| Book publishing has accelerated as an industry in the | | | | book publishers, some of the well-known names in |
| last few decades with the steady growth of | | | | the industry are: McGraw Hills Companies, |
| computer technology and new publishing techniques | | | | HarperCollins Publishers, Penguin Group, Reed Elsevier, |
| like digital information systems and the Internet. | | | | W.W. Norton & Company Inc., Macmillan |
| According to figures released by the Association of | | | | Publishers Ltd., Longman Publishers USA, Pearson to |
| American Publishers (AAP), net sales for the entire | | | | name a few. These companies publish material on |
| United States publishing industry are estimated to | | | | diverse topics ranging from entertainment, fiction, |
| have increased by 1.3 percent from 2003 to 2004 to | | | | non-fiction, management, art, architecture, |
| a grand total of $23.72 billion. This clearly indicates the | | | | photography to day to day issues like cooking, pet |
| publishers or the book publishing companies are | | | | care, gardening, etc. |
| reaping the benefits of the trade. | | | | Recently, Western publishing industry has been |
| Most of the publishers or the book publishing | | | | shrouded with controversy as large business houses |
| companies usually control the advertising and | | | | have bought or merged a significant number of key |
| marketing tasks and sub-contract the editorial and | | | | publishing houses and bookstores to create a |
| production process to small businesses, as book | | | | monopoly in the market. This has resulted in an |
| publishers rarely own printing presses and binderies. | | | | increased concentration of well-known authors to |
| This trend, known as "book packaging," is gaining | | | | augment the market share of bestsellers. The |
| momentum as retail book chains and supermarkets | | | | growing commercialization in the publishing industry |
| have centralized their buying. | | | | has become a matter of concern not only for critics |
| Although, the publishing industry is teeming with many | | | | but also for writers in general. |