English, although French and Spanish each have a strong presence as well), and there is a free trade agreement among Canada, the United States, and Mexico (although Mexico is culturally and linguistically more aligned with Latin American publishing). The face of publishing in the United States is changing. Entertainment industries (e.g., film, television, music, radio) are merging with the publishing industry. Many U.S. publishing interests are being purchased by European or Australian interests. Small publishing houses are becoming minor parts of large corporations. The context of publishing in the United States is one of free expression, regionalism, and corporate synergy. Also influencing publishing in the United States is an increase in the Spanish-speaking population and the need to create and provide materials in Spanish. Canada publishes in two languages (English and French) and supports the idea of multilingualism. Canadian publishing exists in an expansive country with a sparse population. There too is strong regionalism, which affects taste, content, and distribution. Canada’s proximity to the United States and strong ties to the United Kingdom also affect what is imported, sold, and read. The Canadian marketplace is dominated by foreign products, but these connections also allow Canadian artists and scholars to have their works distributed throughout the world.

The Future in Publishing

In developed nations, time for reading books as a source for information, education, and recreation competes with television, the Internet, computer games, videos, music, and radio. In response, publishing has broadened its base and views the book as just one component of the cultural and educational whole. Multimedia productions of computer software, CD-ROMs, and maps are changing the definitions of publications, as is the development of e-books. The publishing industry is embracing the change.

Developing nations, however, continue to struggle to acquire the raw materials and technology that they need to produce works. They also face obstacles from developed nations that may resist purchasing the published works because they consider the printing to be inferior or because they question the intellectual value of the work.

Despite the inherent complications involved in the publishing industry around the world, as long as the fundamental human urge to communicate remains, publication of the expressions and findings of human endeavor will continue.

Bibliography

Council of National Library Associations and R. R.Bowker Company. (annual). Bowker Annual of Library & Book Trade Information. New York: R. R. Bowker.

Greco, Albert N. (1997). The Book Publishing Industry.Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Johnson, Deidre. (1982). Stratemeyer Pseudonyms and Series Books. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Kobrak, Fred, and Luey, Beth. (1992). The Structure of International Publishing in the 1990s. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.

Korda, Michael. (1999). Another Life. New York: Random House.

United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. (1996). Statistical Yearbook. Paris: UNESCO.

The Mechanics of Publishing: Publisher’s Role, Music Copyright, Royalties, Deals & More

Originally published at https://soundcharts.com on November 20, 2019.

Oh, boy, here we go. Diving into the publishing industry is perhaps the most ambitious project in our Mechanics series so far — but without it, the series would never be complete. Publishing is, without a doubt, the most complicated (and sometimes straight-up confusing) subset of the music business. Even some of the most experienced music professionals can have a lot of trouble wrapping their head around all the intricacies and nuances of publishing. However, let’s not get ahead of ourselves — and start with the very basics.

What Exactly is Music Publishing?

Publishing is the oldest vertical of the music business. It was there long before the first recording mediums came around, and in the early 20th century, sheet music publishing pretty much ran the music business. Publishers were in charge of putting compositions to paper, producing songbooks, distributing them to the stores, and compensating authors for the commercial use of their works.

Fast forward through early recording days, the birth of radio, vinyl, cassette tapes, CDs, digital piracy, download-to-own services, and, finally, streaming. A lot has changed since the songbook days, and nowadays, music publishers earn money in a very different way — but their role, in its core, stayed the same throughout the years. Publishers are responsible for representing composers, songwriters, and lyricists — the authors of the musical works — making sure that they get compensated for the commercial use of their intellectual property. Back in the day, that meant paying them a percentage of songbook sales — today, it involves collecting royalties across the industry on their behalf. More on that in the following sections, but first, let’s establish the key terms of the publishing business:

The difference between the composition and the master is a common music industry knowledge at this point, but in case you’ve missed it, don’t worry — we’ve got you covered. Simply put, music copyright is split into two distinct parts: the master recording and the underlying composition.

Accordingly, there are two separate sets of copyrights that come with every song: the composition rights and the master recording rights. In the most basic scenario, these two sets belong to the same person — if, for example, you’ve both written and recorded a song, from start to finish.

However, that’s not always the case: think of cover versions, for instance. If you decide to record a Beatles cover, you will only get the master recording copyright — the composition rights will still belong to whoever owns the Beatles catalog these days. And that is still a simple example — imagine a song featuring twelve songwriters, two lyricists, a hand-full of samples, and a re-sung Smooth Criminal line. The structure of music rights can get incredibly complex — and quick.

At the same time, making (and monetizing) a successful composition requires a very different skill set compared to the one on the master. We’ve covered the recording pipeline in detail over at our Mechanics of Recording (and Distribution) — so head on there if you want to find out more about it. Today, however, we will focus solely on composition rights owned by songwriters and worked by their publishers.

