Book Publishing Demystified

Author J. Neil Schulman taught an online class, "Book Publishing in the 21st Century," for The New School in New York, from April to June, 1991.

Schulman has made his entire course available for download, or you can read it online. The portion of the course that I consider essential reading for every writer is linked above and starts under the heading "I. Book Publishing Today." It is the most cogent and insightful analysis of how publishing really works that I've ever read. Here is how Schulman begins his essay:

What drives the process of publishing books today is not what readers wish to read or what authors wish to write, or even what editors wish to buy for publication.

Schulman proceeds to explain exactly how and why certain types of books are published and why others aren't as well as how books are marketed. This is a master course in publishing in a nutshell.