Joe Wikert's Digital Content Strategies

Screwpulp: An exciting new startup (that I'm part of!)

One of the benefits of my previous job is that it brought me much closer to the content startup community. I've met a lot of outstanding organizations but one that really grabbed my attention is a self-publishing startup called Screwpulp. I mentioned them briefly in an earlier article after I introduced them at an investor event in Memphis.

What's so special about Screwpulp? First of all, it's the people. I've spent time with each of the founding members of the company and I'd stack them up against any other startup team I've met. Every single one of them is extremely passionate about what they're doing and how Screwpulp is positioned to help reinvent publishing. Their passion is highly contagious. Also, none of them come from the publishing industry, so they're not caught up in "the way things work" and they feel no obligation to stick with the status quo. In short, they're the classic startup set out to break all the existing rules.

That leads me to the second point about what makes Screwpulp so special: the concept. Yes, there are plenty of startups out there catering to the self-publishing market, but Screwpulp recognizes that most authors don't have a platform. So rather than make the mistake of pricing the author's book too high and then wondering why it doesn't sell, Screwpulp initially sets the price at zero, uses scarcity to create a sense of urgency and takes the price up as demand increases. Very cool.

I love what Screwpulp is doing and I look forward to helping them become wildly successful. That's why I've agreed to join the team as an advisor. To learn more about the Screwpulp platform be sure to watch the investor pitch CEO Richard Billings made last week in Memphis.

Memphis startup community rocks

For the past couple of years I've had the pleasure of working with a variety of startups in the content space and most of them are located on one of the two coasts here in the U.S. Last week was an eye-opening experience for me when I traveled to Memphis to take part in the Seed Hatchery Investor Day. I was there to help represent a terrific startup I'm now part of, Screwpulp, but the opportunity to mingle with investors and the other startups was priceless.

In the span of 3 hours Thursday afternoon I had the pleasure of listening to the investor pitches from six highly innovative startups: BetterFed, MentorMe, Boosterville, Musistic, Soundstache and, of course, Screwpulp. All but one of these startups originated in Memphis. Memphis! And you thought all they had in Memphis was Graceland and BBQ joints. (Btw, all the food in Memphis, especially the BBQ, is out of this world!)

I mentioned that all the startups but one were from Memphis. The exception is Boosterville, which was founded by a couple from my hometown, Indianapolis. But since there's no equivalent platform to the Seed Hatchery and their Investor Day here in Indianapolis, the Boosterville founders went to Memphis instead.

Sounds like an opportunity to me... That's also what Eric Mathews, CEO and co-president of LaunchYourCity, believes as well. I spent some time with Eric and his co-president, Andre Fowlkes, and I left convinced these guys are on to something. Innovation and startup launches aren't limited to the coasts, of course. We just need people like Eric and Andre to find leaders in towns like Indianapolis and get them to step up and organize the local efforts. Btw, LaunchYourCity announced last week that they're rebranding themselves as Start Co. Great name, and an even better tag line: "Never stop starting." Brilliant!

What does the startup scene look like in your hometown? Is it invisible to the local community like mine is? If so, I encourage you to reach out to the folks at Start Co. and see what can be done to change the situation. That's what I'm doing.

Direct sales and community building

If you’ve been anywhere near publishing recently, you’ve probably been hit by the shrapnel of an exploding business model, a narrowing distribution network, or mind-numbing cutbacks. It’s fashionable for people who aren’t pouring their daily energies into words and stories to compare the changing ebook environment to the music industry. But it’s different.  Much more simple and complex at the same time. And I believe--even without gulping down an alcoholic beverage--that publishers and authors can come out on top when the dust settles.  

But it will require change. And partnerships. And innovation. We need to do what great authors do--draw readers in by telling an intriguing story and getting them involved. But this time it won’t be just into a book, but into the industry itself.

I’ve sat on both sides of the table, both as an author and an executive in the publishing industry. So I’m constantly viewing the future through the lens of a win/win scenario, where authors/publishers and readers thrive. And I believe that direct sales and community-building are an important first step. Having direct relationships and building audiences are instrumental to publishers controlling their own future. So let’s take a quick look at both...

Direct Sales

I recently had a conversation with a VP at a major publishing house and he/she said, “We’re not interested in direct sales. We have partners and retailers who do the selling for us.”  

Sensing that we were not speaking the same language, I asked a few poignant questions:

“Are you interested in having the contact information for anyone who buys your book?" 

“Well, yes.”

“Are you interested in better understanding the reading habits and preferences of your readers?”

“Yes”

“Are you interested in developing a number of creative marketing, sales, and promotional opportunity for your authors?”

“Of course.”

“Then you are interested in direct sales.”

As we began discussing further, we both realized there is a difference between building a direct sales channel and joining a direct sales channel. For the most part, “building direct sales” has been synonymous with “a publisher acting like a retailer and going direct.” In my opinion, publishers should not be interested in this type of situation. It is expensive, wrought with technical complications, and limiting for the end consumer. At a time when most publishers are pruning their teams, it is simply not a good strategy to tackle more with less. Moreover, readers accustomed to robust digital storefronts are not going to hunt down books at separate publishers.

