Publishing is the activity of putting information in the public arena. Although this can mean something as simple as making an announcement in a pub or market square, for some centuries it has usually referred to the business of producing books, magazines, newspapers and other printed material.
Physical publishing
A modern book or periodical publishing company (or publisher) is usually involved in buying or commissioning content, editing it, and preparing it for printing. It usually also controls the advertising and other marketing tasks. However, it is usually not directly involved in retail sale of the product.
It is usual for publishing companies to subcontract various aspects of the process. Book publishers rarely own printing presses and binderies, although newspaper and magazine companies still often do. Book editing, proof-reading and layout might be done by freelancers, and the finished product sold to a distributor. If the entire process up to the stage of printing is handled by an outside company or individuals, then sold to the publishing company, it is known as book packaging .
In the jargon of the publishing trade scientific, technical and medical publishing is referred to as "STM publishing ".
Electronic publishing
Technically, radio and TV also publish information, but this is more usually called broadcasting. Internet publishing is a reversion to the original meaning of the word, as the information so published is often not produced by a business and is often not a commercial product.
Criticism of the publishing industry
There has been some controversy in recent times over what is perceived as a crisis in Western publishing. The general complaint is that conglomerates or large corporations, having bought and merged a significant number of key publishing houses or bookstores, now exercise unprecedented influence over various aspects of publishing, from editorial decisions to the market share of bestsellers; this, claim critics, has led not only to a decline in quality but, among other things, the consolidation of politically conservative opinions, a drastic reduction in competition and in numbers of independent businesses, and a superabundance of transient, non-noteworthy literature.
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