The 3 Types of Publishing Royalties You Need to Know

A quick side note: the way publishing royalties are calculated is a subject of copyright legislation, which means one simple thing — the mechanisms regulating the publishing business can vary from country to country. That means that the industry has to rely on disconnected sets of local legislations, which creates thousands of marginal cases and grey areas (that are way too complicated to get into). So, to avoid confusion, today, we will focus primarily on the US publishing industry (unless stated otherwise). Don’t worry, though — even if the royalty rates and collection frameworks are a bit different in your country, the core roles of publishers are the same across the globe.

Under the US law, the music copyright is obtained by the author as soon as the two following criteria are satisfied: the original work of authorship is created (1), and it is “fixed in any tangible medium of expression” (2) — whether it’s sheet music, MIDI track or even a single tweet. As soon as the copyright is obtained, the author of the musical work gets an exclusive right to:

Also, the copyright owner has the power to authorize or prevent third parties from using the composition in any of the ways mentioned. So, if anyone wants to exercise one of those rights, they’ll have to get a license from the copyright owner — and compensate them in royalties. Accordingly, there are three main types of publishing royalties to pair up the three subsets of composition copyright:

Mechanical Royalties

Mechanical royalties compensate the songwriters for the reproduction of the composition, paid by third-parties that want to record, manufacture, and distribute the musical work. Back in the day, that meant mechanically producing the physical medium carrying the composition — hence the name. In today’s streaming music economy, however, mechanicals are primarily generated whenever the user chooses to play a specific song on a streaming service, thus reproducing (or, if you will, rebroadcasting) the composition. The “choose to play” part also means that non-interactive streaming, like Pandora’s ad-supported radio, doesn’t generate mechanicals.

There are a few ways in which mechanical royalties are paid out, depending on the type of the medium. For interactive streams of Spotify, Apple Music, and alike, the mechanicals are paid out to publishers directly by DSPs. For on-demand downloads and physical sales, the mechanicals will flow to the owner of the sound recording first — in that case, labels have to distribute the royalties due to the publisher. In both cases, the DSP/record label will pay fees to the mechanical rights organization (HFA in the US, MCPS in the UK), that will, in its turn, distribute them to the composition owners and their publishers. In most of continental Europe, PROs (more on those later) claim both public performance and mechanical royalties.

In the US, the mechanical royalty rates are set by CRB, depending on the recorded medium used to host the composition. For digital downloads and physical mediums, mechanical royalties have a flat rate of 9,1 cents per copy (for songs that are less than 5 minutes long). For the longer tracks, the mechanical rate of 1,75 cents per minute applies. For interactive streaming, CRB first sets the “All-In Royalty Pool”, calculated as the greater of:

Under the CRB regulations, streaming service has to apply all three formulas and then choose whatever is greater. The resulting figure is an All-In Royalty Pool — basically, everything that streaming services need to pay the songwriters ( both mechanical and public performance royalties). Then, streaming service will deduct the public performance royalties (set through negotiation with PROs) from the All-In Pool. What’s left is the mechanical royalties due (distributed between the songwriters on the per-rata basis, same as payouts the master owners).

Wooh. Still with me?

Public Performance Royalties

Then, we have public performance royalties, compensating composition owners for the “perform or display the musical work publically” subset of their copyright. Performance royalties are a bit easier to grasp. Every time a composition is publicly performed, the rights owners get paid — whether it’s a radio broadcast, a background playlist at a restaurant, or a digital stream. Yes, if you’re streaming a song into your headphones, that’s considered a public performance too.

Public performance royalties are managed, collected and distributed by performance rights organizations, or PROs (ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC in the US, PRS in the UK, etc.). The entire landscape of public performance can be separated into two parts: royalties paid by streaming services, and royalties paid by conventional public “broadcasters”. In the first case, the DSPs will pay out a share of their revenue to the PROs, split between all right owners on the platform — in the same manner as streaming royalties on the sound recording side are calculated. As we’ve mentioned in the previous section, that share is a subject of negotiation (and re-negotiated) between streaming services and PROs. Based on the quotes available, it should fall somewhere close to 6–7% of the service’s total revenue, deducted from the All-In Royalty Pool.

Then, there are all the public performance users: venues, clubs, restaurants, TV channels, radio stations and so on. To get a right to publicly perform music, broadcasters acquire what is known as a blanket license from PROs. The blanket license allows broadcasters to play any music they want, with the overall cost depending on the potential audience of the platform. Users regularly report their playlists to the PROs trough cue sheets, broadcast logs and so forth. You’d be surprised, but even buskers, playing in the designated areas on the subway, have to provide records of all the songs they’ve performed. Put simply, if you hear music playing in a public space, 99,99% of the time, there’s a blanket license behind it.

The PROs then use that data to calculate royalties due to rights owners, factoring in an extremely wide range of variables, unique to the public performance medium. Going through all the details of public performance royalty calculation would take an article of its own, but at the end of the day, every calculation system aims to link the royalties due to the scope of the performance. So, a song played in primetime on national TV will earn much more than a song played in the middle of the night on a non-commercial college radio station — makes sense, right?

