Ultra Libris: Policy, Technology, and the Creative Economy of Book Publishing in Canada - Hardcover

Lorimer, Rowland

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1770410767 ISBN 13: 9781770410763

Verlag: ECW PR, 2012

Inhaltsangabe

The definitive policy overview of the book publishing industry in Canada In a thorough exploration of Canada’s book industry, Ultra Libris provides a historical backdrop to understand modern events in book publishing. From the Massey Commission (1952) and the Ontario Royal Commission on Book Publishing (1971–72) to the explosion of national book publishing in the 1970s and the industry–government sparring over the next 30 years, Lorimer elucidates the necessary conditions for Canadian authors to thrive and for book publishers to contribute to Canadian culture. While industry and government policy both focused on national survival in the face of globalization in the period from 1970 to ’90, Ultra Libris documents how, beginning in the mid-’90s, Ontario established an emphasis on financial stability for the cultural sector accompanied by stimulants to encourage vigorous participation in domestic and international markets. Coincident with that came an embrace of technology as both a business catalyst and transformative medium for creative expression, which held the potential to change the nature of book publishing and human understanding. In these contexts — technology and a growing creative economy — Ultra Libris concludes with a discourse on the future of books and book publishing in Canada and the world.

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Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Rowland Lorimer is director of the master of publishing program and the Canadian Centre for Studies in Publishing at Simon Fraser University. He is a professor of communication and past editor and past publisher of the "Canadian Journal of Communication," of which he is now the treasurer. He is an honorary president of the Association for Canadian Studies and is a past president of the Canadian Association of Learned Journals. He lives in Vancouver.

Rowland Lorimer is director of the master of publishing program and the Canadian Centre for Studies in Publishing at Simon Fraser University. He is a professor of communication and past editor and past publisher of the "Canadian Journal of Communication," of which he is now the treasurer. He is an honorary president of the Association for Canadian Studies and is a past president of the Canadian Association of Learned Journals. He lives in Vancouver.

Rowland Lorimer is Director of the Master of Publishing program and the Canadian Centre for Studies in Publishing at Simon Fraser University. For the last 10 years, his research has had a dual focus: the Canadian publishing industry and the mass media. Lorimer has carried out more than 20 commissioned studies on book, magazine, and scholarly journal publishing in Canada.

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Ultra Libris

Policy, Technology, and the Creative Economy of Book Publishing in Canada

By Rowland Lorimer, Nadia Halim

ECW PRESS

Copyright © 2012 Rowland Lorimer
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-77041-076-3

CHAPTER 1

Of books, publishing, and social context

What is a book?

The material heart of contemporary book publishing is an organized display of textual symbols meant to convey information and ideas. In the first decade of the twenty-first century, the predominant medium of display was print on paper within a bound volume of no less than forty-nine pages. The printed book is a manufactured physical object of some durability that can be purchased and owned by persons and institutions. One specific public institution, the public library, has as its primary mandate the purchase of books for lending to borrowers.

Current physical manifestations of the book have not been with us since the dawn of time, nor even since the dawn of writing in the seventh millennium BC. Following the universal development, from at least 3000BC, of symbol systems and, in the West, phonetic alphabets — starting with the consonants of the Phoenician alphabet, to which were added the vowels of the Greek alphabet — impressionable media such as clay were replaced gradually with lighter media, such as papyrus and parchment in sheet and scroll form, followed by paper. Inks, and the manner in which ink was applied to paper, also changed. By Gutenberg's time (1398–1468), scrolls had already evolved into the codex — handwritten and hand-bound books with protective hard covers. Subsequently, there was a significant diminution in size, and soft covers reemerged, protecting the octavo, a readily portable volume popularized by Aldus Manutius (1450–1515) that freed books from reading rooms. As the twenty-first century proceeds, the e-book and myriad other digital forms knock at the door of print on paper.

Fairly early in its history, in the midst of these physical changes, the book came to be seen as a repository of thought and human creativity. Books also developed into beacons of the communities, societies, and civilizations to which they belonged; they came to reflect the confluence of individual expression of knowledge and ideas and, through both authorship and readership, the social and cultural nature of society.

