什么是出版

传统而言，即指选择、准备及发行某种印刷品--包括书籍、报纸、杂志及宣传小册。不过当代的出版还包括制作数位格式的作品，例如光碟；也包括在网路上以电子形式发行的作品。出版已经从古代小规模、与法律或宗教有关的起源，演化成今日庞大的企业，能够散播各式资讯。就现代观点而言，便是一个能够提供世俗大众阅读资讯的影印行业。出版始於古希腊、罗马与中国。在纸张於11世纪从中国传至西方後，西方最主要的出版革新就是由古腾堡发明的活体印刷。到了19与20世纪，科技进展、识字率与休闲活动的提升，加上更多的资讯需求都让出版业的发展突飞猛进。现代出版业必须面临的议题包括监督体系、版税法、作者版税及代理权公司的仲介费用等等。此外还有新型态的行销方式、来自广告业主的压力都会影响编辑的自主权；另有来自财团收购独立出版公司的压力及竞争媒体如电视及网路的成长。

publishing

Traditionally, the selection, preparation, and distribution of printed matter—including books, newspapers, magazines, and pamphlets. Contemporary publishing includes the production of materials in digital formats such as CD-ROMs, as well as materials created or adapted for online, electronic distribution. Publishing has evolved from small, ancient, and law- or religion-bound origins into a vast industry that disseminates every kind of information imaginable. In the modern sense of a copying industry supplying a lay readership, publishing began in Hellenistic Greece, in Rome, and in China. After paper reached the West from China in the 11th century, the central innovation in Western publishing was Johannes Gutenberg's invention of movable type. In the 19th and 20th centuries, technological advances, the rise of literacy and leisure, and ever-increasing information needs contributed to an unprecedented expansion of publishing. Issues that modern publishing must contend with include attempts at censorship, copyright laws, royalties for authors and commissions for literary agents, new marketing techniques, pressures from advertisers affecting editorial independence, acquisition of independent publishing concerns by conglomerates, and the growth of competing media such as television and the Internet.