Synchronization License Fees

This last type of publishing cash flow is linked to the last part of the copyright — creating a derivative work based on the composition. In essence, every time someone wants to use the composition as a part of any other type of content, whether it’s a TV show, a movie, an ad or a radio show, they need to get permission from the copyright owners. That process is generally known as sync licensing.

There are two main conceptual points of difference between sync licensing and mechanicals and public performance royalties. First, sync agreements always target a specific piece of music. Unlike performance royalties, covered by blanket licenses and predetermined mechanical fees, syncs are always directly negotiated by music users and copyright owners (or their corresponding representatives). In other words, it costs the same to play Drake vs. unknown artists on the radio. If you’d want to sync those songs to an ad, however, Drake will cost you about a million times more.

Second, syncs have to be negotiated with both composition and sound recording owners — which means that licensors have to go through both songwriters’ and recording artists’ respective representatives. Synchronization cash flow is shared between the recording and publishing sides of the music business, turning it into a unique subset of the music business. That’s why we’ve covered the sync industry in detail in a separate article on the Mechanics of Sync Licensing — so check it out if you want to know more about ins and outs of sync industry.

Those are the three primary cash flows of the publishing business. Theoretically, this list can be broadened by adding “print royalties” — due when someone publishes the song’s lyrics — but those are really “small potatoes” compared to sync, mechanical, and public performance cash. With that out of the way, let’s get real. What do music publishers do?

The Role of Music Publishers

On paper, a music publisher is a person or an organization that is authorized to license the copyrighted use of a particular musical work. Publishers sign contracts with songwriters to manage their composition rights and maximize the cash flows mentioned above — and the first step is registering the copyright with CMOs.

1. Publishing Administration: Registration, Collection and Audit

It’s not that hard to register your composition with your local PRO and MRO — just go to ASCAP/BMI and the HFA (or your country’s equivalent), sign up, and wait for the paycheck. That should cover both mechanical and performance royalties, leaving only sync licensing fees on the table — but those are a direct deal type of thing. So, you should be good to go, right?

Well, not really. There are a couple of reasons why songwriters actually need a dedicated publishing representative to manage, collect, and claim their royalties. You see, collective management organizations like ASCAP or the HFA are not incentivized to distribute the money to a particular songwriter. Their primary job is to collect royalties from music users, and that’s what they focus on — but they won’t go over their head to make sure that the songwriters get ALL the royalties due.

So, without proper control from the songwriter’s representative side, a sizable portion of royalties gets lost in the publishing “black box” — a pile of unclaimed or wrongly attributed payments. There are a bunch of reasons for that, from music metadata issues and human errors to disorganization, disputed claims, and straight-up fraudulently assumed royalties. In our time working directly with artists, we’ve stumbled upon thousands of examples of publishing chaos — something like four companies trying to claim 35% of the song on a streaming service each. Well, guess what a streaming platform is going to answer if you try to claim 140% of the song. Correct — no one gets paid.

Then, there are international royalties generated outside of your domestic market. On paper, CMOs across the globe work together and exchange royalties — but in reality (due to the same publishing chaos), this process doesn’t work that great. That means that songwriters have to register with all the CMOs across the globe to get 100% of their royalties.

Unfortunately, that’s the state of the business. Songwriters need a dedicated publishing administration rep to get anywhere near claiming 100% of the royalties due. They need someone who will register, audit, claim, and dispute other’s claims on their behalf. In other words, someone who will fight for their money. That is the essence of publishing administration.

Due to the intricacies of international royalty collection, the publisher needs to cover all the markets across the globe to claim effectively. That means that the publishing administration is done best by massive global companies. Oftentimes, smaller publishing will delegate their catalog to international players for worldwide representation. That is generally known as sub-publishing. Usually, an independent publishing company will claim and audit royalties in its domestic market, while “outsourcing” the rest of the world to huge players, like Sony ATV, Warner Chappell, BMG, UMG, Peermusic, Downtown Music Publishing (the company behind Songtrust) or Kobalt in exchange for a small share of the royalties.

2. Publishing A&R: Scouting for Talent and Developing Songwriters’ Careers

The degree of the publisher’s involvement in the artist’s career depends on the type of artist we’re talking about. For some acts, publishing is just a side revenue stream — think of a band that both writes and record their own music. Most of their revenue will be made on records, merch, ticket sales, and everything in between. Sure, the publishing royalties are a nice additional revenue source for recording artists — but it won’t ever be a priority. For recording-first artists, 99% of the time, publishers will play a purely administrative role.

However, that’s not always the case. A lot of the artists out there have two lives — both recording their own music and writing music for other recording artists (or TV shows, movies, and video games). Take Ed Sheeran, for example. Everyone knows him for “Shape of You” and “Perfect”. However, even some of his most dedicated fans don’t know that Sheeran also writes songs for the biggest names in the business, from Justin Bieber to Major Lazor.

