A book publisher company these days is a very different entity to what it once was. Until quite recently getting a manuscript accepted by a a book publisher company, either directly or through the medium of an agent, was the only way for a book to reach the public.

The old-style book publisher company could afford to be picky. There were a great many books to choose from and a great many desperate authors who would accept almost any deal that was presented to them. The book publisher company could also afford to employ highly-paid staff who had the time to make some of their choices by committee, a method which would be unthinkable in situations where money is tighter.

It was a good and gracious world that the old-style book publisher company inhabited. There was a glut of material, a bottleneck over which they had control, and a great deal of prestige attached to their work.

Then along came the internet and social media. All of a sudden Joe Average could make contact with countless numbers of people beyond his own immediate entourage. All that he needed was a marketplace in which to display his wares, and some standards and formats to make sure he was seen and his product could be 'digested'. The era of self-publishing had begun.

So why hasn't the book publisher company disappeared altogether? The answer is that authors don't necessarily have the time, ability or inclination to prepare their books for sale, which is after all why they're publishing them. They just want to write, perhaps, which is fair enough.

Putting books up for sale with the various distributors isn't an easy matter, either. It requires a certain savvy in terms of computers and technological jargon, an artistic eye, and an eye for details of presentation. In addition to that, each distributor has their own requirements and these are not only difficult to satisfy, but also confusingly diverse.

This is where the new-style book publisher company fits in. For a far more modest percentage of the net gain from sales than the old-style book publisher company, the best of them advise on presentation or offer editorial services, and fight through the obstacle course of rules and regulations thrown up by the distributors.

Not every new book publisher company offers the services which authors need or indeed which they think they're getting. The world of authorship is different to what it once was. Everyone is writing; everyone thinks they have a story to tell. There are enormous quantities of books, a great many of which are of poor quality. It's now essentially a world of street-fighters rather than gentlemen and so it's perhaps no wonder that certain book publisher companies are tempted to cheat by using second-rate automation to appear to  have achieved the ends required.

Grammar, punctuation, spelling, style, visual appeal – all the things which make a difference not only to the saleability of a book but also to its 'digestibility' are not matters which can be handled by automation. There still exists the book publisher company with the integrity to recognise this.