Joint publishing is a term used in the book industry to explain when two or more publishers work together on a project. Each publisher usually brings different things, such as resources, expertise, or market reach, and they share both risk and reward.
Publishers might set up a joint venture for several reasons. It could be that they want to enter new markets or that they want to share the cost of publishing an expensive book. Joint ventures are also sometimes used by smaller publishers looking to take on bigger ones.
Whatever the reason for setting it up, a joint venture requires careful planning and communication between all parties involved – everyone needs to know their role, what they will get out of the deal, and how it will all work.
Joint ventures can be brilliant ways for publishers with different strengths (market knowledge or specialist subject expertise) to come together on projects neither would have been able to do alone. But like any business relationship, there are risks attached: you need clear objectives and goals from day one and a blueprint about how people will work together.
There are other types of joint ventures, too – licensing agreements are another example – these see one publisher permitting another to publish their title in a specific territory(ies). They tend to be used when there’s an opportunity for growth into new markets without taking on all costs/risks associated with doing so at speed.
Joint has become increasingly important in books/publishing because it allows authors to control themselves over copyright and means they can collaborate/share without necessarily going via traditional route(s) – something which makes getting your content out there easier but also means more money ends up staying with you if your content sells well.
