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Publisher
The publisher of a book is the company that produces (makes) it. Books must be manufactured like any other product. They need to be designed, edited, evaluated (for example, on whether they might sell), promoted, etc. Some publishers are known for publishing particular types of books: business, law, science, etc. An author must "sell" the book to an editor at that company before it will be published (often these days, publishers require an author to have an agent first; likewise agents often want authors to have published something before they will represent them.) Publishers, like the makers of all products have reputations (for instance, car manufacturers, computer companies, and stereo systems have "name" brands as well as less-known ones). Like everything else, some publishers have reputations for producing high-quality products (both the content and physical product), others have the opposite reputation, and other groups create high-quality content with low-quality bindings/paper or vice versa. Academic libraries try to purchase good quality books from reputable publishers, and as budgets grow tighter and tighter the necessity for libraries to purchase only the best materials increases--a sad necessity because it is a stronger library that has as many different reasonable points of view as possible.
- Publisher: Who published the book
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