On March 20th we finally launched the Sesame Workshop eBookstore. The launch was followed by a spate of e-mails from subscribers telling us how thrilled they were to finally lay their eyes on the digital versions of their favorite stories and to see the characters come to life. This followed by overwhelming response from mainline media, television news and bloggers who covered the news about the launch, had us in high spirits. Working with a household brand like Sesame Street has been very special to us and with this launch our hard work and nights of toil finally saw the light of day.

Brands like Sesame Workshop opting to convert as many as 900 of their 5000 published print titles into eBooks, definitely marks a milestone in publishing. Traditional publishing, while still very much a part of the industry is incomplete without its digital counterparts.

In the past year, the publishing fraternity has gained critics and patrons, received praise and condemnation, faced evolution and revolution, been named the light of the future and the black hole of failure. But one thing that unites those critics and the patrons is the realization that the eBook cannot and will not be ignored.

The stamp of approval and the verdict has been passed with brands like Sesame Workshop going the eBook way. While there has been much debate on the subject of eBook pricing, Sesame Workshop has opted to go with the subscription based pricing model.

Fans, parents, teachers and schools can subscribe to get unlimited access to a library of more than 100 Sesame Street eBooks for an annual subscription price of $39.99, with a special early bird offer at $24.99. Titles are offered in a variety of formats such as eBooks that allow a child to read along at their own pace; audio eBooks that contain narration, sound effects, and music as well as animated and interactive eBooks that bring beloved Sesame Street characters and stories to life in full-color animation inviting children to play along and learn.

So do take a look at the brand new Sesame Street eBook store, show it, share it and relive your childhood with your kids, nieces, nephews, neighbor’s kids, the noisy ones down the lane and every Sesame Street fan you know. And, if you want a sneak peek before subscribing, they also have 5 free eBooks introduced every month!

It’s been a month since the conference, and I still haven’t gotten over the whole “TOC experience”. My mind keeps going back to all the discussions we had, and I find myself constantly pondering over opinions expressed, predictions made and in general, visualizing what the outlook of our industry might look like few years down the line.

Having worked closely with the publishing industry for over a decade, it was both inspiring and exciting to see publishers from all around the world come together with the realization that change is here to stay. Encouraging, was to note how earnest publishers were towards understanding this change and the focus they have towards preparing themselves for the future.

In this blog, I would like to share a few anecdotes, and what I thought was especially interesting and defining for the future of our industry.  For the past ten years we have studied the dynamics of the publishing industry, its trends, changing reader habits and one session that struck an instant chord with me was by Peter Collingridge from Enhanced Editions. He describes the work he does as “tailor-making books for the iPhone, and the challenge that they set, on how to translate a book to a device in a way that creates a valuable new user experience and adds to the content. He highlighted the fact that the app was being offered as an ‘optional experience’. To quote him, “You don’t have to listen, or read and listen, or watch. Its how the reader wants it to be. We can build stuff around it and online – but the reading should be left between the reader and the content. The app is all about engagement with the content.” The key to their success here is their understanding and empathy towards the reader. His insight into reader behavior is an important lesson for all of us in the content business. The sure win sales strategy is to give your readers the content that they want.

Over the past couple of years we have seen the lightening quick pace at which the industry is evolving and this experience has helped us build innovative solutions such as reporting and data analytical tools that are helping publishers the world over take their publishing to a whole new level. As Tim O’Reilly mentioned in his session, today publishers have a better understanding of their markets with the help of data analytical tools and are building direct relationships with their readers. These tools enable publishers to put reader habits under the microscope, and use this information to tailor make content to suit the readers need. This and the ease through which they can convert their content into digital formats and deliver it through custom built platforms enable them to cash in on the opportunities that the web offers.

This year at TOC, I too had the opportunity to share my thoughts on ‘The new dynamics of publishing’ at the keynote and at a focused session on the ‘Next generation of ebooks’. Publishing has evolved, and now more than ever publishers need to focus on their core area of expertise - Content. Yet, understanding and exploiting the advancements in technology and reader demand and consumption habits could very well be the key factor that defines success. My belief is that in choosing the right strategic partners, publishers can remain focused on their core business, while still being able to implement the right technological strategies that keeps them at the top of their game.

Click here for presentation and video: The new dynamics of Publishing

The publishing industry is evolving at an astoundingly fast pace. Besides going digital, the industry is gradually transitioning from a b2b business model to a b2c model. This is largely due to the changing scenario of retail, distributions sales and marketing, all owing to the recent and widespread popularity of social networking or social media.
– Presented at the O’ Reilly Tools of Change Conference 2010, By Sameer Shariff, Founder and CEO of Impelsys Inc. (iPublishCentral)

Impelsys’ Virtual Sampling is an innovative and revolutionary solution that allows publishers to publish electronic samples prior to print. These electronic samples offer a faster, easier and more powerful method for teachers and school administrators to evaluate and search all programs appropriate for a particular curriculum, for all grade levels, eliminating the time-consuming page-by-page evaluation of educational material associated with print sampling.

