Rights and Licensing

Tim O’Reilly on Piracy, Tinkering, and the Future of the Book (Jon Bruner, Forbes): An extensive interview with the founder and CEO of O’Reilly Media about the future of industry as well as ebook piracy and digital rights management (DRM).

The most important problem for publishers to solve over the next ten years (Mike Shatzkin, The Idea Logical Company): A thoughtful take on untangling rights and licensing as the industry moves away from format- and form-based paradigms about content.

Ebook Sales

Do ebook consumers love bestsellers, or does it just look that way? (Mike Shatzkin, The Idea Logical Company): A look at the connection between ebook sales and online discovery and why it appears that bestsellers are so overwhelmingly popular.

Where U.S. ebook buyers live – a statistical analysis (Paul Biba, TeleRead): A statistical breakdown of ebook sales using Smashwords data.

Marketing and Platform

Author, sell thyself (Laura Miller, Salon): Op-ed about author platform and marketing.

Promoting Jean Auel’s ‘Land of Painted Caves’ as an E-Book (Julie Bosman, Media Decoder): A quick look at how marketing and sales have changed for a bestselling author with a career spanning decades.

Events

Storytime Goes Digital: Assessing the Children’s E-Book and App Market at TOC Bologna (Sophie Rochester, Publishing Perspectives): Coverage of the O’Reilly Tools of Change conference at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair.

New York’s New School Takes on the Topic of E-books (Kathleen Sweeney, Publishing Perspectives): Coverage from “Ebooks: New Trends for a New Decade,” an event at the Center for Communication at The New School.

IDPF Unveils Program for Digital Book 2011 at BEA (IDPF): The International Digital Publishing Forum releases the program for Digital Book 2011, a concurrent event at Book Expo America.

Just for Fun

The Future of Books (James Warner, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency): A satirical look at the future of publishing.

Tweet of the Week

That’s just a taste of what you may have missed this week. To stay on top of the most interesting news, commentary and tweets related to publishing, keep in touch via our RSS feed, follow us on Twitter, join your publishing colleagues in our LinkedIn group, and connect with the broader DBW Network.

From the interview:

“We see ourselves kind of like a publishing company. What we’re trying to do is not do stuff because you can do it. I kind of got that stuff out in the last ten, thirteen years of being paid to do kind of wacky marketing stuff. Some of it works, some of it doesn’t. With digital books, the suggestion is, reading is an amazing, immersive, time consuming, rewarding endeavor. It’s not Twitter. It’s very very different to that kind of thing. You’ve got to be careful as to how you seek to disrupt that experience from the eyes of the person that’s reading it.

We see our company as an experimental company. We’re trying to drive the future of the book commercially. We’re very commercially driven. We want to see what consumers like. We gather a lot of data, we look at that data, we see what’s popular and what’s not popular and we iterate on the back of that.

There’s an amazing opportunity…to properly digitize the books. Not just digitizing the text, but digitizing the whole experience.

There’s a lot of things you can do. You shouldn’t do all of them. You should have an editor’s view of which are the right features, functionalities, experiences to add around the text.

A joint production of Digital Book World and Astral Road Brand Media.

A strong indicator of the iPad’s impact on the industry was the sheer number of new tablets revealed (and announced) at the 2011 International CES. The number I heard was 60, and it can’t have been far off.

The good news for publishers is that the eBooks that they’ve already created should work just fine on these devices, barring some tweaking to the EPUB file to account for potential variances in the dimensions and default formatting of these new devices.

Best of all, no new eBook formats were receiving much attention. Sharp is contemplating expanding their eBook store to the US, which in Japan, uses their own publishing format. But reports are that the US version will be based on EPUB.

So what new reading devices can publishers expect to see their ebooks on later this year…?

The Standouts

In my book, there were really only two tablets that stood out: the Motorola Xoom and the Blackberry Playbook. (Obviously I wasn’t the only one; CES honored Motorola’s Xoom tablet with their Best in Show Award for 2011.)

The Xoom is based on Android 3.0 (aka Honeycomb), which Google had said is optimized for tablet devices. It will be initially available from Verizon, probably in Q1. An interesting feature, that we can hope is contagious, is that while the Xoom will initially be a 3G device, later this year a 4G LTE upgrade will be available on any 3G Xoom. Since all the software is not fully finished yet, I was not able to test or even touch one. All of the demos were videos showing functionality, none with actual apps running on the device.

Google Books is the Xoom’s default eReader, but since the Xoom has access to the Android Market, all of the other eReader apps will also be available.

The Blackberry Playbook was also shown under limited conditions. It appears to be a very powerful, capable device with impressive multitasking capabilities. It was shown with three graphic intensive apps (a movie, an arcade game and a 3D engineering viewer) running simultaneously… something you won’t see an iPad or Android device doing. It is said to allow ‘bridging’ of the Playbook tablet with your Blackberry phone, essentially making the tablet an extension of the phone, with extra capabilities added to the phone’s organizer apps.

The eReader app demonstrated on the Playbook was Kobo, though I assume that most other eReader apps will ultimately be ported to the device. Apps for the Playbook are written using Adobe AIR, enabling developers to use HTML, JavaScript, and Flash. This means yet another platform for publishers to support, if they choose. Though, as I’ve said in the past, smart development planning can reduce the cost of developing apps across these differing platforms.

Android’s Pervasive OS

Of the 60 or so new tablets, the Android operating system was the clear choice of the majority. Though, the fragmentation concern around Android was clearly evident. The devices were based on multiple versions including 1.6, 2.1, 2.2 (Froyo), 2.3 (Gingerbread) and 3.0 (Honeycomb). And as I said in my Galaxy Tab review, there really isn’t a leading eBook app for Android. Hence, these new devices include Kobo, Google Books, Aldiko, or Kindle for Android as the preloaded apps with the others available through the Android Market.

There were a few tablets based on Windows 7, as well as a couple that provided dual boot capability between Android and Windows. NEC showed a dual LCD screen tablet based on Android. At this point this device is only sold in Japan, although they are looking for a distributor in the US.

What Lies Ahead

Another advantage of CES is the insight it offers into the future. There were a number of technologies that caught my attention:

• Mirasol screen technology – Qualcomm’s new color screen technology that’s viewable in direct sunlight as well as in low light. It also supports video and uses less power than LCD displays. While there weren’t any impending product announcements being made, it is not hard to imagine that some e-ink devices will opt for this technology in upgraded models. Perhaps some LCD devices will also switch in order to take advantage of the power and viewability benefits.

• 3D – Many companies were showing 3D screens that did not require glasses, including on laptops. I can see this technology moving into the eReader environment, which would mean new options for enhanced eBooks. Don’t forget that there are people who still read on their computers. Can you imagine a textbook or magazine with 3D video or images? Production of these new enhancements will also become easier as several 3D still and video cameras were also on display.

• In-car integration – Audi and Ford showed the deeper integration of phones in cars including hands-free email and texting. Can eBook reading be far behind – just like books on CD?

While 2010 produced a marked change for publishers in the sheer number of eReader-specific platforms and apps, it appears that 2011 will center more on the proliferation of delivery devices (with various configurations and price points) that can run the various apps.

From the device standpoint, there isn’t nearly the level of change as there was last year. It looks like its Apple vs. Android again. Of course publishers will need to watch XPS (BLIO’s format of choice) to see if it gains significant traction, but my guess is that the anticipated release of the EPUB 3 spec and the speed at which it gets implemented in devices and apps will have a greater impact in the coming months.

Eric will be speaking at Digital Book World 2011 on the panel “EPUB3.0: Updates and Enhancements” with Cristina Mussinelli, Digital Publishing Consultant, Italian Publishers Association; and Kevin Watters, Director Pre Press Services, Harlequin. The panel will be moderated by Joshua Tallent, President, eBook Architects.

Eric Freese is a Solutions Architect with Aptara, which provides digital publishing solutions that deliver significant gains in quality, time-to-market and production costs for eBook publishers.

Will ebooks cannibalize physical book sales? How will new books be “discovered” in an age of digital bookshelves? How many bricks-and-mortar bookstores will exist in five years and how much shelf space will be allotted for books? What’s the future for Borders and will Google become a dominant bookseller?

And most importantly, how will consumer buying habits change?

These questions and many others confront publishers of all sizes today, and F+W Media is no exception. In fact, these shifts in the industry led to our launching the Digital Book World Conference + EXPO last year, and why we sought out the industry expertise of our partners at The Idea Logical Company, Publishers Lunch and Publishers Weekly.

At this year’s conference, I will be moderating the panel “A CEO’s View of the Future” which features four superstar senior publishing executives, including Michael Hyatt of Thomas Nelson Publishers; Jane Friedman of Open Road Integrated Media; Brian Napack of Macmillan US, and David Steinberger of Perseus Books Group. The five of us will discuss these and other issues, with each offering insights on how they are leading their respective companies through these disruptive times, and seizing the opportunities that lie ahead.

As the moderator, the focus won’t be on F+W’s strategy in this new era, but I thought it might be interesting to discuss here how our company is marching forward, and how we see the future.

Content-First, Format-Fluid

Our company is community-oriented, vertically focused, and we insist that our leaders think about the business in a content-first, format-fluid way. Any of our content can be packaged and sold as a physical book, an ebook, a magazine, an online TV show, an online educational package, and myriad other ways.

Our content is imagined, acquired, edited and designed by people who are enthusiasts themselves; members of the communities they serve. We have artists, woodworkers, crafters, hunters, etc., within our publishing groups to ensure we produce high-quality and authentic content. These employees also blog, tweet, and speak at conferences, ensuring that they are on top of all trends, and are “of” the community.

In addition to traditional publishing roles, we focus on bringing non-traditional publishing talent to the team. For example, in the past year we have hired an ecommerce director, an email manager, a third-party account specialist, a traffic manager, eCommerce store marketing managers, and online product managers. Positions entirely unrelated to creating content, but instead with commerce front of mind.

Shifting Sales Channels Creates Opportunities

Our products and services are sold through major booksellers like B&N, Amazon, Borders and leading independents, and through specialty retailers like Urban Outfitters, but also direct-to-consumer through 22 of our own eCommerce stores.

Through our marketing department, tapping into our customer data and user preferences, and our community expertise, we aggressively drive sell-through at these channels. And we work with our retail partners to create proprietary product, custom-made for our shared consumers.

We learn more about consumers of our content – what they buy, when and why – each and every day. Knowing our consumers is critical. And we work hard at audience acquisition by using search engine marketing (ROI $4 in revenue, for each $1 spent); our affiliate network of over 1,100 partners; our social networking outreach and a dedicated effort to aggressively grow our email database.

One Size Fits None: No Single Solution

From a statistical perspective we reach over 3 million consumers every month; we publish 600 new books every year; we have a 3,500 title back list, and over 1,100 ebooks; we have over 200 websites, produce over 30 online competitions, and offer many online educational programs. We also host 12 major live events, including the Digital Book World Conference and the Writer’s Digest Conference later this month.

I’m optimistic about the future because immersive reading is going to become even more important in the flash and dash days of the web; because the ease of purchasing on devices will increase the numbers of books sold each year; that bookstores will become even more lifestyle-oriented, leading to more time and more purchases made in the store; and that a new multi-media approach to books will mean that there will be even more reason to invest in a favorite topic, hobby or author.

While our portfolio may not fully align with that of your Company, we are all under the ‘big tent’ of media. There is no one-size-fits-all solution and we won’t all approach new opportunities the same way.

But we all have much to learn from one another.

I am very much looking forward to sitting with our panel at Digital Book World 2011, and to hearing from all of our other speakers throughout the three days of the conference. Just as there is no one single solution, the many voices that make up the conversation need to be heard. These creative leaders will have much to share about how they and their teams see the future of publishing – and their strategies for success in the new year.

I hope you’ll join us.

David Nussbaum is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of F+W Media. He was the Chief Executive Officer of Penton Media Inc. from 2004 through the sale of the Company to Prism Media Holdings in February 2007. He has been named one of MIN’s Most Intriguing People, and an ‘Industry Influencer’ on the 2010 FOLIO: 40.

There is a common fear amongst publishers, whether traditional or new media, that they need to aggregate hundreds of thousands of individuals (aka “eyeballs”) to grow awareness of, and increased engagement with their authors and books. But the truth is, these people are often already connected online, sometimes in big groups, other times in smaller networks.

The core of an effective online content strategy is identifying where your audience currently gathers, and how to best meet their needs.

That content strategy should be based on their needs and behaviors, and it is an iterative process that will constantly evolve. If you don’t have the necessary research and feedback channels set up ahead of time, your content strategy will often face unnecessarily frustrating hurdles as you guess what your readers need, and hope that that what you’re offering is a good match.

Regardless of your industry or target audience, there are five fundamental pillars of an effective online content strategy:

Google Search Queries

If I am working with someone to build their content strategy, the first step is to get a sense of the existing landscape in their space. Invariably, I will be told that “their readers aren’t online, they don’t do social media.” And yet, I always find the opposite to be true.

I love the discovery process that comes with an open search field.

The key here is to try a variety of different phrases, not just individual keywords or generic categorizations. You are looking for several things: to see which sites come up in the top results for important key phrases; to identify online communities that seem to be thriving; to find the people who are very active in discussing your areas of interest online.

Look for Niches Within Niches

Don’t be satisfied with general sites that cover broad topic areas. This may be satisfying because you feel they have scale, but you’ll often find the real value in smaller niches. This is where you find topic experts and true influencers, as well as a more granular view of what people are writing about and engaging with.

View Competitors as Fellow Community Members

Those who are active in your field elsewhere on the web are the people who you should learn from, and in some cases, partner with. Online, things are much more fluid and porous than the traditional divides between companies and their communities, so when you discover someone doing something similar to you, engage them, and ask how you can help.

These are the people who will give you incredible insights, and some will one day help drive engagement for your own efforts, even if they are direct competitors.

Don’t Underestimate the Value of the Individual

When you find someone online who is engaging and/or influencing people in a topic you are focused on, dig deeper. Look them up on LinkedIn, find out a bit more about their experience and expertise. And of course, reach out and engage them in conversation. Most people like it when you recognize their abilities and efforts, and are happy to help out like-minded individuals and organizations.

Content Strategy Cannot be Created in Isolation

Yes, an advanced content strategy may have highly evolved practices, guidelines, and systems to help it run efficiently and on-target. But it is rarely a document that lives in isolation — it should be something that evolves through constant research and feedback loops with those you serve. Listening is a core goal here, and can be accomplished via traditional research means such as surveys and web analytics, as well as through direct engagement with members of your community.

A content strategy is ALL about serving the needs of your audience: listening, researching, testing, iterating, and listening some more.

The key is to not start with your goals, and try to convince people that they need what you are selling. Rather, if you truly understand the needs and behaviors of your audience, if you invest your time to build those relationships, then the content you provide will inherently serve their needs, driving engagement, connections and, eventually, even commerce.

Register today for Dan Blank’s DBW 2011 Workshop, Content Strategy: How to Serve Your Community by Developing Great Online Content.

Dan Blank was Director of Content Strategy & Development for Reed Business Information for the past decade, where he worked with editors and bloggers across 50+ brands — including Publishers Weekly and Library Journal — with the goal of creating engaging content and community. Blank is the Founder of We Grow Media, an online media consulting & training company, where he works with writers, authors, editors, & journalists to build their online media & marketing skills and engage their communities in fun and meaningful ways.

As many of you know, I made a move from academic to trade publishing over the summer. The transition has been fascinating, and I think the last 3 months have been the most exciting in my career as my role has shifted from strategic licensing at Oxford University Press to overseeing all sales and marketing at Bloomsbury. In my new job I have already participated in nearly every imaginable trade business scenario: retailer terms negotiations, international sales & distribution deals, book launches, author tours, agent negotiations, and even a Man Booker winner.

Perhaps most interesting about my new role is that I am one of the few people in my industry who runs sales and marketing operations on both sides of the Atlantic. Seeing how London differs from New York in trade is fascinating, but what has struck me most is the prevailing zeitgeist regarding world English rights.

The proposition that one publisher should NEVER be sold world English rights for a work seems to have become the default position, especially by UK based agents. This default position is a curious one; it can create the short-term benefit of increased cash up front (it doesn’t necessarily mean that, but I agree it can). However, the downside, as seen from my eyes, is far too great – especially for a new author who needs careful brand and marketing development.

THE ADVANTAGES OF GLOBAL PUBLISHING

A global publishing plan cannot only build an author more effectively, but also make it easier for the agent and author to work with an editor and sales/marketing team. No multiple publishers and sub-agents thinking about their self-centered needs – one company to manage, one relationship to build, one place to go when things go right (or wrong). Yet this logic seems to be lost on those who are selling us books.

To wit, Helen Gamons-Williams is an editor at Bloomsbury who has a wonderful ability to bring a book to life when describing it at our editorial pitch meetings. A couple of weeks ago she pitched a novel that everyone in the room immediately wanted to read. It was a unique tale that blended history with a very surprise ending that, if described any further, would ruin this potentially incredible new novel.

Helen made a preemptive offer for world English and German rights. As we have publishing companies in London, New York, Sydney, and Berlin, we can launch titles on a worldwide basis, in English and German, and create a cohesive and coherent marketing/sales/branding effort. Before the offer was put in, Helen knew the agent had an offer for the UK, but she also knew he thought very highly of Bloomsbury and was therefore confident going in with a large offer for world English rights. Our plan would be to roll out this title in the UK, US, Canada, Australia, and Germany with one look, one cover design, one title (except in German!), and one global marketing campaign.

The fact that the book had a plot device-driven twist at the end meant that we would want to publish and promote this title in a very calculated and clever way in order to pique the interest of all markets simultaneously – while not allowing the plot twist to become public fodder on the internet months before the book publishes in all of the markets.

This was a hugely important point in our thinking for this title and for our publishing program worldwide. In a global marketplace where customers can order books online in Australia from the US or UK and pay no freight, it is incredibly important to market a title coherently and wisely with a single brand and publish everywhere at the same time (or as close to it as is reasonable or possible given the differences in language).

THE FINKLER ANSWER

"Amazon customers anywhere could buy the book without insipid territorial limitations in rights, look, and feel."

This is how we published, with incredible success, Howard Jacobson’s The Finkler Question. Jacobson’s Man Booker – winning novel was working well for Bloomsbury before the award was given because we had been able to buy world English rights, we were able to create one cover design, we had one title, and we had been able to sell one ebook across all markets.

In fact, Amazon had given us a promotional banner and placement on the Kindle store precisely because we had one cover and one title. Amazon customers anywhere could buy the book without insipid territorial limitations in rights, look, and feel. As Howard’s face and book were plastered across television, magazines, and newspapers across the world, one single brand, one single look, one single publisher was conveyed to an eager audience.

The result was amazing as The Finkler Question hit; #1 on the UK Kindle store, #2 on Amazon.co.uk for the UK print version, #7 on the US Kindle store, and #3 on the Amazon.com for the US print version. We have even cracked the NY Times Best Sellers list, with Finkler jumping to #14 this past Sunday.

Yes, these figures are a direct result of winning the Man Booker, but I would argue that the Man Booker prize is most influential in the UK. Furthermore, Howard Jacobson is not a household name in the US and Finkler is set in London, not in NY. These factors make me believe we are looking at something else that is helping drive our US success.

I believe that the single coherent brand and look/cover has helped propel Jacobson’s work into the limelight in a way that none of his other books to date have managed to do. Yes, none won the Man Booker (he was nominated in the past), but none published under a single global marketing and sales strategy.

The semiotics of a single cover design uncovers an imprinting effect that carries over from market to market. Howard and the jacket in the UK on the cover of a US newspaper means that the book itself was a symbol of the book – which in turn helped people “see” it when they went to the store or saw it online. The impact factor of having a single look and feel and single marketing plan that is customized for local markets brings marketing back to trade books. Piling books high in stores not only doesn’t cut it anymore as the only way to truly market a book; it simply doesn’t happen enough to rely on.

THE RIGHTS OBSTACLE

So here we are on the precipice of a new way of thinking about marketing and trade books. We are in a globalized world that offers us the opportunity to do actual marketing of titles and to create worldwide and globally impactful sales plans. All we need are the rights to do so.

Which brings us back to Helen and her quest to sign this novel by a first-time author. We made our offer and even raised it a couple of times to ensure we were competitive – but without hesitation, we insisted on world English rights. Over and over the question came back – would we consider UK and commonwealth only? Helen bravely towed the line – it must be incredibly hard to fall in love with a book, want to sign it badly, have the money to do so, but know that strategically you must get the whole baby, not just Solomon’s half-the-child solution.

Helen, like the true mother in the Old Testament tale, kept to her line knowing that publishing this work in pieces would weaken it and the potential of this new author. In the end, the agent signed the book in the UK only with another publisher. I assume they are working on selling this in America, as well as Canada and Australia (assuming they didn’t sell commonwealth rights).

The book is fantastic and the rights will be sold in these markets. The problem will come when the book publishes and this first-time author finds himself at the mercy of 3 or 4 different marketing plans, cover designs, publishing cycles, release dates, and discordant marketing iconography. Let’s just hope for his sake some consistency and coherence prevails and he builds a career deserving of his writing.

For us, we will keep pushing our agenda of building our authors and lists on a worldwide basis and hope the industry catches up soon.

This article was originally published at Black Plastic Glasses and has been reprinted with Mr. Schnittman’s permission.

Evan Schnittman is Managing Director, Group Sales and Marketing, Print and Digital, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, an amazing publisher that was rocketed into the limelight by one particular set of books for children but has grown into a global adult and children’s trade publisher as well as an incredibly important academic publisher. Schnittman runs the global sales and marketing of all print and digital products as well as licensing and business development deals.

I had the good fortune to attend Firebrand Technologies‘ Community Conference (FBCC10) a couple of weeks ago in Newburyport, MA. It was a beautiful autumn week in New England, the conference was well-attended, the energy level was high, and there were some excellent conversations, both official and unofficial, over the two-day period.

The highlight of the conference for me was a brilliant presentation by Peter Brantley, whom many of you know as @naypinya on Twitter. Peter’s associated with the Internet Archive and is one of the most thoughtful people I know on the future of books, libraries, accessibility and other print-to-digital matters. While we don’t always agree, he’s a terrific guy and a great resource for people interested in those subjects. If you ever get a chance to see him give a presentation, please take advantage of the opportunity.

Peter’s presentation at FBCC10, “Organizational Fields and the Book Industry,” was a survey of the seismic disruption the book business is currently undergoing and its underlying causes. Peter posited, and I agree, that the combination of new technologies (digital tools) and new industry participants (in particular, Amazon, Google and Apple) have broken down the organizational (and personal) relationships that have existed for decades (and in some cases centuries) in the business and that, therefore, a new industry model is required before a new equilibrium among authors, publishers, distributors, retailers and readers (however they’re defined in the future) can be established.

That’s a gross oversimplification of a very complex presentation–the best description of the industry’s state of play I’ve heard–but states, I believe, the heart of the matter. The only thing I would’ve added is that, based on my experience, the disruption has been accelerated and amplified by the dismal economic conditions of the past few years, making gradual change impossible.

Peter ended on a hopeful note, saying that the amount of experimentation going on now, and some of the new firms and new alliances being formed among industry participants, will ultimately lead to the creation of new organizational fields as it has in other industries that have undergone major disruptions. Following that hopeful conclusion, one of the first questions from the audience was (paraphrasing), “How long do you think it will take for things to stabilize?”

Well, I think the answer is probably never.

Or at least if a new equilibrium is established, it won’t be long-lasting and we’ll soon be looking for ways to establish the next one.

The rate of technological change’s continued acceleration and the near-instantaneous nature of communication of new challenges, threats and opportunities are key factors contributing to a continuation of unsettled conditions, and these are here to stay. The tools that allow for cheap and relatively easy innovation are also important. Finally, societal norms, which once emphasized stability, tradition and personal relationships have shifted so that change, disruption and more transactional relationships are accepted and even encouraged, making permanent structures and organizational fields much more difficult to sustain.

The lesson from this is to get comfortable with near-constant change, disruption and, well, discomfort. It’s here to stay and your old job, whatever it was, doesn’t exist anymore (even if the title does).

This post was originally published at Bait ‘n’ Beer, and has been reprinted with Mr. Linn’s permission,.

Don Linn has a sordid past as an investment banker, cotton and catfish farmer, book distributor (as owner/CEO of Consortium Book Sales & Distribution), publisher (The Taunton Press), entrepreneur and general ne’er-do-well. He’s a graduate of Harvard Business School and Vanderbilt University and is endlessly fascinated by books and publishing and their collision with technology. Among other things.

WE BELIEVE that reading widely and reading fluently will give children the reading stamina to deal with more challenging texts they will meet in college, at work and in everyday life. And every child should be able to choose and own the books they want to read for that choice builds literacy confidence—the ability to read, write, and speak about what they know, what they feel, and who they are.

-Richard Robinson, Chairman, President and CEO, Scholastic Inc.

The just-released 2010 Kids & Family Reading Report™ conducted by Harrison Group and Scholastic has caused a bit of a stir thanks to one relatively minor data point that’s been highlighted more than any other, perhaps best illustrated by the AP’s misleading headline that reads more like Huffington Post linkbait: “Survey: Children like e-books, parents not so much.”

While the study did show a notable interest in reading a book “on a digital device (including computers)” among children aged 9-17, far more relevant was the context of that interest, reading more books for fun, and why that was important.

• When asked if they would read more books for fun if they had access to eBooks, one-third of kids age 9-17 of kids [sic] said yes, including frequent readers (34%), moderately frequent readers (36%), and even infrequent readers (27%; PAGES 14–16).
• When asked about the most important outcome of reading books for fun, children age 9–17 say it is to: open up the imagination (43%), be inspired (36%), and to a lesser degree, to gain new information (21%). Parents express similar views (43%, 35%, and 22%, respectively; PAGE 20).

Sparking the imagination and offering inspiration are arguably the more significant takeaways from this study, especially when contrasted with what books, print and digital, are competing with for kids’ attention.

The study notes that, “As age increases, the time kids spend reading declines in direct opposition to the time kids spend going online for fun and using a cell phone to text or talk.” While the more social activities (text or talk; online) increase with age, the more solitary activities (video/computer games; reading books) decline. Interestingly, “TV, DVDs and videos” hold their own with each age group, and could arguably be considered social activities, too.

All of them are able to spark the imagination and offer inspiration, but it’s the more social activities that lead the way as they get older, so focusing on an interest in ebooks as a primary takeaway is completely missing the forest for the tree du jour.

As I write this, I’ve been following the tweets coming from The Bookseller‘s Children’s Annual Conference, and it’s been interesting to see how much of the discussion is centering around transmedia, both overtly and otherwise, and how much of the so-called conventional wisdom about “digital natives” is off the mark:

• RT @thebookseller: #kidsconf trends, @AdrianHon: #transmedia – 39 Clues, Cathy’s Book, codes to register online, play games, immersive exp.
• RT @thebookseller: Dr Sue Cranmer defining digital natives. Kids born after 1980 always had digital media. #kidsconf
• RT @Booktrust But… 66% of children (in the US) still want to read books on paper too #kidsconf (Per Scholastic study: http://j.mp/dzq2Pu)
• RT @cmussi: #kidsconf consumers want to consume content when it fits their needs it is not about technology but behaviours
• RT @TheBookseller: #kidsconf reading habits of Stardoll users [77m]: where do u go to find out abt books: friends etc but library high %
• RT @nosycrow: Random House also working w/ Stardoll on Mortal Kiss – pub first online in episodes + inviting comments, blogging #kidsconf
• RT @nosycrow: Random/Stardoll – multi-language. Fiona Macmillan: “kids are asking when the real book is coming out” #kidsconf

Besides the definition of “digital natives” being debatable — I was born in 1969 and grew up with the Atari 2600 and Commodore 64; my first email address was with CompuServe back when they were numeric — the idea that they are some monolithic group that eschews the analog world is ridiculous.

Last week, I wrote about the latest findings from TalkTrack, an ongoing study conducted by market research firm Keller Fay Group, which specializes in word-of-mouth (WOM) and noted that “85% of teen brand WOM that takes place offline, fully 75% occurs face-to-face/in person.”

Besides noting that the vast majority of teenagers’ word-of-mouth recommendations occur offline as opposed to only “3% through social networking sites,” the results were also surprisingly similar to that of consumers overall, with one notable exception: “the school environment is a close second (28%), whereas for the general public, the work environment is a distant second (12%).”

As the old saying goes, “Kids are people, too.”

It’s not clear whom @cmussi was quoting in the tweet referenced above (it might have been Matt Locke, acting head of cross platform, Channel 4), but I wholeheartedly agree with the point being made and it also happens to be the fundamental idea of transmedia: It’s not about the technology or the format, it’s about giving readers multiple options to consume the content they’re interested in.

Two in three children say they will always want to read books printed on paper even though there are eBooks available. Kids who already have experience reading eBooks are just as likely as kids who have not had experience eReading to agree.

-2010 Kids & Family Reading Report™

The Scholastic report offers a lot of compelling data and is worth reading in its entirety. While focusing on ebooks, the generation gap, and a zero-sum scenario that ends with the “death of print” is great for pundits’ page views and speaking gigs, as a strategy for publishers, it’s a non-starter.

The real opportunity for publishers in the digital age can be summed up in one simple idea: curate and market great content, and offer engaging experiences, in whatever formats the community you serve desires.

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez is the Director of Programming & Business Development for Digital Book World, and a published poet, writer, and active blogger since 2003. An old and new media pragmatist, social media realist, and marketing strategist, he views publishing as a community service, and is optimistic about its future.

The Roundtable

Topic: What is a Publisher?

This episode of The Roundtable will be webcast live at 1pm EDT on Thursday, September 23, 2010.

• Register to participate LIVE.
• Subscribe to the audio podcast.
• DBW Members can access the on-demand archive of The Roundtable.

Featuring:

Pablo Defendini, Interactive Producer, Open Road Integrated Media
Bridget Warren, Former Co-Owner, Vertigo Books

Special Guests:

Jason Pinter, Best-selling Author; Literary Agent, Waxman Literary Agency
Scott Walker, President, Brain Candy, LLC.

Moderated by:

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez, Dir. of Programming & Business Development, Digital Book World

Links:

Organizational Fields and the Book Industry
Peter Brantley, director of the Internet Archive’s BookServer project, and co-founder of the Open Book Alliance

“Transmedia and web-based delivery are examples where new entrants better able to produce, distribute.”

Complex objects, complex rights
Peter Brantley, director of the Internet Archive’s BookServer project, and co-founder of the Open Book Alliance

As my friend, Hugh McGuire of Librivox, has pointed out, the transition to complex objects, particularly those that are web native and embed pointers to resources existing across the network, is one that the publishing industry has yet to get its head around. I know that publishers would ideologically like to have these assets bundled into a single physical file (or small set of linked files) for purposes of both ready technical translation and rights control, but I suspect that we will wind up with “narrative experiences” that are actually not wholly “owned” but increasingly have at least some of their aspects licensed for performance rights (instead of having been either commissioned or licensed for broader rights), or that rely on blanket proffered commercial license terms. UGC that is just-in-time and custom-embeddable into transmedia productions will only hasten the transition to more complex rights packages.

Will Enhanced E-Books Kill Movie Deals? We’re About to Find Out
Richard Curtis, E-Reads

But with development of vooks and similar hybrids of text and other media (“Vook” = Video + Book), publishers are challenging the assumption that interactive rights must be reserved to authors. As enhanced e-books become viable and valuable, publishers want to know why they are abandoning rights to movie and television companies. That is the background for the memo that a major literary agency has sent to a number of film agents informing them that henceforth they cannot count controlling those interactive rights.

Bridges Of Virtue: Indie Publishers As The Golden Mean
By Paolo Chikiamco, Publisher, Rocket Kapre Books

Keep in mind that the uncertainty of the current environment is about more than the format of the digital file, of PDF versus EPUB vs MOBI… Anyone who believes that the final form of the digital book will be static lines of text on a screen is fooling themselves. The book as a medium for delivery of content is in flux, and small, risk-taking ventures are at an advantage.

Transmedia 2.0 – Participatory Entertainment
Scott Walker

Content producers who ignore CGC are like people walking across a floor covered in money. You can choose to walk past it, or you can choose to make the effort to pick it up.

Twitter (as RTd by @digibookworld)

RT @neustudio: A publisher is someone who curates and disseminates ideas #dbw

RT @babetteross: AGREE with @pablod Distributing a book is one thing, selling/mrktg/promo a book to be sold is another. #dbw

RT @Knownhuman: #DBW You don’t need marketing muscle. It’s the wrong metaphor. We need skill, savvy, and recognized curat[orial] talent.

RT @IrisBlasi: “No longer enough to just provide content. Pubs need to say, ‘I know what you want & HOW you want it.’” @scott_walker #dbw

RT @eBookNoir: #DBW – 2 truly succeed, pubs R going 2 need 2 B platform agnostic, they need 2 get it out 2 all & not B limited by platform

RT @MatthewDiener: #dbw With Espresso and POD, the time is ripe for local bookstores to start publishing/reprinting regional titles.

RT @babetteross: The lines b/w publishers and producers seems to be blurring. Do pubs have the right competencies to compete? #dbw @pablod

RT @MatthewDiener: No shortage of people who want to work w/ film, audio, animation, etc. Pubs can find them, but ROI is toxic. #dbw

RT @emilyw00: #DBW cost of prdctn for film & video games is much higher, risk bigger, limits the number of creators who participate.

RT @MatthewDiener: Publs don’t have the competencies to produce multi-media content affordably. Given margins in books, no one does. #dbw

RT @Knownhuman: #DBW Man, imagine how awesome it would be if agents became “Story Brokers” (aka, Transmedia Producers, per PGA.)

RT @IrisBlasi: Definite addition to the #dbw drinking game: “transmedia”

“Virtue, then, is a kind of moderation inasmuch as it aims at the mean or moderate amount.”

- Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics.

Being a philosophy major, I’m of the opinion that the great thinkers of the past have something important to say about every aspect of life, even our modern life. As such, I hope you’ll humor me as I open this talk on a decidedly modern topic – the opportunities for independent publishers in this digital book revolution – by talking about Aristotle and the Golden Mean.

For Aristotle, virtue or excellence is that trait which, when possessed in the right amount, keeps something in good condition, and allows it to perform its function well. One of the key phrases there is “possessed in the right amount” – Aristotle believed that virtue could only be found at some optimal point between two extremes, that of excess and that of deficiency. To use the most common example, the virtue of courage is found between the two extremes of cowardice and recklessness.

What does this have to do with publishing? Right now, publishing is defined by two extremes. First are the Big Publishers, the ones with substantial investment in the old status quo of print books, the entities with big-name authors, enviable capital and long-standing connections with distributors and media outlets. At the second extreme are the Self-Publishers, a class of authors which have always been with us – for authors, such as Aristotle himself, were releasing their works to the public long before third-party publishers existed – but who have in the past been stigmatized, as well as sidelined from the most lucrative types of commerce by an inability to match the scale of access and distribution available to Big Publishing. (In the Philippines, the most visible form of self-publishing – social networking aside – is the burgeoning indie komiks [comics] scene.)

Of course, “in the past” here must be taken to mean B.T.I. – Before The Internet. While I would not go so far as to say that the playing field has been leveled – although I’d argue that it is on its way there – the fact that the publishing landscape has been irrevocably altered cannot, at this point, be doubted.

“Nothing endures but change.”

- Heraclitus

During this conference, you’ve been exposed to the changing face of publishing, especially in the West, and the problems it brings for Big Publishing: issues with regard to ebook pricing, royalties, digital rights, DRM, and inadequate business models. There are opportunities for Big Publishing as well, but the simple fact is that, having reigned atop the Old World of Publishing, they have the most to lose by the transition to the New.

For self-publishers, it’s a different story. In the New World of Publishing, the Internet, ebook readers and print-on-demand outlets give authors the ability to distribute their work internationally, on a scale unthinkable even to Big Publishing (BTI), and at a fraction of the cost. Having spent so long at the bottom of the barrel, self-published authors have nowhere to go but up, and hence the New World is nothing but opportunity. In fact, in an era of social networks and blogs (and just recently, plugins like Anthologize which can turn a WordPress blog into a functional and ready-to-sell ebook) where it can be said that we are all publishers, some wonder if third-party publishers are needed at all.

If all that one wants is to make a book, as a text, available to the world, then the answer is no, you don’t need a publisher. On the other hand, if the goal is to make a book as a commercial product, one that is visible and viable, then – unless you’re an established author or are willing to put a lot of work into the book above and beyond actually writing it – yes, you still need a publisher.

But in the New World, the Big Publisher is not your only option – nor is it necessarily your best option. In a publishing world dominated by the two extremes, the most “virtuous” means to get your book to the market may be through an entity which can combine the strengths of Big Publishing and Self-Publishing, and in so doing (because the strengths of one are the weaknesses of the other) minimize their weaknesses. The best option could be an Independent Publisher and small presses: entities with more resources and business savvy than your typical author, but which retain a flexibility and personal touch absent from bigger publishers.

“If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn’t brood. I’d type a little faster.”

– Isaac Asimov

At Rocket Kapre, I write and edit speculative fiction by Filipinos, and in that field, most of the authors I know are artists. They want to write stories – full stop. This paramount love of writing is the only reason we even have speculative fiction authors here – God knows that none of us, not even our best and most popular authors, are making a full time living out of it, even though that is the ultimate dream. Yet, while authors would love to have a bestselling book, very few have the time or inclination for the back-breaking, non-writing work that is required to turn a well-written book into a commercial success.

Publishers, on the other hand, even if they love their genre, always have an eye toward commercial viability. They’re the ones who study the market and how to market, who traditionally handle both big and little details from ISBNs to getting the book into retailers. While it’s easier to get a self-published book on the shelves of retailers in the Philippines, abroad the stigma still remains.

Also, while authors are increasingly being asked to share in the burden of book promotion, publishers still play a key role as intermediaries, since many authors, even avowed self-publishers, have an aversion to self-promoting. Publishers, on the other hand, don’t have to be modest when describing the genius of their authors. Nevertheless, the larger a Publisher grows, the larger the potential divide between the interest of the Publisher and those of the individual author.

Independent Publishers can retain the commercial savvy (and earn the credibility) of larger entities, but they also tend to remain small, and as a consequence, are usually very focused on a particular niche or genre. The smaller size (less red tape), fewer authors (more attention to each author), and greater focus will ensure that the individual author seldom feels that there is a conflict of interest between himself/herself and the Independent Publisher’s bottom line.

Having a strong online process can also make it possible to promote a book/brand well, even without the budget for large scale physical events, such as book launches: Rocket Kapre Books is a fledgling press, and yet free and easy access to content on the site, including our online zine Usok, allowed us to receive coverage on local and international websites, including Locus Magazine, probably the leading English language SF news/reviews magazine in the world.