Furthermore, there are songwriters who don’t perform their own music at all, focusing entirely on writing for other people and making publishing their bread and butter. Those are the writers and composers at the backline of the music industry — and while they are a lot less visible, compared to the people they write for, they have a huge impact on the music industry.

Take Max Martin, for instance. Chances are the general public will never know his name — yet almost everyone knows the songs that he’s written and produced, from Katty Perry “I Kissed a Girl” to Backstreet Boys’ “Everybody” and back ( alright!). Top songwriters generate millions in royalties every month — but how do you go from writing for your local band to writing for the Drakes of the world? Here’s where publishing A&R comes in. For songwriters and producers who focus on writing for other artists, publishes becomes an instrumental partner — and not because of the administration services they offer.

From a certain perspective, publishing and recording A&R are not that different. Along both of the verticals, the role of an A&R rep is to find and sign music talent, and develop the artist’s career by putting them in touch with music professionals across the industry. However, there’s one crucial distinction.

The goal of the A&R is to maximize the long-term revenue generated by talents. Now, when Ed Sheeran wrote “Love Yourself” for Justin Bieber, his label hasn’t made a single penny. His publisher, on the other hand, made millions in royalties and sync fees.

So, if the recording A&R cares about the monetary success of the sound recording featuring the artist, their publishing peers are solely concerned with the success of the underlying composition. While publishing and recording A&Rs have similar roles, their priorities (and, accordingly, their day-to-day work) end up being very different.

To illustrate, let’s compare the jobs of two A&Rs: one is working with a beatmaker/producer (songwriter of the rap world), the other — with a rapper (performing artist). Now, imagine that these two artists work together. Here’s how the splits are going to be structured:

Accordingly, for those two artists, the scales are tipped in different directions. Beatmaker will make money mainly on publishing royalties, while the rapper will rely on recording revenues. So, the goal of the rapper and, by extension, his A&R rep is to make the most successful sound recording. The rapper’s A&R will oversee the recording process, build their image, “lay the ground” for the future release promotion, and so on — more on this in the Mechanics of Recording.

The role of the beatmaker’s A&R, on the other hand, is to make the most successful composition — which basically means getting the hottest rapper on the beat. The bigger the performing artist, the better, and if you manage to get Drake — consider your work done. It’s now the label’s job to promote the song.

That makes publishing A&R perhaps the most connection-dependent job across the music industry. Songwriters have to collaborate — and the only way to grow the songwriter’s career is to build their name across the music industry and write for the most prominent recording artists.

3. Negotiating the Music Rights

The third key function of the music publisher is to defend the interest of the songwriters and maximize their share of the rights whenever they participate in the creation of music. Let me explain.

The easy example is when multiple songwriters are working on the same song — whether it’s a couple of “guest songwriters” or a 4-piece band coming up with a composition. So, who owns which portion of the copyright for the resulting songs? Well, the commonly accepted practice is for all songwriters to get the same share of the copyright in equal parts — regardless of their respective contributions. However, that is not always the case. Sometimes, publishers will enter the negotiation on behalf of songwriters to establish the final splits.

The songwriting process behind some of the pop-hits can get very complicated. Songwriters are sometimes contracted to work on a specific part of the song, like chorus melody or guitar solo (I know, those are not that widespread anymore, but you get the point). A specific producer might be dedicated to programming the drums — but what happens if he also comes up with the line that makes it to the song’s hook. So, who owns what? Songwriters representatives will often have to enter fierce negotiation and fight over those percentages, especially if we’re talking about a song that is an unexpected success. You’ve probably heard about the “Truth Hurts” copyright drama — that’s precisely the type of thing I’m talking about.

Then there’s also a sort of “indirect collaboration”. You see, we live in an age where music (and musical ideas) or continuously repurposed and re-recorded. Sampling is a widespread technique nowadays — spreading far beyond electronic music and hip-hop. Well, from the copyright standpoint, if the composition features a sample, the author of the original song, in a way, becomes one of the songwriters for the new composition. Besides, it doesn’t even have to be an actual sample of the recording — just adopting a famous line from another song will do the trick.

As you might’ve guessed, the “let’s split everything equally” rule doesn’t really apply here. Instead, sample users will negotiate the license with the publisher of the original catalog, defining the share of copyright due to the sample’s author. In some cases, the author won’t actually ask for anything and authorize the sample pro-bono. But be sure, if your sampling Notorious BIG, you’ll have to part with a portion of copyright. Depending on the scope of the sample’s use in the new composition, the publisher can end up claiming anywhere from 5 to 100 percent of the copyright.

The sampling negotiations can get extremely messy — but in any case, if you want to monetize the music that utilizes other composition, you have to go through the corresponding publisher — or risk losing 100% of your copyright.

4. Promoting the Compositions

Does this song sound familiar?

