Prairie Dog Publishing began in Colorado at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. Now located in Salem, Massachusetts, we offer editing, formatting, indexing and publishing services.
The publishing industry has changed drastically in the last 30 years, and is still in the throes of transition. The new business model includes e-books and print-on-demand publishing.
Thirty years ago an author might produce, as the fruits of their labor, a box containing a stack of typewritten manuscript pages. The manuscript would be sent to a publisher, who would review the pages and decide whether or not to take on the project. Paper galley proofs would be shipped to the author for review and correction. Eventually, the publisher would order a publishing run of hundreds, or even thousands, of book copies. Some would be shipped to bookstores, and the rest sat in a warehouse.
That still happens, but other ways of publishing are gaining ground.
These days, an author might write a story in electronic format, with no printed pages at any point. If the author is working with a publisher, the story is sent back and forth via email.
A writer may choose to forego working with a publisher altogether. It's simple these days to make a work available as an e-book for the Amazon Kindle or one of the other e-reader platforms.
If a physical book is desired, there are various "print on demand" services that will print and ship a book as soon as it's ordered, eliminating the need for a big print run and warehouse space.
It's a wild, new world out there in the publishing industry.
So, why work with a publisher? Consider: An author may be gifted at setting a scene and telling a story, but may not remember all the rules of grammar. Spelling can be slippery. Un-edited text may contain surprises that you'd rather be found before publication.
In addition, writing skill is not always accompanied by the technical knowledge necessary to format and submit electronic files, whether for e-books or print-on-demand projects.
A good publisher can help an author present the best possible version of their story. And that's what Prairie Dog Publishing does for its customers.
- Marcia Morrison, Publisher