Publishing

Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information – the activity of making information available for public view. In some cases authors may be their own publishers, meaning: originators and developers of content also provide media to deliver and display the content. Traditionally, the term refers to the distribution of printed works such as books and newspapers. 

With the advent of digital information systems and the Internet, the scope of publishing has expanded to include electronic resources, such as the electronic versions of books and periodicals, as well as websites, blogs, video games and the like. Publishing the stages of the development, design, printing and its electronic equivalents and marketing and software and other works dealing with information, including the electronic media.

Publication is also important as a legal concept the process of giving formal notice to the world of a significant intention, for example, to marry or enter bankruptcy as the essential precondition of being able to claim defamation; that is, the alleged libel must have been published, and for copyright purposes, where there is a difference in the protection of published and unpublished works.

Book and magazine publishers spend a lot of their time buying or commissioning copy. At a small press, it is possible to survive by relying entirely on commissioned material. But as activity increases, the need for works may outstrip the publisher's established circle of writers. Writers often first submit a query letter or proposal directly to a publisher according to submission guidelines or to a literary agent.