The chances are that you’re more acquainted with the version of this song popularized by Frank Sinatra — but in fact, the original composition was written by Claude Francois long before “My Way” has entered the Billboard charts. Back in 1969, Canadian songwriter Paul Anka bought the entire song copyright, including publishing, recording, and adaptation rights for a symbolical 1$ — with one condition. The authors of the original melody, Claude Francois and Jacques Revaux, retained their original royalty share for whatever version Anka would create. Up to that day, whenever you hear My Way on the radio — whether it’s performed by Frank Sinatra or Sid Vicious — it’s the original song’s authors who cash in on those sweet performance royalties. And believe me, that is like sitting on a goldmine.

That’s another integral part of the publisher’s job is to make sure that the catalog it represents lives on through the cover versions, samples, and interpretations. The publisher, maximizing the revenues of the composition, will continuously work to ensure that the composition continues to be performed, or used as a basis for other compositions. That’s not just about processing incoming sampling requests but actively reaching out to music professionals and artists to encourage them to create adaptations of the composition.

All this makes publishing an integral partner in any songwriter’s career — but not all of the songwriters need the same from their publisher. Accordingly, there are few types of common publishing deals that have become industry standards throughout the years. Here’s what you need to know:

Music Publishing Deals Explained

Generally speaking, any publishing deal involves transferring a part of your copyright to a publisher (allowing them to license the use of the composition). In exchange, you will get a share of royalties collected by the publisher. Wait, though — it gets more complicated:

Writer’s Share vs. Publisher’s Share

Whenever the song is created, there are two equal shares of royalties attached to it. So, even if there’s just a single writer working on a song, the composition will be split into two parts: the writer’s share and the publisher’s share, each worth 50% of the composition. So, If you’re credited as a writer on a song (i.e. it wasn’t work-for-hire situation), whatever you do, you will always own the writer’s share of your copyright. The ownership of the writer’s share can’t be assigned to a publisher — it’s paid directly to the songwriter by PROs.

Contractually, the role of a publisher is to collect and maximize the publisher’s share on behalf of the songwriter in exchange for a percentage of those royalties. That also means that without a publisher (or a self-established publishing company) songwriters get only the writer’s share — 50% of their royalties. Thankfully, it’s relatively easy to get your micro-publishing company started, as both the PROs (collecting public performance royalties) and MCOs (collecting mechanicals) have developed solutions that allow songwriters to self-publish their work. Besides, as a songwriter, you will have to establish your publishing micro-company anyway — unless you want to give out 100% of your publisher’s share and go for a full-publishing deal.

3 Types of Music Publishing Deals

The split between the publisher and the songwriter — and the nature of the work the publisher will do on the author’s behalf — depends on the type of publishing deal. There are few common publishing scenarios that became industry standards throughout the years — so let’s go through them one by one.

1. Full-Publishing Deals

The full-publishing deals used to be the standard of the industry back in the day. A fully published songwriter assigns 100% of their rights to the publisher. The full-publishing deal covers all the material songwriters will create during the duration of the contract — usually with some kind of contractual obligation for a minimum number of songs written. For all the compositions written, the songwriter will assign lifetime copyright to the publisher — the publisher will own his share forever.

In exchange, the publisher will provide full-circle services to the songwriters, proactively promoting the published material, pitching the songwriter across the industry and so on. In addition, the publisher will put forward an advance, recouped by the writer’s share until made whole.

Even though full-publishing deals are less common than they were 20 years ago, they still have a place in today’s industry. As it usually is in the music industry, the share of revenue assigned to the company is a function of the total investment into the artist’s career and the risk taken on by the partner.

Accordingly, full-publishing deals are more common if the publisher sign with a perspective, yet unknown songwriter, implying that the company will dedicate a lot of resources into developing the artist’s career, while the songwriter doesn’t have a sufficient track record. Risky investment = more return for the publisher. That’s the essence of the deal.

2. Co-Publishing Deals

Co-Publishing deal is the most common contract in the publishing industry nowadays. Under the co-publishing, the songwriter’s micro company and the publishing company put the composition out together — hence the “co-” part — divvying up the publisher’s share 50/50. So, the songwriter ends up getting 75% of the royalties: the writer’s 50% and half of the publishing share, or the other 25% of the overall copyright, owned by songwriter’s micro-company.

Co-Publishing deals are commonplace for the mid-level songwriters, that are still in need of the promotional support from the publisher but have enough negotiating power to skew the deal in their favor (compared to the full-publishing agreement). The co-publishing deals also have some “duration of rights” to them, meaning that eventually, the songwriter will get the entirety of their rights back. It might take a while, though — the duration of rights is set up on a case by case basis, ranging from 2 years to 20 and more.

Otherwise, the co-publishing deals are a lot like traditional full-publishing. Publisher will provide an advance (recouped by the songwriter’s share until made whole) and actively work the writer’s career — pitching the compositions, maximizing sync opportunities, financing the recording of demo material, setting the songwriter up to write for prominent recording artists and so forth. The songwriters, in their turn, will commit to the minimum number of songs deliverable under the contract duration.

