Book packaging (or book producing) is a publishing activity in which a publishing company outsources the myriad tasks involved in putting together a book—writing, researching, editing, illustrating, and even printing—to an outside company called a book-packaging company. Once the book-packaging company has produced the book, they then sell it to the final

publishing company 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, newsp ...

. In this arrangement, the book-packaging company acts as a liaison between a publishing company and the writers, researchers, editors, and printers that design and produce the book. Book packagers thus blend the roles of agent, editor, and publisher. Book-packaging is common in the

genre fiction Genre fiction, also known as popular fiction, is a term used in the book-trade for fictional works written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre, in order to appeal to readers and fans already familiar with that genre. A num ...

market, particularly for books aimed at preteens and teenagers, and in the illustrated non-fiction co-edition market.

Business model

Publishing companies use the services of book-packaging companies in cases where the publishing company does not have the in-house resources to handle a project. There are two main reasons that publishing houses hire a book-packaging company: labor-intensive books (books with many illustrations or photographs, books which require coordinating the input of several authors, or 'novelty' books, such as gardening books that contain seed packages) and series books (e.g.,

Nancy Drew Nancy Drew is a fictional character appearing in several mystery book series, movies, and a TV show as a teenage amateur sleuth. The books are ghostwritten by a number of authors and published under the collective pseudonym Carolyn Keene. Crea ...

Sweet Valley High ''Sweet Valley High'' is a series of young adult novels attributed to American author Francine Pascal, who presided over a team of ghostwriters to produce the series. The books chronicle the lives of identical twins Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefi ...

Goosebumps ''Goosebumps'' is a series of children's horror fiction novels by American author R. L. Stine, published by Scholastic Publishing. The protagonists in these stories are tweens or young teens who find themselves in scary circumstances usually ...

, and the For Dummies series). In many cases, the book is first conceived as a

marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

concept, and a writer is then hired to write the book on a

work for hire A work made for hire (work for hire or WFH), in copyright law in the United States, is a work that is subject to copyright and is created by employees as part of their job or some limited types of works for which all parties agree in writing to th ...

basis. In some cases, book packaging companies use a

celebrity Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...

with a very marketable name as the credited author, while using a professional

ghostwriter A ghostwriter is hired to write literary or journalistic works, speeches, or other texts that are officially credited to another person as the author. Celebrities, executives, participants in timely news stories, and political leaders often ...

to do most of the writing, researching, and editing. Book-packaging is a common strategy between smaller publishers in different territorial markets where the company that first buys the

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

rights, sells a package to other publishers and gains an immediate return on capital invested. The first publisher will often print sufficient copies for all territories and thereby obtain the maximum quantity discounts on the print run for all.

Remuneration and credit

While the book-packaging sector is little-known outside the publishing world, it provides employment to many freelance authors and illustrators, particularly for those willing to work as

s, without credit in the book. Most book packaging companies pay a flat rate for manuscripts ranging from several thousand dollars to $1 per word. However, most book packaging companies do not pay royalties, which means that even if a ghostwriter's novel becomes a bestseller, the writer will not receive additional payment. Often, writers or creators working for book-packagers work anonymously as ghostwriters, under the book-packaging company name ("by our staff writers"), or under a pen name. In some cases, a writer's work will be credited to someone else's name, such as a

, who is paid to be listed as the credited author as a way of increasing sales.

References

External links

* ''International Herald-Tribune'' story
Teen-lit 'packages': Forget the young writer in a garret
* ''Slate'' story
I Coulda Been a Pretender
{{DEFAULTSORT:Book Packaging Book publishing Writing

Business model

Remuneration and credit

See also

References

External links