publishing

Production of books for sale. The publisher arranges for the commissioning, editing, printing, binding, warehousing, and distribution of books to booksellers or book clubs. Although all rights in a book may be purchased by the publisher for a single outright fee, it is more usual that a fixed royalty is paid to the author on every copy sold, in return for the exclusive right to publish in an agreed territory. For the publishing of periodicals, see magazine.

Tauchnitz, founded in Germany 1837, began publishing English-language soft-cover editions 1842 and continued until 1943. Subsequent English-language paperback houses were the Albatross Modern Continental Library 1932, Penguin Books 1935 (UK), and Pocket Books 1939 (USA).

The UK's first women-only publisher, Virago Press, was founded 1973 and released its first title 1975.