Books are portals to different realities; they sweep you from where you’re present and transfer you to magical worlds and fascinating characters.

Making an abundance of these books reach bookstores and available in online shops is no easy task; there are millions of novels globally, and each goes through publishing and printing multiple times.

When a book reaches the reader’s bookshelf, it is the collective efforts of multiple individuals and companies.

Where collective effort is required to make books available in stores, a similar amount of work goes into creating these novels.

The publishing industry wouldn’t stand at its current position without the help of this unrecognized talent. Therefore, this article aims to give a spotlight on some of the many individuals who make book creation possible:

Subject Matter Experts:

Writing a story never follows a linear path; the creative process of every author looks different.

Often, the nature of a project can be such that its narrative gets driven by the author’s ideas and plotline but is based on a subject or topic of which the writer has little to no knowledge.

To explain, a person could be writing about a story based in Switzerland but have no connection or experience traveling the place; their source of knowledge is limited to the internet.

Under such circumstances, subject matter experts prove to be of great help.

These experts have a specialization or extended understanding of a particular field, theme, or place; they help guide authors.

By providing facts and detailed explanations, these experts help create fleshed-out and accurate narratives; a story about Switzerland reads like a walk through the country.

The assistance of subject matter experts isn’t limited to story-led projects.

Written works such as research articles and academic books require input from relevant industry experts; these individuals provide such projects with well-researched data.

Ghostwriters:

An author may not be the only contributor to a project; ghostwriters often lead projects.

Who are these people?

Ghost book writers are experienced writers who produce written work for a client. These individuals choose to remain uncredited and invisible in the published draft, hence the association of ghosts to their titles.

There are many reasons ghost book writers get appointed for book projects; often, pressing deadlines or demands increase workload, which gets manageable by including these professionals in the writing process.

Often, authors require the feedback and guidance of a professional in their creative process, and ghost book writers make it easier to build compelling characters and convincing storylines.

Due to their skillset, ghost book writers can pick a writing project of any genre and smoothly continue it by replicating the existing writing style and tone; they are meticulous and consistent about quality.

Celebrity autobiographies are a genre known for the participation of such writers. As the niche of these public figures is another talent and not writing, the help of ghostwriters makes their work error-free and up to audience expectations.

Editors:

No one can have a pleasant reading experience if the book in their hand has grammatical errors.

Grammatical and structural errors reflect badly on a book and the author’s reputation; they indicate a lack of professionalism and a dismissive attitude of publishers.

Therefore, error-free work is necessary to maintain quality and positive public perception.

Editors typically review manuscripts after completing the first draft, identifying inconsistencies and errors.

Editors underline all prominent issues that compromise the book’s quality or cause confusion in the narrative. Once highlighted, the authors easily correct all problems.

Therefore, editors refine a book manuscript until it achieves the state where it reaches its full potential; the concluding draft is readable, coherent, and contains quality content.

In terms of the story, editing makes the narrative flow more smoothly, characters are fleshed out, and all chapters or divides help in composition.

Illustrators:

Although the saying advises people to not judge a book by its cover, many readers still do so.

The book cover design and inside illustrations of a book are the only visualizations of its written content, which is why there is pressure to make these elements look good.

Illustrators go through the written draft and the author’s vision to create these visual elements. They develop beautiful character and environment illustrations and choose an aesthetic color palette and art style.

Their work helps bring the story and characters to life through beautiful artwork.

Publishers:

An author cannot create a book and place it in a random bookstore the next day; there is a formal procedure to follow.

Publishing places the book in the market and beyond the author’s possession, it dictates the production and printing of the novel.

Publishers or publishing houses not only guide but assist authors in deciding distributors, published design, and print; they help decide whether the book is available in physical form, as an eBook, or both.

Literary Agents:

Putting out a book into the world is a big step; once out, the novel is accessible to anyone.

This step is one that authors need to take carefully by properly planning out all steps; the presence of literary agents helps writers make well-informed decisions at this stage.

These agents have experience working in close relations with publishing houses and marketing agencies; they’re well-informed on the practices and people in these fields.

Literary agents research and compile all publishing options for authors based on the project scale and genre; they advise the writer toward optimal choices.

Their help continues beyond publishing; once the book is out, literary agents help curate marketing strategies for effective advertising.

Most importantly, literary agents guide authors to channels that help the latter secure the rights and royalties of their books; in the long run, these steps help prevent copyright infringement and plagiarism.