Book publishing

Book publishing: Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

Book publishing: Nineteenth Century

Book publishing: Twentieth Century

Books Sold in United States, 2006

Definition: Creation, marketing, and distribution of fiction and nonfiction books
Significance: Book publishing has been a significant presence in America since colonial times, with almanacs, primers, and law books originally forming the foundation of the industry. Since 1640, when the first printed book was published in America, the book publishing industry grown into a multibillion-dollar industry.

Publishing came to America in 1639, when the Day (also spelled Daye) family imported a printing press from England. After the family printed its first book, The Whole Booke of Psalmes, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1640, theology became the leading genre of American publishing for more than a century. Printing was restricted to Cambridge until 1674, when Marmaduke Johnson, a publisher who came to America to print an Indian Bible (1663), moved his press to Boston. The Boston-Cambridge area was to remain a center of publishing in the United States.

Further Reading

• Epstein, Jason. Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future. New York City: W. W. Norton, 2002. Based on a series of lectures given by Jason Epstein, the former editorial director of Random House, this book provides a unique perspective on the publishing industry. 
• Greco, Albert N. The Book Publishing Industry. 2d ed. Philadelphia: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2004. Detailed summary of the book publishing business and a bibliography of related literature. 
• Kirsch, Jonathan. Kirsch’s Handbook of Publishing Law: For Authors, Publishers, Editors, and Agents. Marina del Rey, Calif.: Acrobat Books, 1994. Comprehensive overview of publishing law. 
• Rosenthal, Morris. Print-on-Demand Book Publishing: A New Approach to Printing and Marketing Books for Publishers and Self-Publishing Authors. Springfield, Mass.: Foner Books, 2004. Self-published book exploring print-on-demand publishing. 
• Tebbel, John. A History of Publishing in the United States. 4 vols. Harwich Port, Mass.: Clock & Rose Press, 2003. Historical overview of book publishing in the United States.

See also: Catalog shopping; Coin’s Financial School; copyright law; How-to-succeed books; The Jungle; Literary works with business themes; Magazine industry; Newspaper industry; Printing industry; Reader’s Digest.