Subject
Publishing Industry Management
- code 11551
- course 1
- term Term 3
- type op
- credits 3
Main language of instruction: English
Teaching staff
Introduction
From clay tablets to e-books, different forms of publishing have have accompanied the humanity throughout history.
As an industry, we can consider that publishing began in 15th-century Germany with Johannes Gutenberg’s printing of the Bible, who is nearly universally credited with being the inventor of the printing press, and the father of the modern printed book.
The invention of the printing press represented a significant step by making the writing within texts easy to reproduce. Printed books, leaflets and newsletters enabled culture, knowledge and thoughts to spread at a rate faster than ever before.
Since then, the publishing industry has been growing steadily until the last decade when the global economic crisis, together with the digital era and piracy had obliged it to to face new challenges.
Pre-course requirements
The same as for the Master's Degree.
Objectives
- The main objectives of this subject can be listed as the following:
- To get into the publishing sector with an overall picture of the publishing industry, key-industry players and publishing market.
- To deepen knowledge of the book publishing environment and business.
- To know the different types of books publishing.
- To understand the economic basis of the traditional book business model.
- To reach a global overview of the traditional value supply chain: network of companies, professional profiles and roles, from the creation of content all the way down to sales.
- To learn another publishing business models as partworks and digital books.
Competences / Learning outcomes of the degree programme
General competences
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To have and understand knowledge which provides a basis.
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To have the learning skills necessary to continue studying in a largely self-directed or autonomous manner.
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To lead, coordinate and form part of interdisciplinary work teams.
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To act responsibly, and produce good quality rigorous and efficient work that is placed at the service of society.
Specific competences
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To identify business structures in publishing industry and manage the processes and work procedures involved in their creation, programming, management and production.
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To design and implement an efficient and viable business plan within the publishing industry.
Learning outcomes of the subject
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To identify business structures in publishing industry and manage the processes and work procedures involved in their creation, programming, management and production.
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To design and implement an efficient and viable business plan within the publishing industry.
Syllabus
MODULE 1. Introduction
Contents:
- Main categories within the publishing industry: books, newspapers, magazines and partworks.
- Overview of the global publishing market: categories (books, newspapers and magazines), platform (traditional-print/digital/audio) and geographic segmentation and main players.
- The traditional publishing value supply chain and how technology have reduced supply-chain costs and eliminated steps in getting editorial content from manufacturers to consumers.
- Occupations, professional profiles and roles in the publishing industry:
- Writing and editing occupations: writers, authors and translators; reporters and correspondents and photographers; editors and packagers; correctors and art designers.
- Intermediaries: literary agents and scouts.
- Production and related occupations: industrial production and planning managers; prepress technicians and printing machine operators.
- Sales, promotion, and marketing occupations: advertising and promotions managers; public relations specialists; advertising sales agents and sales representatives.
- Publishing-content-distributors and sellers in bookstores, newstands and online retailers.
MODULE 2. Book publishing Industry & Types of book publishing
2.1. Book publishing Industry
Contents:
- Highlights and some figures: worldwide and geographic publishers market shares; number of titles published, books units produced and sold; sales channels, employment and reading habits.
- Traditional business model and value supply chain: network of companies from the creation of content all the way down to sales, from author/publisher to retail bookstores and newstands.
- The publishing company's management, structure and organization.
2.2. Types of book publishing
Contents:
- Trade Publishing: fiction and nonfiction works designed for a general consumer target of children, teenagers and adults.
- Professional and Scholarly Publishing
- Educational Publishing
MODULE 3. A traditional book publishing company project
3.1. Publishing strategy & policy
Contents:
- Defining the editorial line.
- Selection and contracting criteria.
- Content sources: International Publishers, Agents, Scouts, Book Fairs, Professional Magazines and Internet.
- Building up a publications catalogue: new launches and backlist.
3.2. Business model and P&L
Contents:
- In-depth analysis of the Profit and Loss Account.
