Books as Technology: What do you
need to create a mass produced book?
1. Language: a common set of meanings
2. Writing: from pictographs to alphabet
3.. Material:
Paper (Egypt, c. 2700 B.C.)
Ink (Egypt, c. 2700 B.C.)
Spine: (Rome, c. 4th century)
Printing: block printing (China, c.
seventh century
Movable type: (Gutenberg, 1453)
Books in the New World
•First printing press: Mexico City, 1539
•First printing press in the British colonies:
Harvard Press, 1630s
•First book: The Whole Book of Psalms, 1640
•Common Sense, book/pamphlet written by
Thomas Paine presents public argument for
independence
•Many of the Founding Fathers were
connected to printing, especially Sam Adams
Books in the New World
Benjamin Franklin
imports and reprints in
1744 the first novel
widely distributed
novel in the colonies:
Pamela: or, Virtue
Rewarded by Samuel
Richardson
Books and Technology: 1800s
1. Steam-powered presses (1830s)
2. Paperback books (1860s)
3. Linotype (1880s): machine to set “hot”
type
4. Offset lithography (photoengraving, 1878):
printing from a photographic plate that
allowed for greater ease in reproducing
pictures and photographs
Books and Content: 1800s
1. McGuffey Readers: Used in schools to
teach literacy since the 1830s into the 20th
century
2. The serious American novel
(1850s): Hawthorne, Melville
3. Dime novels (Horatio Alger) stories:
the “rags-to-riches” tales, 1860s)
4. Formation of family-owned publishing
houses such as Lippencott (1792) and
Harper Brothers (1817)
Books: 20th Century
1. Continued development of paperback books:
Reprint of hard cover books and classics.
2. The book club: Subscription service for book
publishers and consumers.
3. Growth in the mass market: trade books the
“managed” or packaged book media tie-ins
4. Conglomeration: concentration and synergy and
the end of the great publishing “houses”
Book Categories
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Trade (hardcover and paperback)
Mass Market Paperback
Book Clubs (hardcover and paperback)
Mail Order Books
Religious Publishing
Bibles
Inspirational
Professional Publishing
Business
Law
Medical
Technical, Scientific, Other
University Presses
ELHI
College
Channels of Distribution
1. General Retailers
2. College Stores
3. Libraries and Institutions
4. Schools (ELHI)
5. Direct to consumers
6. Wholesalers and Jobbers
Books: Structure of the Industry
President
Marketing
Production
Editor-in-Chief
Business
Manager
Books: Point of Sale
1. Retail bookstores
chains
independents
mega-stores
2. Books clubs/mail order
3. Internet
4. Variety stores (e.g., drugstores,
discount stores)
Books: Trends
1. Influences of television and film: tieins and celebrity endorsement (Oprah
Book Club)
2. Blockbusters: Fewer books generate
more revenue
3. Books-on-tape
4. Preservation: Saving old books and
keeping books in print
5. E-Books ????