Publishing a book is a process that involves many people. It never hurts to become familiar with the publishing industry’s vocabulary to understand who you are dealing with at any given moment and the work they do when it comes to developing your dreams and illusions.

On this occasion, we want to highlight all these people who participate in book publication and who will deal with you. In some occasions, a direct relationship, and in others in an indirect way. But undoubtedly, after reading this article, you will know who to turn to at all times to ask questions and make change requests.

Literary scout

Let’s start with the basics. Who discovers new talent? If you are a soccer fan, you surely know the work of scouts, those professionals who scour every corner of the world in search of the stars of tomorrow. There is also this figure in the publishing sector who checks if it is possible to sign an author who will become a bestseller.

Sometimes his work begins motu proprio, and sometimes the author starts by sending him his manuscript to evaluate it. But what is clear is that without their nose, the book publishing process would not begin. And, by the way, if you get their call, be proud. They believe in your talent!

Proofreader

If a publisher has already signed your manuscript, it’s time to proofread it. Find typos, detecting redundancies or repetitions of the same sentence. That is the job of a spellchecker, an essay writer and a proofreader.

Editor

Following the soccer simile, you have to start planning a strategy after the signing and fine-tuning. This is the editor’s responsibility, who will shape and assess the state of the manuscript so that it ends up being a work that takes advantage of its full potential. He must ensure that the book presented to the market is understandable, corrected, and maintains the author’s essence and style.

Typesetter

Arranging the manuscript is a very important step in publishing a book. Deciding on indentations, the position of possible illustrations, typography, etc. All this depends on the typesetter. A task that, although it may seem discreet, is essential when developing a work.

Printer

For your work to become a physical reality, you need a printer. Knowing the printer you are working with is extremely important, as this will ensure a quality product. What kind of paper do they use? What is the final quality of their projects? Are they allowed to use hardcover format?

And, most importantly, how many print runs can you handle? In this regard, discover concepts such as print on demand, thanks to which booksellers will never again say they don’t have your book to a customer.

Distributor

Your book does not appear spontaneously in a bookstore. The work of a distributor is necessary to connect the publisher with these points of sale. So also, when deciding on one publisher or another, you will have to assess how far they can go in this mission.

Literary agent

In such a competitive and internationalized market, you will need someone to defend your work as it deserves. The literary agent looks after the interests of your work: they act as a bridge between the publishing house and distribution points, establish contact with points of interest for the author, know where and when the writer should be present, and takes advantage of all these channels to improve the chances of success.

Author

And that leaves the most important part of the book publishing process: you! If no one faces those blank pages, there will be nothing on the shelves of a bookstore. Your talent is what starts this whole literary journey!