Book packagers are companies specialize in creating books to be published under the imprint of a trade publisher. Another way to look at is that the publisher “outsources” the development of their book. In adult publishing, packaged books often involve a lot of photography or illustration, and the publisher finds it more cost-effective to buy the books already produced than to develop and produce the volumes themselves. Some young adult fiction series are also packaged.
The book packager develops an idea for a book (or series of books) and then sells the concept to a publisher. The packager then does all of the editorial and production work for the publisher (with publisher approval at key junctures of the process) and generally ships the finished books directly to the publisher’s warehouse.
In some cases, the packager provides the files, and the book publisher prints and binds the books. While the name of the book packager is usually unknown to the consumer buying the book, there’s typically an indication of the packager somewhere on the title page.
The authors of packaged books are generally contracted as “work for hire;” that is, they are paid a flat fee and do not get paid royalties on the book sales.