- What I learned from the BookStats report.
- How do we reach the next generations?
The Uneducated Guide into the History of Publishing
Humans have been around for ages. Duh! But so has publishing.
Here a brief look into the timeline of publishing:
4000 BC-ish
The first self-published author? A best-seller perhaps, but not light reading.
Many years passed.
7th -13th Century
Here we see publication and duplication of manuscripts. However, most are just religious and most are only found in religious institutions.
15th - 16th Century
The first printed books. However, still mostly religious. But, soon there were new books on science, mathematics, and military engineering.
1480
Oxford University Press starts printing.
18th Century
There was a public demand for the novel. With the expansion of the middle class by the middle of the 18th century, more people could read and they had money to spend on literature. There was already a high interest in autobiography, biography, journals, diaries, memoirs. The early English novel departs from the allegory and the romance with its vigorous attempt at verisimilitude and it was initially strongly associated with the middle class, their pragmatism, and their morality.
DANIEL DEFOE, Sometimes called the founder of the modern English novel, published Robinson Crusoe.
1811
Jane Austen published her first novel, through her brother Henry. The publisher Thomas Egerton agreed to publish Sense and Sensibility. It's pretty much a self-published novel.1817
HarperCollins was founded in New York City as J. and J. Harper, later Harper & Brothers, by James and John Harper.1826
Hachette Livre, a French publisher, was founded by Louis Hachette as a bookshop and publishing company. Hachette has its headquarters in the 15th arrondissement of Paris.
1837
Little, Brown and Company Founded.
1843
Macmillan brothers start a publishing company.
1850
Number of published authors: 82
1853
William II, of HarperCollins, introduces new, up-to-date steam presses, publishes and prints the works of Shakespeare and Pilgrim’s Progress in cheap editions, making them available to the masses.
1869
New York branch of Macmillan opens.
1886
Macmillan declines to publish George Bernard Shaw.
1925 - 1934
HarperCollins publishes Agatha Christie’s first novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. The Crime Club list formed.
Number of publishing companies large or small: 397
Number of publishing companies large or small: 397
Skip forward a few years...
1990
Number of major publishing companies: about 113
1995
Number of major publishing companies: about 83
1996
Little, Brown and Company and Warner Books merge to become Time Warner Trade Publishing, later to be renamed Time Warner Book Group (TWBG).
2005
Number of published authors: 185,275
2006
TWBG is acquired by Hachette Livre and renamed Hachette Book Group USA.
2007
Amazon released the Kindle First Generation on November 19th for US$399 and was sold out in five and a half hours.
Number of US publishers: 74,240
Number of major publishing companies: 6
Now that we've seen where publishing has been, we'll start looking at where we think it's going.
What do you think of the past? What are your prediction for the future of publishing?
Source: The History of Publishing
Origins of the Novel
The State of Publishing
History of Publishing and How it Impacts Us Today
Publishing Big 6: Who are they?
Wikipedia
Interesting! Thanks for the overview, Clarissa. It's certainly a hot topic these days, the future of publishing.
ReplyDeleteEven since I was first published two years ago (for nonfiction), it's changed so much. Kindle didn't exist in the UK and trying to get into physical stores accounted for much of my publisher's activities. I did lots of door to door stuff and cold pitches to bookshops.
One year later, Kindle came to the UK and everything changed. Suddenly, we didn't need to rely on shops, and ebooks accounted for more then 90 per cent of my fiction sales. The market seemed wide open for reasonably priced, quality books regardless of the publisher.
Where is it going? I think ebooks will continue to rise, authors will take control of their own destinies, and agent will take on more marketing/ advisory roles. Interesting times, for sure!
Clarissa - I think it's so interesting to contemplate where publishing has been. It seems that the more time has gone by, the more access the average person has gotten to books, and now to publishing. Modern technology has helped immeasurably to make it possible for just about anyone to publish a book. So one thing I think will likely happen is that authors are more and more likely to need a lot of information about the publishing process in order to make decisions about where and how to market themselves.
ReplyDeleteGood place to start with your question Clarissa--the history.
ReplyDeleteThough I am not an author, I see the industry continuing to make works available at low costs. As such, more published authors will have day jobs as opposed to the full-time novelist.
@ Talli - We can look to the future but I think the change is happening so fast and so immeasurably that who knows what can happen. Thanks for your thoughts. I think Kindle was a game changer for many. Who knew!?
ReplyDelete@ Margot - Exactly! Hopefully together as a writing/blogging group (and really it's one reason I'm so glad we have each other) we can meet the changes prepared for the game better than one who is on their own.
@ Slamdunks - It could very well be. I hope to be one of those full time writers though.
ReplyDeleteSuper interesting! This has been a popular topic all summer. How do you define "major" publishing companies though? That's really sad how drastically it dropped in only twelve years.
ReplyDeleteI'm not too happy with the direction publishing seems to be headed. But it is what it is and will take some getting accustomed to!
It's always important to look back on the past to see what the future might hold. But, whatever happens, I think it's comforting to know that someone will have to write the story.
