Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software, and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, comic books, newspapers, and magazines. With the advent of digital information systems, the scope has expanded to include digital publishing such as ebooks, digital magazines, websites, social media, music, and video game publishing.
Print on demand (POD) is a printing technology and business process in which book copies are not printed until the company receives an order, allowing prints in single or small quantities. While other industries established the build-to-order business model, POD could only develop after the beginning of digital printing because it was not economical to print single copies using traditional printing technologies such as letterpress and offset printing.
A vanity press or vanity publisher, sometimes also subsidy publisher, is a publishing house where the author pays to have the book published, and signs a restrictive contract which involves surrendering significant rights. It is not to be confused with hybrid publishing, where the publisher and author collaborate and share costs and risks, or with assisted self-publishing, where the author pays publishing services to assist with self-publishing his own book, and retains all rights.
A small press is a publisher with annual sales below a certain level or below a certain number of titles published. The terms "indie publisher" and "independent press" and others are sometimes used interchangeably.
AuthorHouse, formerly known as 1stBooks, is a self-publishing company based in the United States. AuthorHouse uses print-on-demand business model and technology.
An author mill is a publisher that relies on producing large numbers of small-run books by different authors, as opposed to a smaller number of works published in larger numbers. The term was coined by Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware, as a parallel formation from diploma mill, an unaccredited college or university that offers degrees without regard to academic achievement, and puppy mill, a breeding operation that produces large numbers of puppies for sale with little regard for breed purity, puppy placement, health, or socialization.
The Jim Pattison Group is a Canadian conglomerate based in Vancouver. In a recent survey by the Financial Post, the firm was ranked as Canada's 62nd largest company. Jim Pattison, a Vancouver-based entrepreneur, is the chairman, CEO, and sole owner of the company. The Jim Pattison Group, Canada's second largest privately held company, has more than 45,000 employees worldwide, and annual sales of $10.1 billion based on investments in Canada, the U.S., Mexico, Europe, Asia and Australia. The Group is active in 25 divisions, according to Forbes, including packaging, food, forestry products.
Variable data printing (VDP) is a form of digital printing, including on-demand printing, in which elements such as text, graphics and images may be changed from one printed piece to the next, without stopping or slowing down the printing process and using information from a database or external file. For example, a set of personalized letters, each with the same basic layout, can be printed with a different name and address on each letter. Variable data printing is mainly used for direct marketing, customer relationship management, advertising, invoicing and applying addressing on selfmailers, brochures or postcard campaigns.
Transcontinental Inc., operating as TC Transcontinental, is a Montreal-based packaging, commercial printing and specialty media company.
Quad is an American marketing company which offers marketing strategy and management services, based in Sussex, Wisconsin. Harry V. Quadracci founded Quad on July 13, 1971, as a privately owned printing company. In 2023, Quad had more than 13,000 employees around the world. They serve around 2,900 clients with around 43 manufacturing and distribution facilities and over 70 client-based on-site locations.
Ingram Content Group is an American service provider to the book publishing industry, based in La Vergne, Tennessee. It is a subsidiary of Ingram Industries.
Xlibris is a self-publishing and on-demand printing services provider, founded in 1997 and based in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. In 2000, The New York Times stated it to be the foremost on-demand publisher. The current president is Bill Elliot.
Lightning Source is a printer and distributor of print-on-demand books. The company is a business unit of Ingram Content Group. Originally incorporated in 1996 as Lightning Print Inc., the company is headquartered in La Vergne, Tennessee, United States. Its UK operations are based in Milton Keynes. They also have operations in Maurepas, France and Melbourne, Australia.
iUniverse, founded in October 1999, is an American self-publishing company based in Bloomington, Indiana. It has been owned by Author Solutions since 2008.
Author Solutions is the parent company of the self publishing companies/imprints AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Trafford Publishing, Xlibris, Palibrio, and Booktango. Author Solutions also maintains partnerships with traditional book publishers Simon & Schuster, Thomas Nelson, Hay House, and Guideposts ; as well as with Writer's Digest.
Friesens Corporation is Canada's largest printer of hardcover books. They are employee-owned, specializing in hardcover books and yearbooks, and located in Altona, Manitoba, Canada. Friesens also operates a self-publishing subsidiary named FriesenPress, launched in 2009.
Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to written media, such as books and magazines, either as an ebook or as a physical copy using print on demand technology. It may also apply to albums, pamphlets, brochures, games, video content, artwork, and zines. Web fiction is also a major medium for self-publishing.
Mimeo.com, Inc. is a privately held Print on demand and digital distribution document company. It was the first to offer online printing and overnight delivery of complex documents and marketing materials. The company refers to itself as a technology company that prints. Customers utilize a proprietary online workflow connected to multiple print production, warehouse and distribution centers. Customers include small, mid-sized and large companies. The company was named after the Mimeograph. Printing and distribution centers are located in Memphis, Tennessee, Berlin, Germany and Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, England.
Greyden Press, LLC is a book printing company headquartered in Dayton, Ohio. The company prints and publishes books and digital products including e-books, DVDs, and CDs, specializing in the scientific, educational, inspirational, and self-publishing markets.