MODULE 4. The flow of editorial process: from acquisition to an edited book manuscript.
Contents:
4.1 The content: With Valerie Miles (Founding Editor at Spanish Granta Magazine and former Publishing Director at Duomo, Alfaguara and Emecé).
- Book proposals, manuscripts, books on commission and ghostwriters.
- Readers reports.
- Offers, auctions and pre-empts.
4.2 Publishing legislation:
- Publishing rights: print, digital and other subsidiary rights
- Publishing contracts.
- ISBN: The books identity number.
- Fixed book price.
4.3 Translators.
4.4 The editorial director and the editorial department staff.
MODULE 5. The flow of production process: from an edited book manuscript to production
Contents:
- Copyediting: the first stage of book production.
- Book page design and layout.
- Book jacket, series and collections design and branding.
- Book printing, binding, and shipping.
MODULE 6. Marketing and promoting books
Contents:
6.1. Marketing:
- Determine the potential readers for each individual book. Nielsen and FGK Consumer Panels.
- Price policy.
- Book sales materials.
- Point-of-Sale promotional materials.
- Social Media & Blogger campaigns.
- Online and offline advertising.
- Stock control and reprinting.
6.2. Publicity:
- Book publicity press materials and book media follow-up.
- Book review.
- Pre-Publication or ARC (advanced reader´s copy) mailing.
- Author readings and book signings.
MODULE 7. Selling and distributing books. With Jordi Sánchez (Grupo Planeta).
Contents:
7.1. Sales:
- Trade sales department and sales network.
- Sales channels and types of booksellers.
- Sales plan and trade discounts.
7.2. Distribution:
- Orders fulfillment process.
- Online and offline distribution.
MODULE 8. Another publishing business models
8.1. Partworks publishing industry: a different publishing business model and market. With Monica Casetti (Founding Partner at Boldletters, former Managing Director at Editorial Salvat and Managing Director at Ediciones Orbis).
- Highlights figures.
- Business model and P& L.
8.2. New business models for books publishing in the digital age. With Santos Palazzi (Head of Mass Market and Digital Business of the Book Division at Grupo Planeta).
- Digital book reading and reader´s profile.
- Digital reading devices (pros and cons picture).
- Digital book formats. What is it and what is the metadata for.
- Business models in the digital book environment: “à-la-carte”, suscription, library loan and B2B2C
- National and International retailers (who is who). Sales territories of the Spanish digital book.
- The relevance of self-publishing.
- Chat stories and other relevant digital initiatives.
- The audiobook: a publishing phenomenon in the USA that has reached Spain.
- Hypermedia: a new way to generate content.
MODULE 9. Key challenges for the 21th Century book publishing industry
- Managing and protecting content rights, royalties and income.
- Growing demand for digital content.
- POD (Print on demand).
- Be creative and drive growth to new horizons.
MODULE 10. Presentation of the Final Projects
Teaching and learning activities
In person
The Management of the Publishing Industry subject consists of 18 classes which combine theoretical lectures and the study of practical cases. Students are encouraged to participate as much as possible.
Some guests of the publishing industry will also share their professional experiences and knowledge as part of the activities.
Evaluation systems and criteria
In person
In accordance with the UIC rules, in order to be assessed, student needs to attend at least 80% of classes.
Assessment criteria will be as follows:
- Continual assessment (individual and teamwork activities and classroom participation): 50%
- Final Project evaluation: 50%
Bibliography and resources
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Merchants of Culture: The Publishing Business in the Twenty-First Century, John B. Thompson (Polity Press, 2012)
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The Publishing Business: From p-books to e-books, Kelvin Smith (AVA Publishing,
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2012)
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Publishing: Principles and Practice, Richard Guthri (Sage Publications Ltd, 2011)
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The Business of Books, André Schiffrin (Verso, 2001)
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Book Business, Jason Epstein (WW Norton, 2001)
Teaching and learning material