Trade publishers are publishing companies that deal with industry-specific publications. This category includes the major, well-established publishing houses that put out the majority of fiction in the marketplace. [1] X Research source Textbook publishers primarily deal with academic learning materials. Books published by textbook publishing companies will be primarily bought and used by students. [2] X Research source Scholarly/academic publishers tend to include university presses and not-for-profit publishers. Although this category is lumped in with academic publications, scholarly/academic publishers do not typically publish textbooks. [3] X Research source Reference publishers put out books and other learning materials that build on a body of information. The most common example of a reference publication is a dictionary or thesaurus, but can include many other non-traditional forms of information dissemination. [4] X Research source Self-publishers are authors who choose to take the reigns on how their own work is published. [5] X Research source
Try to start out with a narrow focus. It’s best to work within one or two primary genres or markets. If you try to start too big, it may be difficult to manage your company, and potential authors may lose interest if it seems as though the company lacks direction. Consider working in a market you know. If you have any kind of background in a given market, whether it’s through formal education, work or intern experience, or even personal interest, you may find your business more successful in than market than if you tried to jump into unfamiliar waters. You will likely be more dedicated to and passionate about your business working in a market you’re familiar with, and you will bring some level of knowledge or familiarity to the table.
A good question to ask yourself is, as someone who is interested in a given subject, would you want to read this? You can also expand on this question to consider what other things someone with a shared interest would want to read.
Conduct an investigative inquiry within your county and state records to determine if the name you’ve chosen is in use. [7] X Research source Register your publishing company’s name with the appropriate regional office. This may be your county clerk or state government office, depending on the location of your business. [8] X Trustworthy Source U. S. Small Business Administration U. S. government agency focused on supporting small businesses Go to source Some regional governments may require you to take out a legal notice in an approved newspaper, usually for one month or less, to announce your business’s name to the public and ensure that no one comes forward saying that they are already using that name. [9] X Research source
The first single digit identifies the language of a given book. Zero is used for most publications in English. [13] X Research source After the language digit comes a multi-digit set of numbers called the publisher identification number. This group of digits is your publishing company’s unique identification number. Note that small publishing companies tend to have long identification numbers, which means that, due to the limitation on how many digits an ISBN may be, smaller publishers will be able to publish fewer titles under a given ISBN than larger publishing houses. Once a small publishing company has published its allotted number of titles under a given ISBN, that company must then purchase additional ISBNs. [14] X Research source Immediately after the publisher’s identification number comes the title identification number. This number or group of numbers identifies the book title by its edition or version. Different editions will require different ISBN title identification numbers. [15] X Research source The last digit in an ISBN is called a check number. It is calculated by a precise algorithm[16] X Research source and is used to check (hence the name) that the ISBN was coded correctly. [17] X Research source
Adequate planning in this phase of starting up your company may be crucial in determining whether your venture into publishing is successful. Be realistic when planning your budget. Try to keep overhead costs to a minimum, and understand what kind of taxes you should expect to be paying, if you are taxed as a small business.
Choose a website or print periodical that is primarily marketed toward writers. You can try different sources, such as the Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP),[18] X Research source New Pages,[19] X Research source and Poets & Writers,[20] X Research source just to name a few. Determine the scope of your call for submissions. Decide upon a submission period, and estimate when interested authors can expect to hear back from you on their work. Specify what genre(s) and/or subgenre(s) you are interested in publishing. If you are accepting from multiple genres, specify any genres or subgenres you are not interested in. Think about opening the reading period as a contest, rather than an open call. In a contest, an author typically submits his work and pays a submission fee. That submission fee may be used to off-set the cost of publication.
Acquisitions editors handle all new projects. Duties may include reading submissions, contacting authors of interest, and arranging contract details. [21] X Research source Copy editors proofread for issues with formatting, spelling, grammar, and punctuation. [22] X Research source Managing editors oversee the editing process and are often responsible for ensuring that a project is moving forward on an appropriate schedule. [23] X Research source
Cost of printing and publication Distribution scope Existing reputation within the publishing community
Determine the size of your staff in order to plan your budget. Decide how large a distribution area you want to work within. Distributing nationally will cost much more than distributing across a county or state.
You will also need to determine the publication schedule of your journal. Will you publish monthly? Annually? Bi-annually? Quarterly? Declare what authors and what pieces of writing you most enjoy reading. This will give readers an idea of what to expect from your journal, and it will let people that are submitting know whether their writing will match with your aesthetics.
When you will accept submissions Whether you will accept simultaneous submissions (submissions sent to multiple literary journals at the same time) Whether you will do “blind reads” of submissions, in which the author’s name and contact information does not appear on the manuscript What your criteria for acceptance are.
