Some publishing businesses are small with multi-skilled staff. Most medium to large publishing businesses, however, employ a team of people, each with a well-defined role. Following are some of the people that typically work in a publishing business:
*The publisher is concerned with planning and management of the publishing business. The publisher is often, but not always, the boss or CEO. The publisher’s particular concerns are to commission new work, negotiate the acquisition of existing work (eg. out-of-print titles that have been released from another publisher), assess and decide on the future of existing titles, and develop new areas of work. The publisher also needs to deal with unsolicited submissions, and with agents of authors. The publisher should maintain contact with authors (though the extent of such contact varies between publishers). The publisher needs to liaise with other sections of a publishing business in order to do their job properly: the editor, the marketing department, etc.
Note: The term ‘publisher’ is used for both the company which publishes the book or magazine, and for the person responsible for selecting material for publication.
*The business manager may be responsible for the day-to-day management of either part or all of a publishing business. Some large publishers employ a team of business managers, putting each one in charge of a different group of publications (eg. a business manager for non-fiction and another for fiction, one for women’s magazines and another for business magazines).
*The production manager or production assistant is responsible for coordinating and overseeing each of the physical stages in the production of a publication. A small publishing business may assign this task to an editor, or the publisher. A large business may employ several production managers.
*The editor is responsible for overseeing the creation of the publication, from inception to the finished product. Different editors have different roles; for example an acquisitions editor seeks work from writers and reviews manuscript submissions, while a copy editor sub-edits a manuscript, ensuring it is logical, lucid and meets the needs of the target audience. The editor checks the text for language and grammar to ensure consistency and readability. The editor also liaises with writers, production staff and printers so that the publication stays within budget and meets projected deadlines.
*The designer has the task of taking instructions from the editor and producing the final layout.
*Marketing staff have the task of selling a publication. The editor should explain to these people the concept of the publication. The editor and author will have developed the book with a particular market in mind, and those thoughts must be conveyed to the marketing staff.
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