However, it cannot be overly stressed that a Publisher not only adds value after the work is complete, but helps ensure that the book is the best it can be. While some self-publishers rejoice at the way the Internet has allowed for a circumvention of the traditional function of Publishers as “Gatekeepers” of the literary world, rare (if not non-existent) is the draft or manuscript that does not benefit from a close reading by an objective third party. Even the most critical author will have blind spots, especially when dealing with a text they have become overly familiar with, blind spots which an objective editor will not share. While the rigor of editing benefits the book and the author, it is this promise of quality control that benefits the prospective reader, who can be assured that any book released by a publisher was filtered by at least one objective pair of eyes before the reader spends his or her hard earned cash.

Here, again, an Independent Publisher can provide the best of both worlds, providing and guaranteeing editorial oversight, while the smaller size of Independent Publishers allows for a more personal relation with both authors and readers. With capable and consistent editorial work, Independent Publishers can win respect and credibility at par with that of any Big Publisher – if not greater. Here, it again helps that Independent Publishers have a clearly defined niche or genre, as they can quickly establish a reputation amongst fans.

Fiction is experimentation; when it ceases to be that, it ceases to be fiction.

- John Cheever

You may note my repeated emphasis on the small size of Independent Publishers, and how this can give them the advantage, in some instances, against Big Publishers. The reason for this is that small entities are generally more adaptable than larger ones, and during this period of transition to the New World – where we know the landscape is changing, but not what it is changing into – publishers need to be adaptable in order to survive; in order to thrive, they need to be willing to experiment. Many of the experiments they take when they test the waters will result in failure, but as Independent Publishers have less to lose and more to gain, they will be that much more innovative.

Keep in mind that the uncertainty of the current environment is about more than the format of the digital file, of PDF versus EPUB vs MOBI… Anyone who believes that the final form of the digital book will be static lines of text on a screen is fooling themselves. The book as a medium for delivery of content is in flux, and small, risk-taking ventures are at an advantage.

Lacking rigid corporate structures or the baggage of the Old World (huge warehouses, piles of returnable books), Independent Publishers are the publishers best poised to position their businesses atop the rapidly shifting sands of the New World, to grab opportunities as they present themselves – especially in the digital space.

Here’s an example of an advantage of adaptability: having a quick turnaround. After the devastation brought by Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng in late September of 2009, I decided I wanted to put together a small charity anthology. I pitched the idea to authors on September 30, and before three months had passed, Rocket Kapre books released Ruin and Resolve: Pinoy SF for Charity, with nineteen stories and five poems – many of them made specifically for the anthology – from Filipino writers here and abroad.

“To live alone one must be an animal or god.”

– Frederick Nietzsche

In speaking of opportunities, I cannot stress enough how the Internet creates and facilitates opportunities for collaboration, and how these collaborations can add value to your products. We saw that from Ruin and Resolve, where I managed to put together the book through email correspondence with authors and the cover artists. Filipino artists have also become key collaborators with me on Usok, the online magazine of Filipino-made speculative fiction which I host on site.

Kevin Lapeña, who I’d commissioned for the cover of the first issue of Usok, approached me with a proposal: he’d just co-founded a group for digital painters – CG Pintor – on the popular art website deviantart, and he wanted to know if I’d be willing to tie up with the fledging organization. Their artists get exposure on the website, and our stories for Usok receive artwork from some of the most promising digital artists in the country. It’s a mutually beneficial partnership, and yet had Rocket Kapre Books been an impersonal corporate Big Publisher, I doubt that Kevin would have made the offer, or that he would have received his reply a day after his email. The arrangement has worked out well: the international exposure helped get an older piece of Kevin’s published in a German artbook, and I was able to renew interest in Usok #1 when I re-launched it with the beautiful artwork – an endeavor that would probably not have been financially viable with a print magazine, but was easily executed with an online zine.

The Internet also allows an Independent Publisher to collaborate with the most important partner of all – the readers. Having at least some of your content online can give a publisher access to invaluable data about who reads your products, and how they use them. One day, I was looking at the daily statistics for Usok when I saw a sharp spike in views – it turns out a high school class had used the stories for an assignment. The ease by which the Internet facilitates distribution of content means that the biggest problem a book will have is still discoverability, but a strong web presence will allow you to connect with your readers – compare sending a link to a class to forcing them to find copies of a book – and in the process discover what interests them.

As I mentioned, for an Independent Publisher, the means to distinguish yourself from other content providers is to clearly define your niche, and information about the readers who visit your site – which posts are most popular, which posts receive the most comments, which posts have the most links – can be important to fine tuning your focus, so that you can give your readers what they want. Big publishers tend to operate as a “Brand”, their communication to the consumer only one way, from them to the consumer. Independent publishers have the opportunity to go beyond the creation of a brand to the creation of a “Community”, one where there is a mutually beneficial two-way flow of information. Book readers are a passionate lot, and they want to be heard, want to be involved.

This is how an Independent Publisher can succeed in the New Era of digital and immediate content: by serving as a bridge between the author and the readers, adding value – in-house or through strategic partnerships – to the work that passes its hands, and ensuring that nothing gets in the way of a good story.

I began with a philosopher, and now, allow me to end with a poet:

“We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.”

– T.S. Eliot; Little Gidding

A Paper for the Future of the Book Conference 2010, by Paolo Gabriel V. Chikiamco was originally published by Rocket Kapre and has been reprinted with Mr. Chikiamco’s permission.

Paolo Chikiamco is a Filipino speculative fiction writer, reader, and critic. He is the publisher of Rocket Kapre Books, and the editor of the Usok webzine. He also writes and edits for the Philippine Online Chronicles.