For both co-pub and full-pub deals, the sync fees split will be defined on a case by case basis. Essentially, the publisher will maximize and collect all the sync revenues, and distribute it according to whatever the individual deal is — once again, it will come down to the negotiating power of the songwriter.

3. Administration Deals

Administration deals are a whole another breed of publishing services. Under the admin deal, the publisher has a single role — collect and audit the royalties on behalf of the artist. In that case, the songwriter keeps full control over the copyright, paying the publisher 10–25% of the publisher’s share in a form of “administration fee”. Accordingly, the publisher earns a percentage of the revenue only while the deal is in place, with no “duration of rights”. To compensate for that, the admin deals are usually longer than the co-publishing ones.

Administration deals are commonplace for the well-established songwriters and recording artists writing their own compositions. Put simply, Jake Gosling and Max Martin don’t need the publisher to promote their compositions and get them in touch with performing artists. They’re already big enough to get all the representation they need from their publishing “already-not-so-micro-company”. They do, however, need someone to register their work with all the CMOs around the globe, audit and claim their royalties, look over (and renew) countless sync, and so on.

So, the triple-A songwriters usually go for administration deals — keeping full control over their music, while maximizing the incoming royalties. The same generally goes for the artists that write music for themselves, focusing entirely on the recording side of the business. If the only person you’re writing for is yourself, and you plan for it to stay that way, there’s no point in getting a full-blown publishing representation. That is precisely why most distribution aggregators, like TuneCore and CDBaby, offer publishing administration deals to their clients in addition to distributing their music to the likes of Spotify.

What Does the Future of the Publishing Industry Hold?

Without a doubt, publishing is an integral part of any songwriter’s career. But what does the future hold for the industry? One could argue that the trends we see today across the publishing business are not that different from what we see on the recording label side. 20 years ago, “artist” deals were a norm across both recording and publishing.

The record label would sign an artist, take a massive stake in the master, and invest heavily in the costly release promotion. A successful musician without a label was, basically, unimaginable. Songwriters, in their turn, would sign a full-publishing deal in the hopes of getting their songs on the radio — there’s where the money was.

Nowadays, the power has shifted from the label/publisher to the artist/songwriters. The new digital music industry is a place of self-promotion and self-production. The success story in the music industry used to be about 10 songwriters carefully engineering a top-40 song in the major-run studio. Now, it’s a bedroom producer/rapper duo coming up with a viral hit in their home studio.

A&R-focused co-publishing deals are still widespread, but more and more songwriters are shifting to pure administration deals — mirroring the “distribution-only” trend of the recording business. The “think like a start-up” approach is becoming more and more popular across both publishing and recording, pushing creators to consider the long term value of staying independent as opposed to signing their catalog off to the corporates.

However, even the most independent of songwriters can’t do without publishing administration — just like the most independent of the recording artists can’t do without a distribution deal.

The new generation of administration-first publishing companies (like Kobalt or Downtown Music Publishing’s Songtrust) has scaled thanks to this shift. This new breed of publishing companies is a lot like distributors on the recording side, building their services around a well-oiled, automated collection pipeline.

Now, the distributor’s shift to label services is a hot topic across the recording industry. In a way, you could see the same thing happening in the publishing business. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a company like Songtrust making a move into publishing promotion space, or a new type of songwriter management companies popping up to mirror growing artist management operation.

Copyright and Unpublished Material

An Introduction for Users of Archives and Manuscript Collections

This text is intended to answer questions you may have about archives and manuscript collections that may be protected by copyright. Because copyright law is constantly evolving, this text is provided for introductory and educational purposes only. It is not intended to be a complete discussion of the subject and is not a substitute for qualified legal advice. Other countries have different rules; this document applies only to U.S. law.

Frequently Asked Questions

I want to use material from the archives. What do I need to know?

U.S. Copyright law governs, among other things, using copyrighted material in research papers, published books and articles, web pages, exhibits, plays, songs, etc. Ultimately, you are responsible for determining whether you need permission to make use of a work.

What is protected?

Copyright protects works of original authorship the moment a work is fixed in some tangible form. Exceptions are works produced by the U.S. government and some state governments. Under U.S. law, the simple act of fixing the work in a “tangible medium” is sufficient to establish the creator’s copyright in unpublished material—no copyright statement (e.g., © 2014) is mandated, nor does the item need to be registered with the Copyright Office. The law distinguishes between published and unpublished material and the courts often afford more copyright protection to unpublished material when an asserted fair use is challenged.

How can I tell if something is published or unpublished?

The law defines “publication” as offering for distribution or actually distributing copies of a work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending. Publication has been interpreted by the courts as distribution to numerous individuals who are under no explicit or implicit restrictions with respect to the use of the contents. An informational text, such as this one, is published if it is distributed to the public, whether or not it is offered for sale. Generally, material is considered unpublished if it was not intended for public distribution or if only a few copies were created and distribution was limited.

How long does copyright in an unpublished work last?

Copyright in an unpublished work lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years. If the author (or the author’s death date) is unknown or if the author is a corporate body, then the term is 120 years from the creation date for the work. Therefore much unpublished material in archives or manuscript collections is likely to still be under copyright.

