Trending Publishing

There have been three major trends in publishing. The first trend was print publishing. This excelled in the 1846 with the emergence of the rotary press. This contraption would use rotating cylinders to print on both sides of continuous, large rolls of paper. Typesetting was an issue, despite this emergence, until linotype machines were introduced. Additionally images became an issue in publishing. “After World War II, offset printing was introduced so an entire page of print, complete with illustrations, could be photographed and then photographic image transferred to a smooth metal plate” (72).

The introduction of computers vastly changed the publishing world. Computer-to-plate technology includes software such as PageMaker which could be used on any personal computer. Another interesting facet, following the information age, was the communication between book sellers and publishers. Print-on-demand became highly popular. The use of cash registers and electric scanners allowed for best-sellers lists to be compiled.

E-publishing, something I am a big fan of, has introduced the e-book. People can read books on their computers via the internet. In 2007, the introduction of e-readers allowed for users to take a mobile device a place their books on them allowing them to be readable. Currently, thanks to e-publishing, it is very easy to publish your own book. Now it is just an issue of marketability.