But joining a direct sales channel is different. If a publisher can be part of a larger retail ecosystem but still enjoy the benefits of gathering contact information and staying connected to the end reader, it is the best of both worlds. Publishers can extend their reach from content acquisition all the way to consumption and feedback. Likewise, consumers can visit one location and find all the content they desire.

Direct sales is about visibility and transparency into the sales and consumption of a book. And who doesn’t want that? At BookShout!, we are making this a reality today. Working less like a traditional retailer and more like a retail portal and ecosystem, we are aggregating publishers together and allowing them direct access to the end reader. This includes allowing publishers to export contact information, create innovative marketing campaigns across social channels, and build author platforms.

Community Building

Seth Godin calls it “building your own tribe”. Others refer to it as “growing your audience.” Regardless of the terminology, community building is about bringing like-minded readers together and facilitating a discussion. 

Did you notice that I said “facilitating”, not “controlling?” Some of the most successful audience builders I know understand that growing an audience is like throwing a great party. Make sure there is enough food, the right music, a place to congregate, and a topic to discuss. Then stand back and just keep the conversation going. The community will strengthen as others step up and manage the discussions. Influencers will begin to emerge. People want to belong, and content communities allow for this.

We don’t all agree that the Yankees are a good team, but we all agree that word-of-mouth referrals are gold. When a friend recommends a great book to me, I’m ten times more likely to buy it than if I’m being sold by a third party. When we build audiences around verticals, brands, and authors, we can help passionate people share their experiences. Plus there is the added benefit that a growing tribe creates noise, which in turn, continues to grow the tribe exponentially. All of these things begin to move the needle on sales.   

Amazon didn’t buy Goodreads because they had an extra $150M+ lying around. They bought it because of the community aspect and the ability to tie these rabid readers closer to the buying experience. At BookShout!, we specifically built our platform around letting people create communities, what we call “circles.” We believe that if an author, publisher, brand, or book can establish its own community, they can better facilitate conversation, which in turn, develops more sales and marketing possibilities. It’s a self-sustaining ecosystem that can feed itself.

One thing is certain--you won’t get it right the first time. Building a direct channel and an audience is an iterative process. Give yourself the right to pivot, change directions, try new things, create micro-genres, and start conversations. We certainly don’t have it all figured out at BookShout! but we are actively listening so we can continuously improve. The one thing you can’t do is nothing. If publishers and authors do nothing, nothing will be all that’s left.

This article was written by contributor Jason Illian. Jason is the Founder and CEO of BookShout!, an innovative reading platform that empowers publishers/authors and builds community around books.  BookShout! is working closely with publishers and authors to re-imagine the future of books.

Bringing democracy back to digital

By exposing us to diverging viewpoints, fostering dissent, broadcasting scientific discoveries, and stretching our imagination beyond its sensory frame, books have promoted the rise of our modern social conscience. The many societal and technical revolutions of the 20th century have often been ascribed to a unique combination of readily available literature and high schooling rates.

High-speed printing presses, global distribution, and the excellent editing work of our forebears, enable publishers to sell authoritative, if slightly outmoded, versions of classic works for a few pence a pop. These inexpensive books are the WD-40 of the publishing world: they find their way into the most unlikely places, eating away at the grime of mindless entertainment. Comfortably purchased by all, they require no special treatment. They are forgotten on commuter trains, picked up on park benches, handed out as tokens and prizes, thrown away without remorse — and saved by the dustman.

It was initially hoped that digital publishing would precipitate the fall of prices, without affecting the margins of publishers: provided authors hand out clean digital documents, the costs involved in editing, proofing and laying out a work decrease dramatically. Part of the savings can then be passed on, benefiting both seller and purchaser. We can even distribute books for free over the Internet, in essence the largest, most egalitarian lending library in the world.

Yet, in our enthusiasm, we may have collectively forgotten how tall a barrier we were erecting between the reader and the text. While printed books exist in and of themselves, old-worldly, generous, and inefficient, digital books must be accessed through a reading device, be it a computer, a tablet, or a phone. In effect, one requires costly tools to economise: the reading apparatus, access to a network, charging facilities, etc. One must also defend an attractive gadget against theft — for the tablet, unlike the book, holds universal appeal.

In our technical circles, access to a basic reader is a given. How expensive can these unmarked, outdated pseudo-smartphones be? They can run a web browser and access Project Gutenberg… To many, they are out of reach. And even if they were handed out by well-meaning librarians, they could not be charged easily, or used everywhere without fear of assault. In many regions of the world, including parts of Europe and North America, they would be useless bricks, deprived from the essential companionship of a cell tower or Wi-Fi router.

Certainly, computers are available in public places, including libraries. But how comfortable should we be, as a society, with asking the poor to register at a central government-run place to access knowledge that used to be free?

