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Elspeth Male
Mrs. Corbett
Senior Project Research Paper
14 November 2011
The Development of Publishing
“The instruction we find in books is like fire. We fetch it from our neighbors, kindle it at
home, communicate it to others and it becomes property of all,” said Voltaire about the written
word (“Voltaire Quotes”). The written word conveys so much meaning in today’s society, and
in past societies, that it is no wonder immense emphasis is placed upon its publishing. Publishing
has flourished from the original hand written works of ancient civilizations to the electronic
publishing of today with many highs and improvements along the way.
The true beginnings of publishing can be traced to Johannes Gutenberg in Germany in the
1440s. Gutenberg devised a system that boiled down to “small metal pieces engraved with single
characters (letters) [that] could be arranged to form words and sentences” and therefore the first
printing press was established (Dooley). The actual process to create the letters and the print was
quite complicated. A steel punch, which was used at the time to print coins, printed the letter into
soft metal. After this a metalworker would turn the prints into molds to be used to make the
actual letters. Once this was accomplished a printer would line up the words they needed printed,
smear them with ink, and press paper down on top of them (“Printing and Publishing”).This new
system is considered as one of the most significant advancements in Western history. Now
written works could be spread and spread they did. Printing presses modeled after Gutenberg’s

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appeared in Europe with dramatic results. “Literacy grew rapidly and knowledge spread as
literature became readily—and affordably—available to many people for the first time,”
(“Johannes Gutenberg”). Ideas that originated with the Greeks and Romans were now spread
throughout France, Spain and England. New information was continually updated to the public
as printing presses continued to be modernized.
Second generation printers expanded upon the printing methods already in place in the
1500s. Printing became more complex and sophisticated as time passed. “Publishers expanded
the number and type of illustrations in their works. Books often included woodcut illustrations
and decorative capital letters,” (Frost). Illustrations became important to sales. Though pictures
no longer were the focal points of the text and its meaning, they helped to demonstrate important
values and themes in the text. However, making illustrations was expensive for the printer.
Engravings first were made by wood and then evolved when copperplate was introduced.
“Copperplate engravings revolutionized the trade because of their greater delicacy of detail,”
(“Printing and Publishing”). With more pictures appearing, books became more appealing to the
masses that perhaps may not be able to read. Thus books swept through all levels of society.
Through the Reformation and the Age of Enlightenment printing established itself as a
major facet of society. “The Protestant Reformation was the first to spread by print and arguably
owed its success to the press,” (“Printing and Publishing”). The ideas of Martin Luther were
spread by pamphlets all throughout Germany. He became well known and used publishing to
broaden his sphere of influence. The same process occurred during the Enlightenment. Because
people started to question the natural order of things, “the book became more significant because

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it challenged the social, political, and cultural order,” (Cragin). The popularity of books
skyrocketed and would remain at that level for a long time.
While printing experienced minor modifications in the 1600s and 1700s, once the 1800s
arrived, dramatic improvements occurred. More durable presses made of iron and the new
application of rollers and cylinders were invented and enhanced the quality of production
(“Printing and Publishing”). All parts of the printing process began to be updated. Advancements
in the quality of paper were even made. “Inventors patented new machines in the early
nineteenth century that produced paper in continuous sheets rolled onto a large drum that was
then fed through a high-speed mechanical printing press,” (Frost). With large increase in the
number of books that could be produced it was no surprise when the industry began to boom. “In
Germany, the number of employees in the printing trade increased 150 percent between 1849
and 1875 and 600 percent by 1895,” (“Printing and Publishing”). Publishing became more
productive than ever before. Production costs were also greatly lowered and there was a veritable
explosion of books into the market. With this new expansion came much broader genres as
books continued to grow and change their meanings to society and the people that were
publishing them.
One of the most drastic changes in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in the
publishing industry was the increasing focus on profit. “Profits were more the editor's concern as
publishing joined the many businesses controlled by enormous multinational corporations,”
(“Printing and Publishing”). Publishing placed more emphasis on novels and formulaic plots
editors knew would earn money. While there were standouts in the literary world, many

