Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the distribution of printed works, such as books, newspapers, and magazines. With the advent of digital information systems, the scope has expanded to include electronic publishing such as ebooks, academic journals, micropublishing, websites, blogs, video game publishing, and the like.
It has various divisions such as: trade/retail publishing of fiction and non-fiction, educational publishing and academic and scientific publishing. This can include annual reports, research reports, market research, policy briefings and technical reports.
“Publisher” can refer to a publishing company or organization, an individual who leads a publishing company or an imprint, or to an individual who leads a periodical.
