Do you remember the first time you cracked open a now, well favored book? This happened to me many times over when reading the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. I have come to love these books for their beautiful storylines, amazing characterizations, and wonderful views on the world around us. They bring hope, love, power, as well as the good and the bad, to the forefront of our minds so we may study these emotions and ideals. For example, in the first book, character Albus Dumbledore says, “After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.” This gives us a look at how the books within the series will progress. That these characters will teach us about the harder parts of life and love. Bloomsbury Publishing was the first to accept author, J.K. Rowling’s epic work. Today, they are a powerhouse of publishing, media, and overall book culture.
Bloomsbury started out in 1986 and has branched off into many countries and imprints. Throughout their time as a publisher, Bloomsbury has brought to light some of the greatest works we know today. Overall, the biggest and best selling success comes from a complex story about a boy wizard and his adventures through boarding school. Harry Potter has shown us more than most of those other books combined. “Bloomsbury Publishing was founded on the principle of publishing books of the highest quality- bringing quality to the mass market.”
As a publishing company, Bloomsbury falls rather close to the beginning of the book supply chain. After the author writes the book, they or their agent, would sell the books publishing rights to a company, perhaps Bloomsbury. The book would then go to the printer, the distributor, and finally the book seller. In Merchants of Culture by John B. Thompson, he shows us that publishers lend value to the supply chain in the form of content acquisition, content development, quality control, copy-editing, design, proofreading, sales and marketing, as well as, warehousing and distribution. They can be an integral part of the publishing process.
In this case, having a publisher over the concept of self-publishing is a great idea. For a large company such as Bloomsbury to choose to pick up the first of the Harry Potter books was a smart idea. They were able to give J.K. Rowling the ability to promote, and in essence create a huge 25 billion dollar franchise that began with just her writing and ideas. She was then able to branch off and sell movie rights, paraphernalia rights, and more. The simple act of choosing to publish a story has allowed this series to explode into phenomena.
Bloomsbury started as a single company, and inquired at least 30 other companies and divisions as imprints, or offices in other countries. Today they operate in the United States, London, New Delhi, Sydney and more. They took a small simple idea of quality books and made a huge million dollar company. Bloomsbury is a huge publishing conglomerate and one of the top book publishers in the world today.
If you have not read a Bloomsbury published book, you should. My recommendation, whether child or adult, will always be for Harry Potter; the once unwanted series Bloomsbury took a chance on that no other publishers were willing to. Being smart and business savvy is all one needs to be successful in the world of books. Whether you chose to be an author, an agent, a publisher, a printer, a distributor, or a seller, remember that books can change lives. The publishing industry is all about using common sense and doing the best job possible to bring the greatest books to life.