ReplyDeleteFrom 113 to just six big publishers - talk about big business takeover!
ReplyDeleteWhere's it going? All digital with eBooks.
That was an interesting read. I'm floored by the numbers!
ReplyDeleteI just keep my head down, Clarissa, and write and write and write!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the rundown. I think epublishing is the wave of the future.
ReplyDeleteLike Talli, I published my first book, Farm Girl, before everything changed. I remember seeing on Amazon "authors put your books on Kindle" and I thought "Why would I want to do that?" I was steeped in the old publishing tradition and didn't want to seem like I was self--published. I regret that now because if I or my publisher had gotten on board with Kindle right from the beginning it would have been very opportune.
ReplyDeleteClarissa, what a fabulous post. Thank you so much for having expended the effort to assemble this timeline.
ReplyDeleteI love the words, 'public demand for novels.'
Hi Clarissa, great post. Thanks for the history.
ReplyDeleteCheers~
Good questions.
ReplyDeleteI think traditional publishers have forgotten to keep an eye on the development for years. Because apparently they have not considered the new opportunities ebooks offer, e.g. the ability of modern writers to do without publishers and agents.
This sounds rather interesting. I'll be sure to follow and have already tweeted this post. Publishing is changing so dramatically. And the number of major publishing houses dwindling so dramatically…makes me wonder.
ReplyDeleteThat collapsing of publishing companies is nuts! It seems maybe they could have adapted to all this faster had they not done that, eh? I've seen some interesting summaries lately about the growing pains...
ReplyDeleteThat was such an interesting post! (Still interesting, even after the random earthquake this afternoon.) Thank you for sharing it with us. :D
ReplyDeleteAwwww I love your historical account of publishing! Brilliant!
ReplyDeleteThe future of publishing - hopefully as subversive and as dynamic and as important as ever as shown here - whatever the format!
Take care
x
Thank you for the history lesson! It is a great overview; I remember learning some of this in school. It is interesting to see how far things have come. Even more interesting to see where they are going.
ReplyDeleteHave a great week! :)
You always have the most interesting posts. I'm looking forward to this series. The numbers were amazing.
ReplyDeleteMason
Thoughts in Progress
Freelance Editing By Mason
Wow! So interesting! It's crazy how fast things can change.
ReplyDeletethis was a nice overview of the history of publishing and written word!
ReplyDeletenice post :P
ReplyDelete+follow
Interesting overview.
ReplyDeleteThe drop was a lot more sudden than I thought.
looking forward to following along on this journey.
Interesting history lesson, with your own unique brand of humor.
ReplyDeleteWith the popularization of tablets, I think books will go in that direction. And along with digital download of books, audiobooks should be more popular too.
ReplyDeleteThe numbers surprised me, I hadn't realised they had fallen so drastically. I'm looking forward to your future posts on this subject.
ReplyDeleteI really do think ereaders will make a massive change to the publishing industry--more than what we've seen already. Stories will always be around, though.
ReplyDeleteHi Clarissa .. interesting - there were 'travel books' back in Roman times before and after .. Guide Books too came later .. Reference Books ..
ReplyDeleteI have just seen a post on Vertical Panorama's (maps) in days gone by - pre the Grand Tour .. done on the communication systems available then - eg the Rhone - travel through Europe to London .. the Grand Tour and roads, then the railways ..
Now - I agree with what you've written .. but there'll still be markets for both .. and shorter books, lots of 'souvenir books', novelettes ..
.. basing oneself locally and spreading the word through book readings, volunteer work - reading = spreading the word, Christmas Fairs etc ..
Adding value to the book .. with music, podcasts etc ... very interesting times though.
My thoughts - cheers Hilary
Great post, Clarissa. The thing that made the biggest change for publishing, I think, was the invention of the world wide web. And not just for books, either. The communications industry in general. But as you say, where is it all going? Should be fun to find out. I guess we just have to roll with the punches and get on board, so to speak.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post. I learned a lot.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see that first one in e-form. :)
ReplyDeleteI am sort of torn on the future. What becomes of our libraries? Will they become personal screens with mass storage devices we retrieve our reads from?
I don't know about everyone else but I love paper and ink.
Jules @ Trying To Get Over The Rainbow
What an interest post, Clarissa. We may look to the future a lot but we rarely look back.
ReplyDeleteBut the future? Who knows? Three years ago, I'd heard a vague rumour about electronic reading devices. Two years ago, I saw that, amazingly, I'd sold more ebooks than print copies. Now my books are being published electronically first.
I don't think the print book will ever go away, but I do think more and more people will want to read ebooks.
Things definitely changed! Anyone, publisher or writer, who got on the ebook band wagon from the beginning were fortunate, I think.
ReplyDeleteThis information is SO very interesting, Clarissa, and it will also be interesting to see how it all plays out in the next few years. I'm just wondering: With the proliferation of self-published authors, who are going to be BUYING the books? Authors will definitely have to put themselves "out there" especially through social media to market their product.
Ann Best, Author of In the Mirror, A Memoir of Shattered Secrets