In Canada, a modern, domestically owned book publishing industry emerged over the past six decades, driven in part by Canada's determination to step outside the shadow of its colonizer, Great Britain, and to resist the spillover exuberance of its adjacent southern neighbour, the United States of America. The Canadian-owned or domestic industry established itself in collaboration with Canadian governments. To some degree, as we shall see, that state involvement was an inspired move. Canadian governments admirably eschewed interference with the nature of the ideas being published and concentrated on providing support for business operations and cultural titles in general. The major achievement of the domestic industry has been the articulation of a distinct Canadian cultural voice in the world of ideas. During the same period, the foreign-owned sector was also transformed: from an industry focused almost totally on importation and distribution of foreign titles, to one that also engages in the publication of a certain percentage of Canadian authors, dealing with Canadian subject matter, primarily for Canadians to read.

Today, new challenges arise, brought forth by changing business forms, technological developments, shifting social realities and priorities in Canada, and environmental concerns. Against the background of a cultural awakening, this study examines the formative roots of the contemporary Canadian book publishing industry, its current functioning, the challenges it faces, and the potential for book publishing to remain a vibrant contributor to Canadian society, Canadian and world culture, and the Canadian economy. But first, some fundamentals, in the form of an outline of the elements of the book publishing process.

Professional book publishing practice

The first task of a book publisher is to define a reason for being — that is, to set up a business with a guiding purpose and mission that define its path of development and establish somewhat permeable boundaries of activity. With a purpose and mission in place, a book publisher can announce itself to the world and begin to acquire manuscripts, guided by particular objectives that translate into an emphasis on selected genres, subject areas, and, sometimes, targeted authors.

While established writers of creative works tend to keep in touch with their publishers or their agents about work they are contemplating to obtain initial reactions, first-time authors of works of fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction are apt to submit letters of inquiry or full manuscripts to chosen publishers. In the case of non-fiction, publishers and authors seek each other out to discuss ideas and treatments, which develop into discussions of the organization and focus of the manuscript, as well as of the author's voice or orientation to the subject. Ideally, such discussions are followed by the author's submission of an outline, which gives the publisher a chance to engage in what is termed developmental editing. The outline often makes clear the author's intent, and, given that intent, the developmental editor works with the author to create a good book that will work in the marketplace. There are many potential problems that a developmental edit can allay. For instance, authors often want to accomplish far too much in a single manuscript, and an editor can help the author focus on the truly distinguishing features of the work.

After the author has drafted and polished the book, it moves on to a substantive edit, in which the editor assesses whether the author has created an appropriately lively, engaging, or authoritative book manuscript. Some publishers and editors use the terms developmental and substantive editing interchangeably, and substantive editing can be seen as part of the development of the manuscript. In fiction, where editors are often dealing with more skilled and language-sensitive authors, a substantive edit may involve asking questions about the characters, setting, plot, or such implicit elements as atmosphere. In non-fiction, the editor will focus on the logic and structure of the argument, narrative, and information. That said, in the same way that character and events come together to create a living fiction, a good piece of serious non-fiction relies on the author's ability to come up with an overarching structure that readers can understand, one that generates new insights even for authors as they explore various facets of that structure.

After substantive editing and author revisions come stylistic editing and copy editing, where words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs, and chapters are fine-tuned to allow the reader to follow the text unhindered by semantic and grammatical gaffes. Then comes fact-checking, where references are reviewed and facts are checked by an editor and/or by the author, often at the behest of the editor. At the completion of this process, the copy editor or another editor gives the manuscript a complete read-through to catch any last-minute typos, repetitions, or inconsistencies.

As the manuscript moves into production, other pre-press elements are given attention. Once the font, page size, margins, line spacing, style for headers and footers, and so on are determined, the manuscript is flowed into the...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: ECW PR
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2012
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1770410767
• ISBN 13: 9781770410763
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 432
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar