If you really want to learn more about the publishing industry...

...then I suggest starting with the late Olivia Goldsmith's 1996 romantic satire entitled (ironically) The Bestseller. It's biting and snarky and tongue-in-cheek and dark and irreverent and hilarious and utterly engrossing and - in more ways than I can possibly count - spot on in its portrayal of an industry that was - even in 1996 - still being dragged kicking and screaming into the 20th century. (We're all still working on getting it into the 21st; be gentle!)

The book is long out of print, but you can easily find a used copy online.