Publisher marketing has quite been a buzzword recently. Essentially through the ‘Viral’ dimension of it, publishers now have a much stronger reach and hold on their target readers. This section will unleash the newest trends in the Publisher Marketing arena, giving away the best ways to leverage it for your business.

Publishers! Buckle-up for the viral marketing lane.

Why Viral marketing?

One of the coolest things about the Web is that when an idea takes off, it can propel a brand or company to seemingly direct fame and fortune. For free. Whatever you call it—viral, buzz, or word-of-mouth — having other people tell your story drives action. The challenge for marketers is to harness the amazing power of word-of-mouth.

Viral marketing describes any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message’s coverage and influence. It doesn’t matter if you have an outstanding product or an extremely well designed website, if people don’t know that it exists.

What’s in for the Publishers?

Promoting the e-book can be a crazy affair.

People can instantly see the value of a book that looks like for-purchase content but can actually be downloaded for free. Online tools are enabling publishers to spread the word about their books to more targeted audiences—and sometimes, at a much lower cost—than traditional marketing methods.

And the winner is – Widget Marketing!

Widgets are a Serious Marketing Opportunity and brands can use them tactically to form direct relationships with customer. They are like free advertising as they get your content/message onto peoples web pages and desktops at just the cost of the efforts invested in design and content. Their viral nature also means that a properly executed widget can reach the massive number of social networking audience.

What are Widgets?

Web widgets can be composed in HTML, JavaScript, Flash, and other scripting languages. These widgets run in the web page when the page is activated and is normally noticed along the left or appropriate feature bar or in the center of the post.

Widgets combine a range of digital marketing techniques:

• Online PR and strategic viral marketing
• Brand advertising and Brand engagement
• Direct response on sales and lead generation

Benefits of widgets for web marketing includes:

• Reach your customers faster!
• Low cost option
• Visitor engagement and effective call for action

Not only does the Widget enable publishers to promote their brand on the Internet, but also helps in increasing sales by directing traffic straight to the bookstores or retailers.

The Widget in a way acts as multiple storefronts spread all over the web. When a reader chances upon a widget he can view the table of content, browse a few sample pages from a book and search within the book before making a purchase decision.

This article was featured in the iPublishCentral Newsletter. To subscribe to our newsletters, write to us at marketing@impelsys.com

There are many reasons that eReaders and eBooks are changing the publishing landscape. As with any technology, early generations of software and hardware have led to continuous improvement over time. The technology behind eBooks is no exception.

The new ePub3 standard reveals the scope of ePub in the current technology trend with a move to HTML5 based content and key emerging technological advancements in all means. The ePub3 with HTML5 support provides rich media experience & interactivity, layout enhancements, global languages support and accessibility improvements.  So we hope to see all the features like video & audio embedding, metadata, linking, navigation, multimedia, font, scripting, text to speech, dynamic layouts, semantic mark-ups, etc., in an ePub with help of ePub3. This also provides opportunities for application developers to create eBook readers for web and mobile platforms.

While enthusiasts were analysing and trying to understand the specifications, I had an opportunity to work on a sample for the ePub3.  As a team, we have been working on all of the ePub3 features currently supported by the iPad. Below are the listings of the samples we have created using the latest ePub3 standards.

Video: Video can now be embedded in eBooks. Video spec: H.264 (a way of encoding video that’s free to use, but not public domain) is video standard right now, but there is a possibility of open standard by end of this year, that may change to another encoding which might be WebM, which is royalty-free.

Audio: Audio passages can also be embedded in eBooks, and ePub3 is better at adopting the current DAISY accessibility standards, making eReaders more useful to visually challenged users.

Interactivity:  An interactive ePub can act more like an app than a document, and can include features like pop-ups for images, tables, bibliography references, etc activated by clicking on words in the text.

Global language support:  Includes vertical writing, and writing from left-to-right and right-to-left.

Multi-column layout: A feature that will greatly enhance cookbooks and coffee table books.

Hyphenation: This helps page formatting, particularly in justified text, and avoids very tight or very loose lines of text.

Embedded fonts: This provides lot of opportunities to use any fonts in an eBook.

Improved accessibility:  The new NAV formats supersedes the NCX format (ePub2) by providing enhanced navigation within the eBook, improving the reader’s ability to jump to specific chapters, pages, and passages.

MathML: A mathematical specification that provides greater opportunities for textbook publishers to convert and publish texts as eBooks and also provides 100% searchable content which was not there in ePub2 where all maths are coded as images.

Compatibility

ePub3 readers will be backward compatible, meaning they will be able to read eBooks created in the ePub2 format. But ePub2 readers will not be able to read ePub3 documents, as there are structural, non-compatible changes between ePub2 and ePub3.

Would like to hear your thoughts on this emerging standard and your experiences that made things work better with ePub3. Please do share your experiences by writing to us at info@ipublishcentral.com

The future of eBooks is brimming with possibilities and promises. Nothing short of a revolution is happening in the domain of eBooks. Increased interactivity, e-reading clubs—authors, publishers and technology companies are pushing the frontiers and coming up with new ideas every day.

Here is a link that summarizes some of these trends

We live in a world that offers too many choices and too little time. Quick and easy access to relevant and accurate information in the most economical way is what discerning customers look for. They do not have the time or inclination to search for the proverbial needle in a haystack.

Then why buy an entire book, when you can buy just the relevant chapters in the book?

Last weekend, I was reading a book on lateral thinking. After progressing through the first four chapters of the book, I came to a chapter on information processing. It seemed like an area that I already had some knowledge about. Skipping the chapter, I read the rest of the book.

It occurred to me that I should have not paid for that chapter since I did not need it. Just to confirm my hypothesis, I went back and read the chapter that I had skipped earlier. It had information about what I already knew, although the chapter also contained the author’s perspective and some new info. Also, the author had made a few references about this chapter elsewhere in the book.

So does buying just certain parts or chapters of a book make sense? From a cost perspective, the decision is clear. Why pay for something that you do not need.

Another advantage is the time you save by arriving where you want to be without having to cut through the clutter. Why oppress yourself by spending time on information irrelevant to you. Additionally, there is no information overload. But, as always is the case, there are two sides to this coin too. The main disadvantage to buying just the parts and not the whole is the potential risk of not completely understanding the concept discussed in the book. If the author is building his arguments or explaining his concept in the chapters you chose to skip, there is the danger of misinterpretation and misconception.

Fortunately, there are ways to address and overcome this problem. When authors realize that readers want buy chapters of the book, instead of the entire book, they would design each chapter as an independent self-contained entity. Detailed previews of chapters—and not just the preview of the whole book—would give customers an idea of what they want to buy or not.

With chapter sale, we would be embracing the internet experience of searching for the most pertinent info and finding related info from the links that the chapter contains.

At this point, I am not sure how this trend will evolve, but I do feel that chapter sale would be a great option that all textbook buyers would like to have.

Please email your thoughts and suggestions to info@ipublishcentral.com

Heavy and thick print textbooks that I was accustomed to while at school, are slowing beginning to evolve.  A few companies are taking a fresh look at the way textbooks are designed, and published to enhance learning and comprehension.

One of the primary reasons for these companies to take a fresh approach is the adoption and availability of smart-phones, tablets and e-readers. These devices offer dimensions like video, audio, touch, and connectivity to the internet to recreate an entirely new learning experience.  While price may be a barrier to widespread adoption of these devices among the student community today, declining prices will accelerate their adoption in future.

As textbooks are transformed from static, physical books into living ebooks that are continuously enhanced with curated content, they are likely to incorporate some or all of the features listed below:

• Capability for the instructor to add content: As text, audio-video presentations, and links to content on the internet.  Boundaries for such ebooks are more likely to be amorphous with continuous addition of curated content over a period of time

• Ability to cater to different learning styles:  Content can be presented in a variety of styles so that it suits the learning style of the reader.  One learner may prefer an audio-visual style while another may prefer an interactive or engaging style

• Self-assessment:  Capability to assess what the reader has learned at the end of each chapter or topic by presenting a quiz or test of some form

• Remediation:  Based on the scores of these quizzes/tests, the ebooks could

  • Adapt the learning level or pace the learning as appropriate by dynamically “staging” the content presented to the reader.  They also provide additional reading material or links to enhance learning and comprehension

  • Provide the capability to post questions to the instructor, expert or a study group and receive responses

• Sharing of notes: Capability to share notes with other students or a study group to facilitate better understanding, collaboration and help initiate discussions

• Alternate approaches to problem solving: Instructors are also likely to emphasize on different approaches to problem solving by enhancing the content with appropriate examples

iPublishCentral recognizes the need to develop the next generation “Text eBook” reader that provides the features listed above, with the capability to be used on a wide variety of devices.  We would love to hear your thoughts on how the next generation “Text eBook” reader is likely to evolve and the functionality that it will provide to students.

Please write to us at - feedback at iPublishCentral dot com or pandith.jp at impelsys dot com.

A lot has been said about eBook pricing in the past year. Publishers now are in a stronger position of control, shunning older pricing models for models that fit in with their business objectives.

The Retail model

In the recent past, the retail model, made popular by retail giant Amazon, has been facing a lot of criticism from publishers. Under this model the publishers sells books to online retailers, who then sell it to readers at a price that the retailer determines. Amazon was buying eBooks from publisher for about $13 and selling the same eBook, at a loss-leader pricing, for $ 9.99 for reading on its Kindle eReader device.

The strategy of taking a loss on each eBook was aimed to push sales of the Kindle mainly succeeded in establishing $ 9.99 as an acceptable and popular price for an eBook.

The problem publishers have faced with this model are two fold. Besides having limited control over pricing, publishers believe that a standard pricing of $9.99 devalues the book — negatively impacting sales of the hardcover paperback.

The Agency model

Many publishers such as Macmillan, unhappy with the Amazon eBook pricing model that resulted in devaluing the content of the book, began pushing for an ‘Agency model’ for the sale of eBooks.

Under this model, the publisher shall remain the sole seller, and an online vendor like Amazon would merely act as an “agent,” in exchange for a percentage of the commission. This ensured that the publisher had full control over prices, rather than having to accept the standard $ 9.99 price made popular by Amazon. Under this system, Amazon would probably earn extra dollars from publishers as compared to their current loss-leader pricing model.

The war against the $ 9.99 eBook price was started when Macmillan challenged Amazon head-on and refused to settle for the $ 9.99 price. Macmillan was soon followed by the Hachette Book Group and Harper Collins. Amazon initially retaliated by refusing to sell Macmillan books through their online store. But in a short span of time, Amazon accepted Macmillan’s terms and put their books back on the Amazon store — but not without insisting that Macmillan prices were still needlessly high for e-books.

Apple too has adopted the agency model for eBooks on its iPad, by signing up with publishers such as Harper Collins, Hachette Book Group, Macmillan, Simon & Schuster and Penguin.

The Subscription model

The problem that publishers faced with both the above models, be it the wholesaler-retailer model or the agency model (selling through agents), was lack of access to buyer statistics and behavior. In the future, publishers are largely going to shift from B2B to B2C business models i.e. selling directly to readers / end-users or institutions.

Under a B2C business model, the publisher enjoys certain advantages. Publishers have control over prices, get to know the readers directly and can gain insights into the usage of their content.  They can also sell several supplementary / ancillary assets at incremental prices directly through their website. This type of content monetizing is possible by adopting newer models such as marketplace Apps or subscriptions.

Many publishers are now choosing to supplement their retailers by distributing books and eBooks via their own branded eBookstores that have e-commerce systems built into them.

A buyer looking to purchase a particular book can visit the publishers’ eBookstore and buy the book directly from them. This is useful particularly when readers wish to gain access to several books in the store. Along with selling the titles individually, publishers can offer a monthly or yearly subscription to all the books in the store. Publishers can also go one step ahead and offer eBooks, eBook supplements or content chunks to customers on ‘rent’. i.e. enable micro-payments to provide access for a short periods of time. For example, a reader no longer has to buy an entire book just to access say Chapter-7 of the book. He can instead loan out the content for just as long as s/he needs it.

In the future, it is likely that more and more publishers will create and manage their very own eBookstores to supplement sales through their retailers, intermediaries and other online distributors. The advantage of reaching out directly to the end user, not only allows publishers greater control over prices, but also helps them understand their reader buying and consumption habits better.

Other Noteworthy Business models

Harper Studio

One model worth taking note of is the game changing business model by Harper Studio that pays the author 50% of the profit sharing as compared with the traditional 7-15% royalty that an author gets.

The model aims at seizing the doors of opportunity that technology has opened. Harper is looking at packing and supplementing their products with multimedia tools such as DVDs and / or embedded videos or narrative blurbs.

Odyssey editions

A group of well known and well respected authors, have formed Odyssey editions to sell their titles as Kindle ebook editions. Most of the books are priced under Amazon’s target eBook price of $9.99 and mostly undercut the price of the paperback edition. The model which offers self ePublishing authors 70% of sales, is facing flak from traditional publishers who have, under newer contracts been claiming exlusive eBook rights, offering authors only around 25% for ebook sales.

With the agent taking on the role of the publisher, Publishers such as Random house are disputing Odyssey’s rights to sell the ebooks.

References:

http://blog.macmillanspeaks.com/macmillan-ceo-john-sargent-on-the-agency-model-availability-and-price/
http://www.digitaltrends.com/gadgets/three-publishers-now-reject-amazons-9-99-ebooks/
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/135/fast-talk-the-experimenter.html
http://industry.bnet.com/media/10006134/harpercollins-inkpop-another-step-in-the-digital-publishing-revolution/
http://www.i-programmer.info/the-stone-tapes/1098-publishers-bypassed-by-kindle-ebooks.html

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.

Over the past 8 years, we’ve heard countless reasons why e-books just won’t work. We’ve been advised that digital books will only be a niche market. We’ve been cautioned that e-books will spell the death of the industry.

Despite these well-intentioned opinions, we pressed on; building a platform for the masses and believing that this would be the next great chapter in the publishing industry’s proud history.

After last week’s Frankfurt Book Fair, I am proud to announce that the revolution is over and the future is finally here.

For five straight days, my team and I were in back-to-back (to-back) meetings with the world’s leading publishers talking about digital content delivery. We read innumerable stories about the revolution including the WSJ’s “E-books are hot topic at Frankfurt Book Fair” and the AP’s “E-books gain a foothold at Frankfurt Book Fair.” We even saw China play second fiddle to Google, Apple and Amazon.

Since the launch of iPublishCentral at FBF last year, the publishing industry and iPublishCentral have taken some significant steps forward. Over the past 12 months, more than 350 publishers from around the world, including the AMA, MIT Press, F+W Media, M.E. Sharpe, Marshall Cavendish and Vanderbilt University Press, have signed on to use iPublishCentral.

We’ve added support for content in multiple formats, multiple languages and for multiple mobile devices. We’ve increased reporting and analysis tools and have begun supporting various pricing models, including rentals.

What we’re most proud of is that iPublishCentral enables publishers of any size or in any location to make their content for sale online and to promote their brands and titles across the Web in a simple and cost-effective manner, with minimal up front investments and pay-as-you-go pricing.

I wanted to use this blog entry to thank our customers, our partners and the incredible team at iPublishCentral for their hard work and their dedication to this cause. There remains a great deal of work ahead of us, but the future is indeed bright.

Viva la revolution,

Sameer Shariff