engleski

Production models and the life cycle of the book in modern publishing

This paper aims to relate selected production models (linear and content oriented) to current changes in publishing processes, publishing functions and the life cycle of books in general. Regardless of technological implications, the functional chain model is still useful in publishing, for it is not just a sequence of functions performed on every manuscript and book, but explains the process of value adding, reflects the rationale and motives behind any specific publishing venture, creates solid frame for planning the costs, resources and timetables, etc. However, the linear publishing model is untenable today, for results of the process are multiplied ; we speak about products in plural rather than about the ultimate product, as printed book was one or two decades ago. To simplify, one could say that regarding acquisition, evaluation, and editing we still mostly follow the linear scheme and that the digital environment has not changed the sequence of functions significantly, while production, marketing and selling operation cannot prosper from linearity any more. This raises many questions: where to place the “one to many” splitter in publishing chain, how many optimal “outs” it has, how to avoid parallel “after- splitter” operations which could rise costs, etc. Answers to such questions are vague because of the abundance of experiments in modern publishing, and, somewhat paradoxically, due to the rising dogma of content which blurs the borders among publishing and other cultural (creative, content) industries. Such questions call for consideration of the flexible, sustainable, and optimal production model for publishing, which is on the one hand sufficiently general and robust to work in a multitude of opportunities provided by modern environments, and on the other narrow enough to exclude considerations which could refer to content industries in general, but are not intrinsic to publishing.

book publishing ; book production ; book life cycle

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