This paper is devoted to the pattern of creative activities in the publishing industries. A key concern is about vertical control or not. An empirical research is conducted in the French educational book publishing industry. From the 352 studied managerial functions, it appears that companies, and especially subsidiaries, contract out more their functions characterized by creativity requirements. This way to use the creativity of the external providers through outsourcing constitutes an original pattern. Thanks to the qualitative material collected, we propose a deep explanation of this “open creation” phenomena.