Can the archives or manuscript repository give me permission to publish an unpublished work?

The fact that the archives or repository holds the physical document does not mean it also owns the copyright. Many donors or sellers, when they transfer collections, retain the creative rights to the material for which they are the rights holder. (Archives that serve as the repository of record for materials created by a parent organization will be able to communicate the organization’s procedures for managing copyright permission requests.) Only when rights holders assign the copyright in the work to a repository can the latter (and only it) give you permission to publish. But even when copyrights are transferred along with a collection, the repository may not receive copyright in all of the material, whether analog or born-digital. This is because rights holders can transfer only the copyrights they own, and in most cases donors will own copyright only in material they created. For example, donors would generally own copyright in photographs they took or in letters they wrote to others; however, they may not own (and therefore could not transfer) copyrights in photographs taken of them by someone else or letters they received written by others. The original rights holders may also have transferred copyright to a third party, such as a publisher, and thus no longer own the rights to works they originally made.

Note that the repository that owns the item you wish to publish may charge fees for publication (even if it may not own copyright in the work) in addition to any fees a rights holder might charge. Any such stipulation is separate from copyright permission and is determined by a repository’s use policies.

Why can you give me a copy of an unpublished work but not give me permission to publish it?

Sections 107 and 108 of copyright law provide archives and libraries with a limited authority to make copies of copyrighted material without permission under certain conditions, such as when the copy is to be used for private study, scholarship, or research.

Is there any way I can use an unpublished work without permission from the copyright holder?

The fair use doctrine (as codified in Section 107) recognizes that there are uses that do not infringe on the rights of copyright holders and provides a defense for the use of copyrighted works without permission from the copyright owner. The statute does not say what is or is not fair. Rather, courts evaluate fair use cases based on four factors, no one of which is determinative in and of itself:

How can I determine if a proposed use is fair?

Determining that a use may be fair involves conducting an analysis along a continuum of “less likely fair” to “more likely fair.” Helpful aids in conducting such an analysis can be found at the resource page of the Society of American Archivists’ Intellectual Property Working Group.

Could I be sued for using someone else’s work even though it seems a fair use?

Yes, it is possible. Because of the case-specific nature of fair use, you can only know whether a use is fair if a court rules it to be so. However, several authorities have produced guides to help people take advantage of this vague, but very useful, exception to copyright. If there is a question about whether a particular use is fair, it is always safe to seek permission.

What if I cannot determine who owns the copyright or if I am unable to locate a known copyright holder?

The Society of American Archivists’ Intellectual Property Working Group has produced a document that is designed to provide guidance on this dilemma—commonly known as the Orphan Works problem—and that suggests search strategies for identifying the creator of a work, identifying the work’s copyright holder, and for locating the copyright holder.

Pre-Publishing Material from Your Book: How Much, Why, and What to Choose

last updated on May 26, 2021

You might have heard that it’s a good idea to publish journal article versions of one or more of your book chapters but been warned that publishing too much from the book can jeopardize your book’s chances with university presses.

In this post, I outline why you definitely should publish some of your book’s material in academic journals. Then, I answer targeted questions about how to select the best material, how much is too much, and offer advice for working with pre-published material.

Table of Contents

01. Pre-Publishing Basics

02. Working with Pre-Published Material

Pre-Publishing Book Material Basics: Why, How Much, What, When, and Where

Why should I pre-publish material from my book?

Your CV and author profile section of your book proposal help the editors answer key questions about who you are as a scholar. In particular, pre-publishing material from your book* in top peer reviewed journals in your field(s) help the editor answer:

Additionally, pre-publishing material from your book (and giving conference talks about it) helps generate interest in and enthusiasm for the eventual book with your target audiences.

*Note: Having your dissertation “published” on ProQuest does not count.

How much material can (or should) I pre-publish from my book without jeopardizing my book’s chances with university presses?

For many US-based university presses, up to 33% of the book’s material can be pre-published. Hear what Bridget Barry, editor in chief at the University of Nebraska Press and Chloé Johnson, commissioning editor at Liverpool University Press have to say on this topic (the relevant clip ends at 59:09).

However, do consult with the acquisitions editors at your target presses, specifically. Or, for a rough estimate, you can also peruse the “acknowledgements” section of several first monographs published by your target presses, where the author might reference which chapters were pre-published as journal articles or book chapters. Some more selective and prestigious presses have stricter limits–as low as 10%!

Since journal articles are often shorter than book chapters, a good rule of thumb is to publish at least one but no more than two journals articles that will be quite similar to book chapters.

An Exception to This Rule: When Scholars Repackage Articles as a Book

You might be thinking: “but I know (or have heard of) a scholar who basically published a whole bunch of articles (or chapters in edited volumes), and then repackaged it as a book. Why can’t I just do that?”

