In this guide, 'publishing' encompasses the factors which influence the
decision to produce a work at a particular time, and the editorial
activities which are required to produce a work. Dennis McEldowney's
overview of publishing in New Zealand expands the definition:
. . . how the works . . . came to be published, in books and periodicals
and . . . the electronic media. . . . how patrons, mainly the State,
came to assist both writers and publishers. . . . Printing, as the
mechanical multiplication of copies, is but one step in the process of
publishing, which selects and edits the text before it is printed and
sells or otherwise distributes it after.(McEldowney, 1991,
p.545)
To this definition should be added the question of financial responsibility,
for the publishers' financial risk is normally a central issue which shapes
all aspects of the publishing process. Printing and distribution are covered
elsewhere in this guide: note, however, that there is inevitably some
overlap between these sections and this chapter.
This guide, as the
Introduction indicates, 'may be regarded as a report on the state of
research' into print culture in New Zealand. Readers will quickly discern
this to be the case for this chapter, especially as they note the large
number of references to areas and topics for further study, and the
unevenness of coverage for aspects of the publishing field.
This chapter is divided
into four main sections: the process of publishing, the publishers, general
and regional studies, and categories of publication.