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publishers just wanted to find success in their chosen markets. A motto of the time could be
quantity and not quality. Many believe this ideology had been carried into the twenty-first
century with the advent of electronic books and publishing which can be found in excess in
today’s society.
The E-Book has become commonplace in present day society. By definition an E-Book
is, “a book that is accessed electronically via a personal computer (PC), a specially designed e-
book reader, or a handheld device like a Palm Pilot,” (“E-Books”). Instead of a physical copy of
a book, people can now access them electronically. People also have greater exposure to
thousands of selections. In order to access all of these assortments of books, one must have a
device to read these books, usually an E-Reader. An E-Reader is “a device created specifically
for reading electronic text,” (Britton). Several versions of these are available today such as the
Kindle and the Nook. They are normally the size of a book, but much lighter. The advent of this
new form of reading was a long time coming in the literary world. They first appeared in 1998
with both NuvoMedia Inc. and Soft-book Press Inc. developing E-Readers for consumers.
“Specific buttons allowed users to select either a landscape or portrait format, view the next or
previous page, and pull down various menu options,” (“E-Books”). These were very advanced
for their time and quickly attracted the interest of buyers. The next companies to join onto this
growing movement were Barnes & Noble and Microsoft. While there were glitches at first,
companies were headed in the right direction and would soon attract major authors to the arena.
Stephen King and Mary Higgins Clark allowed their books to be available electronically and

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gave the entire system a boost (Peterson). With this success the electronic literary world showed
no signs of stopping.
Once E-Books started to show promise, companies were eager to expand their spheres of
influence. One of the main groups now being targeted is young children. It is believed “that
today's computer-savvy kids will be more receptive to books on screen,” (“E-Books”). The
thinking is books will seem more like television and movies this way so they will interest and
hold children’s attention easily. Another group that is being targeted is students, specifically
those attending college. Publishing houses predict digital reference materials, professional
journals, and reports are perfect resources to change to digital format (“Electronic Publishing”).
With all of these new forms of reading emerging, publishing has had to keep up in the form of
electronic publishing.
Electronic publishing is the most recent advancement in the world of publishing.
Electronic publishing follows along the same outline as regular publishing except for the end
result that is produced. The final form of an author’s work would now be published
electronically, whether that is through electronic publications of books, newspapers, magazines
or newsletters or perhaps just posted on the Internet (“Electronic Publishing”). It has now
become a common practice for authors to go as far as self-publishing themselves on the Internet.
“Demand has grown exponentially” for this form of publication and it does not seem like it will
be slowing down anytime in the near future (Wyzalek). While demand was not as high as
analysts initially expected when electronic publishing was first introduced to the market, it has
grown and is now one of the top growing businesses in the United States with a future that has

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seeable no limits. The future is looking bright for publishing, editing, and literature around the
world.

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Works Cited
Britton, Barbara. “E-books.” Computer Sciences. Ed. Roger R. Flynn. Vol. 4. New York City:
Macmillan Reference USA, 2002. 76-78. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 14 Nov.
2011.
Cragin, Thomas Cragin. “Printing and Publishing.” Encyclopedia of European Social History.
Ed. Peter N. Stearns. Vol. 5. Detroit: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2001. 377-389. Gale
Virtual Reference Library. Web. 14 Nov. 2011.
Dooley, Brendan. “Printing and Publishing.” Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early
Modern World. Ed. Jonathan Dewald. Vol. 5. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2004.
62-66. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 14 Nov. 2011.
“E-Books.” Gale Encyclopedia of E-Commerce. Ed. Jane A. Malonis. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale,
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“Electronic Publishing.” Gale Encyclopedia of E-Commerce. Ed. Jane A. Malonis. Vol. 1.
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Frost, Randall. “Printing.” Gale Encyclopedia of Science. Ed. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth
Lerner. 4th ed. Detroit: Gale Group, 2008. Discovering Collection. Web. 14 Nov. 2011.
“Johannes Gutenberg.” Renaissance and Reformation Reference Library. Ed. Julie L. Carnagie

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and Aaron Saari. Vol. 3. Detroit: UXL, 2002. 148-154. Gale Virtual Reference Library.
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“Voltaire Quotes.” Liberty Tree. N.p., 2005. Web. 15 Nov. 2011. <http://quotes.liberty-
tree.ca/quote/voltaire_quote_312d>.
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