This revolutionary solution comes with end-user features like full-text search, user personalization, alpha channel video etc. that aid in the program evaluation process. It also provides internal editorial staff and customers the flexibility to pick and choose chapters/content chunks from different ‘products’ and customize the product as per their needs

This innovative digital alternative to print samples helps publishers to reduce printing costs and distribution costs as well as total turnaround time.

Visit HMH’s virtual sampling page Read press release

Last Tuesday, we proudly announced that Sesame Workshop, the non-profit organization behind Sesame Street, has partnered with Impelsys to convert as many as 900 of its over 5,000 published books into eBooks. The deal got tremendous coverage in the media, that included a feature article in the Wall Street Journal which ran in the print edition of the WJS and on wsj.com. Impelsys was also featured in the Los Angeles Times, LiveMint, Gizmodo, MediaBistro and on ABC news.

We actively pursued this partnership with Sesame Street for more than a year because this deal represents the direction in which the industry is heading. The Kindle and Nook were important steps for the digital publishing industry, in the same way that Pong was a big step for the video game industry, but I contend that the best technology at the moment for digital books is one that most of us already have in our homes – the computer.

I believe that we can learn a great deal from the evolution of the video game industry. In 1975, Atari released the Home Pong console – a hardware-focused, one-dimensional product that captured our imaginations and helped spawn a multi-billion dollar worldwide industry. Pong was an important first step but in the end, the machine played one game and we needed gaming systems with more power, flexibility and interactivity.

The hardware (i.e. Xbox, Wii, PS3) remains important to this day, but its genius lies in the software that runs on these systems. For example, the Wii was a big development, but people loved it because we could go bowling in our living room or play tennis with our kids on a snowy day.

Whether playing Halo with a friend from China on PlayStation 3, doing exercises with your sister on Wii Fit or having Grover personally read for your 3-year old “The Monster at the end of this Book” on ebooks.Sesamestreet.org, consumers want a rich, interactive, 3D experiences, regardless of the gadget it comes in.

This partnership with Sesame Workshop is an important milestone for Impelsys and a great way to end a very productive 2009. I look forward to continuing to push the boundaries of digital publishing and providing publishers and content developers with technologies that enable interactivity and allow their businesses to grow in 2010 and beyond.

Like many of us in the publishing industry, I have been closely monitoring the recent wave of e-book coverage in the consumer media. We have seen powerful headlines such as “B&N Launches Kindle Killer” (Wall Street Journal) and “Is Amazon Taking Over the Book Business” (Time Magazine) and questions abound: Are we nearing Malcolm Gladwell’s proverbial tipping point? Will e-books sales capture a substantial share of the overall market in the next few years? Are Jeff Bezos and Steve Riggio going to rumble? Possibly.

Amazon and Barnes & Noble certainly continue to move the needle by developing new technologies, engaging new partners and driving consumer awareness. But I would like to offer a slightly less “sexy” story angle. Perhaps this isn’t a race for inter-stellar domination between two massive companies. Perhaps the story is not about one viewer or one “e-book megacenter” as the NY Times so eloquently described it. Perhaps this isn’t even about Amazon or B&N or Google, Apple, Sony or whoever comes next.

In my opinion, this is not an “either/or” proposition. This is about how publishers can learn from each other; how we all benefit from technological advancements; and, what we can discover from the new business models that are currently being tested.

Beyond the technology, the alliances and the giant marketing budgets of Amazon and B&N, the key to success for publishers of all sizes is building platforms that connect them with their end-users in meaningful ways. Publishers need to harness that data and produce strong, lasting consumer relationships. The publishers who best understand their consumers and grasp what they really want will lead the way.

The future is bright for the Davids and the Goliaths.

Advances in Custom Publishing at Tools of Change:

The Turnkey Approach:

Another TOC participant, Impelsys, is a New York-based company with a growing reputation of helping publishers establish their online e-book business. The company’s products and platforms are supported by technical resources based in India. It has an impressive client list including Reed Elsevier, McGraw Hill, Wolters Kluwer, Thomson, Springer, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and smaller publishers like Marshall Cavendish, Benchmark Education and Prufrock Press.

CEO Sameer Shariff explained their short term strategy, “We’re helping publishers over-come the current economic downturn by providing a low-cost, self-service, online solution to help publishers monetize, market, distribute and deliver content.”

The company’s iPublishCentral allows publishers to move their content online, while iPublishWidget allows publishers to generate viral marketing around titles. Shariff is optimistic that once the economy recovers somewhat, “publishers will become increasingly sophisticated in developing unique, branded portals through which they can create innovative content and media, sustain relationships… and secure a profitable online presence integrated with more traditional print offerings.” This is a company to watch over the next few years.

Read more at Advances in Custom Publishing at Tools of Change (April 16, 2009) The Seybold Report

iPublishCentral now supports posting to FaceBook and MySpace profile.

A Widget post on FaceBook

You can now use these additional features to post titles on your profile and share it with your friends. You start the word and encourage others to spread it. You have now got two new ways to do just that!

FaceBook and MySpace options in the Widget

Check for the FaceBook and MySpace icons under the share option (the “+” button) in your Widget and ViewInside. In case you do not find it, just login to iPublishCentral and enable them for your titles.