Here, two factors probably differentiate that book from yours. First, while university presses sometimes offer book contracts to senior scholars for projects consisting almost entirely of pre-published material, it’s rare for them to do so to authors of first books.

Second, different presses have different thresholds. While the 33% figure can be a good starting estimate for US university presses, academic trade presses might have different standards. So, do compare apples to apples. Don’t think norms for a senior scholar’s seventeenth book at a very different publisher will apply to your first book with a university press.

What should I pre-publish?

You will want to publish journal-article-length versions of book material and book-adjacent material (which does not count in the 33% figure).

Book-Adjacent Material (Not Counted in Percentage)

If you had to excise case studies or chapters from the book, repurposing them into journal articles can be a great way to both make sure that work finds space in your disciplinary conversations and build interest in your larger project. Because it will not appear in the book, it does not count in the 33% figure referenced above.

1–2 Book Chapters (10–33% Overlap)

You will want to publish journal-article length versions of individual chapters’ claims (or a part of a chapter).

Choose material that:

What Not to Pre-Publish

Do not write an article-length version of your whole book.

Say, for instance, that your book analyzes four novels–one in each chapter. A good pre-published article could present your chapter-level claim about Novel A (which corresponds to Chapter 2 of the book). A pre-published article should definitely not present your book-level claim followed by four very short sections, each analyzing one novel (which corresponds to Chapters 1–4 of the book).

Publishing an article-length version of your entire book proves that your book-level claims do not really require an entire book to support. Publishing an article-length version of your whole book–and not one (or one part) of its individual chapters–can jeopardize your book’s chances.

A Note on Pre-Publishing and Tenure

If you are at a research-oriented institution, your tenure dossier will likely need to contain a book plus several articles. Pre-publishing both book and book-adjacent material can help you establish a robust article publication pipeline.

Many institutions want to see you expand your research beyond your dissertation’s (and first book’s) topic. Some require you to show you are making progress on “a second project.”

If this applies to you, don’t exclusively publish book and book-adjacent material (to the exclusion of new research topics). Consult trusted mentors and senior colleagues regarding how you are progressing toward your departments quantitative and qualitative tenure and promotion research metrics.

When should I pre-publish material from my book?

Pre-publishing book and book-adjacent material is both a way to generate interest in the book with your core audience and to establish your author profile. So, you should aim to have at least one such article accepted for publication before you draft book proposals.

By the time you submit book proposals, you should know what material is (or will be) pre-published. Do not plan to submit another chapter from your book as a journal article after submitting book proposals.

Where should I pre-publish my academic book’s material?

One main goal of pre-publishing book material is to spark interest in the topic with your book’s audience. Additionally, editors might use journal titles, in part, to determine the audience(s) for whom you regularly write. So, try to place your article-length material in a top journal read by your book’s target audience.

If, for instance, your book is about representations of dance in 19th-century Scandinavian poetry and you intend for your claims to be significant to scholars of 19th-century Scandinavian literature, it’s probably not a good idea to target a dance studies journal. (For more on selecting appropriate journals, I know of no better resource than Wendy Belcher’s Writing Your Journal Article in 12 Weeks).

Working with Pre-Published Material: The Proposal, Permissions, and Your Book Chapter

What should I say in my book proposal about material I’ve pre-published?

Presses have different recommendations about where to discuss pre-published material.

Princeton, for instance, asks authors to “indicate whether any of the material has been published previously” in the “proposed chapter outline.” Other presses, by contrast, ask you to address this point in an “apparatus” section. Do refer to your target press’s guidelines.

When describing pre-published material, be as specific as possible regarding how–if at all–the book chapter builds on or expands the journal article version.

For more on preparing strong proposals and outlining your book’s specs, see Laura Portwood-Stacer’s The Book Proposal Book.

How do I get permission to reprint a journal article in my academic book? How hard is it to get permission?

As the acquisitions editors and I describe in the video clip above, getting permission to reprint a published journal article in an academic monograph is usually simple. In most cases, you will merely complete and submit paperwork.

To learn what your specific journal requires, visit the journal’s page and search for materials on permissions and/or reprinting.

Note: some journals also require you to include specific language in your book’s acknowledgments or introduction about the reprinted material.

How different does the monograph chapter version of a published journal article need to be?

The shortest and most accurate (though somewhat frustrating) answer is: “as much as is necessary for the chapter to do what it needs to do in service of the book.” That is, you should not add materiaal for the sake of adding something. Similarly, you should not merely copy and paste your journal article into your book manuscript and call it “done” for efficiency’s sake.

Book chapters and journal articles are inherently different: academic book chapters must contribute a piece to a much larger book-level argument. Journal articles, by contrast, are self-contained.

So, instead of worrying about quantitative dimensions (is adding 3,500 words enough? How about one new case study?), revise your work in such a way that it serves the book.

Looking for concrete information about how, specifically, to revise your journal article into a book chapter? I’ve got you covered with my post outlining four key dimensions you should carefully review when revising your journal article into a book chapter.

Humanities First Book Author Inner Circle

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