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The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World…Word by Word

The Steve Laube Agency

The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World Word by Word

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Home » Publishing History

Publishing History

My Book Life Began in the Library

By Steve Laubeon March 10, 2025
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In many ways, my life in books began in elementary school. I discovered our city’s public library with the help of my mom. I soon began walking there regularly after school. While there, in what seemed to be a massive building, I would explore the rows and rows of books. Plucking one off the shelf here and there and skimming pages. One day, I discovered a complete section of books on medieval knights and their armor. Hours were spent pouring over those illustrations and reading all that could be found about medieval warfare.

Later, in high school, I spent a semester as the librarian’s aide. She and I would race to see who could file things in the card catalog faster. (Yes, back then, we had a card catalog.)

In college, I spent my junior year, one full summer, and the first semester of my senior year working in the college library. I even explored the idea of getting a master’s degree in library science. There was a certain satisfaction in helping other students find the right material for their research or showing them how to use various pieces of equipment. In addition, many hours were consumed in the back room, repairing broken bindings and cataloging the rare book collection.

It is a sad thing when municipal budgets cut library hours, services, and budgets. It is as if they don’t realize how vital a strong library system is to our society. Instead, they see the library as a luxury, a nonessential. Last year, New York City threatened to cut its annual library budget by $58 million in 2025. The money was restored after a public outcry.

I’ve said it this way: “The public library system is the largest bookstore chain in the country, and few realize it. If a book is sold to only a tiny percent of the branches, your book could sell thousands of copies!” Even with digital initiatives changing the nature of libraries, they still buy books. Lots of books. (The issue of publishers selling ebooks to libraries is complicated.)

One estimate states there are 120,000 libraries in the United States. Of those, 9,000 are public libraries (which also have an additional 7,000 branches = 16,000 buildings). Included in the grand total are 98,000 school libraries, both public and private.

In 1881, Andrew Carnegie began using his wealth to build libraries around the world. He gave $56 million toward the effort (that’s $1.7 billion in 2025 dollars). 1,681 Carnegie libraries were built in the United States and 900 in other countries. At one point, Carnegie stated that a library was the best possible gift for a community since it gave people the opportunity to improve themselves. In his book An American Four-in-Hand in Britain, he wrote:

Whatever agencies for good may rise or fall in the future, it seems certain that the Free Library is destined to stand and become a never-ceasing foundation of good to all the inhabitants.

Please leave your thoughts on your library experience in the comments below.

 

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Category: Book Business, Publishing HistoryTag: Library

What Entered the Public Domain in 2025?

By Steve Laubeon January 27, 2025
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I try to post something about this every year. This year is no exception. In the United States, under U.S. copyright law, works published in 1929 and earlier are now in public domain. One can publish them or use them without securing copyright permission. In case you are wondering about the specifics, the Copyright Term Extension Act (passed in 1998) gave works published from 1923 through 1977 a …

Read moreWhat Entered the Public Domain in 2025?
Category: Book Business, Copyright Issues, Publishing History

Book Birthdays: 2025 Edition

By Dan Balowon January 23, 2025
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Significant books are published every year. Here’s a personally curated list that I hope sparks some good memories and honors the work of the past: Radical, by David Platt (2010) – 15 years Bonhoeffer, by Eric Metaxas (2010) – 15 years Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand (2010) – 15 years End of the Spear, by Steve Saint (2005) – 20 years Dinner with a Perfect Stranger, by David Gregory (2005) – 20 …

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Category: Book Business, Publishing History

A Year in Review: A Look Back at 2024

By Steve Laubeon January 6, 2025
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It is a healthy exercise to reflect on the previous year’s events. The culture around us is ever-changing and ever-sliding into darkness and debauchery. But the goodness of God remains unchanged despite attempts to proclaim otherwise. The following is an attempt to review some things in the industry, our agency, and a few other areas. The Industry The longer I’ve been in this industry, the …

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Category: Agency, Publishing History

Teamwork Makes the Publishing Work

By Dan Balowon November 21, 2024
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One hundred years ago today, Christopher Tolkien was born to Edith and John Ronald Reuel (JRR) Tolkien. He was the third of four children and the youngest son. Christopher was deeply involved in his father’s work, editing it and drawing the maps used in the Lord of the Rings (LOTR) books. At one point, his dad invited him to join the famous writer’s group The Inklings. Here’s an interesting …

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Category: Book Business, Publishing History, The Writing Life

Happy Birthday Winnie-the-Pooh!

By Steve Laubeon October 14, 2024
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On this day in 1926 the book Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne was published by Methuen in London. Our household has celebrated this day each year with my wife baking Winnie-the-Pooh shaped cookies. (Yes, it is a scary thing to be a man in a house of Winnie-the-Pooh celebrations.) Some say the real birthday is the day Christopher Robin Milne was given his stuffed bear (August 21, 1921). But since …

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Category: Publishing HistoryTag: Birthday, Publishing A-Z, Winnie-the-Pooh

Christian Books Are Not Special

By Dan Balowon September 12, 2024
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Two weeks ago, I outlined some thoughts on why Christian authors are special; but today, we will look at ways Christian books are not special at all. Since the mid-1990s when Internet commerce began eroding sales at Christian bookstores, the uniqueness of the Christian bookselling market has declined to the point where now, for the most part, Christian books play on the same field as every other …

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Category: Book Business, Publishing History

Best-selling Books This Week, 75 Years Ago

By Dan Balowon July 24, 2024
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When we look at a snapshot of best-selling books at any point in time, we see a picture of our society and what it values and thinks. I am unsure whether book publishing is a light or a mirror; but looking back, I see insights to be gained. Spoiler alert: Book publishing did not begin when Amazon was founded thirty years ago. The New York Times Best Seller lists, July 24, 1949 Fiction POINT OF NO …

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Category: Publishing History

Happy 20th Anniversary

By Steve Laubeon May 20, 2024
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I am in awe that this week marks twenty years since I made the decision to open The Steve Laube Agency. Serving in this capacity in such a vibrant industry has been a privilege. The numbers are staggering. Through the grace of God, the agency has helped secure contracts for over 2,500 new books. The ones published so far have sold over 35,000,000 copies. Think of all those people whose lives have …

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Category: Agency, Publishing History, Trends

What Entered the Public Domain This Year?

By Steve Laubeon January 22, 2024
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I try to post something about this every year. This year is no exception. In the United States, under U.S. copyright law, works published in 1928 and earlier are now in public domain. One can publish them or use them without securing copyright permission. In case you are wondering about the specifics, the Copyright Term Extension Act (passed in 1998) gave works published from 1923 through 1977 a …

Read moreWhat Entered the Public Domain This Year?
Category: Book Business, Copyright Issues, Publishing History
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