Whether by design or accident, free reading has, so far, been a right in modern society. Wonderful and convenient as it is, our current all-digital distribution model has failed to carry on this fundamental tradition. As digital publishers, we must examine ways to restore it, of putting random books back into random hands.

This article was written by contributor Francois Joseph de Kermadec

Micro-consulting projects

Last week's article about my search for new full-time or consulting work generated a lot of interest. It was also nice to see the resulting surge in views of my LinkedIn profile. Thanks to everyone who tweeted and help spread the word. I now have a few short-term consulting projects underway and several more longer-term ones are also being discussed.

I've spoken with quite a few prospective clients over the past week and it's clear there's a significant need for consulting help but budgets are tight; not exactly surprising given all the cost-cutting and cutbacks taking place across the industry today. I'm finding a lot of initial guidance can be covered by answering some questions, making a few initial recommendations, and, in some cases, connecting a client with one of my contacts or an industry solution-provider I know and trust. Many of these initial engagements can even be done in an hour or less.

That's why I've now decided to set aside 8-10 hours each week for micro-consulting projects. Each will be a one-hour engagement on the phone, via Skype or Google Hangout. These micro-engagements represent a smaller committment for everyone and can help validate a client's plans and determine their next steps.

Maybe a micro-consulting project is right for your needs. If so, email me so I can send you more details and get you on the calendar.

WANTED: New full-time job or consulting work

An announcement was made last week saying TOC is no more and that I'm out of a job. The former was disappointing news for the publishing community while the latter was a particularly troubling development for my personal community, also known as my family. I'm sad to be leaving a lot of terrific colleagues, including the amazingly talented and brilliant Kat Meyer, but I'm also looking forward to what's next.

I'm not sure what the future holds so I'm currently exploring both full-time and consulting work. With all the consolidation, downsizing and loss of institutional knowledge publishers are currently facing, I believe these next few years will offer plenty of opportunities for industry consultants. I also believe my publishing and technology background, which features a mix of editorial, business development and sales experience, shows I have plenty to offer.

There's one other aspect of my background that I feel is also a critical element every publisher needs to master: the art of community development. Kat and I (as well as the rest of the TOC team) worked hard to build year-round community engagement and an industry franchise by starting with something that was originally limited to a series of semi-annual in-person events.

Most publishers haven't focused much on community-building and engagement. I believe we were creating a community template publishers could have applied to their own businesses. The TOC plug was pulled prematurely, IMHO, but the community engagement lives on here and elsewhere, of course.

Btw, the goal of community-building isn't just to create a direct channel. That's one valuable outcome but it's clear some publishers simply aren't interested in direct channels just yet. Community-building is about giving your real customers, the people who read your products, a reason to engage with you and your content. It's about establishing a dialog as well as giving them a place to meet and share their experience.

One of my former colleagues liked to say that "community is the new marketing." Some publishers think that means they just need to have a corporate Twitter handle and offer a Facebook page for everyone to like them. Then they wonder why there's no return on that minimal investment. This is one of the areas where I can help.

There are plenty of other areas I can work with you as well, including: business plans, business development, product development, digital-first models, acquisitions, etc.

Am I right for your organization's needs, either in a full-time or consultant position? You'll be in a bettter position to answer to that question by reading through my archives here as well as visiting my LinkedIn profile.

Better yet, send me an email and let's schedule a phone call to talk about your specific needs.

Earned Attention: More than a stack of paper

As an industry I think we're getting weary of all the various "rich content" experiments and products floating around these days. I have to admit that most make me want to yawn and move on to the next item in my email inbox. Too many of them feel like a Frankenstein project where elements are grafted onto a traditional book and there's a giant bolt sticking out of the neck.

Every so often one actually grabs my attention. Ironically, the latest one is called Earned Attention. I first watched the video embedded below and was curious to learn more about it. Here's a quote from the video foreword that really resonated with me: 

Attention is the ultimate currency. It is the ultimate scarce resource. It is the only commodity that matters.

How true. And even more so in the publishing world these days. We're all talking about discovery and rising about all the noise. If you can truly earn the attention of your target audience you're clearly doing something right, and "earn" is the key word here. 

Here's another quote from the end of the video below:

A book that you never actually finish.

I'll bet that's a turn-off to a lot of people. Most of us just want to read a book from start to finish and be done with it. Every so often though you want the book to be a part of an ongoing stream of information. That's how I view Earned Attention. It's one of those products that should continue feeding your brain with more insight, long after you read the last word of the printed book.

I'm looking forward to digging into this one. My only disappointment is that the accompanying apps are for iOS only. As an Android convert I've decided this is the worst six-word sentence I've ever read:

Available for iOS (Android coming soon)

I see that sentence far too frequently. I guess I'll have to dig out that first-gen iPad of mine and see if I can use the app there.

Earned Attention case video from ENERGIZE on Vimeo.

LinkedIn as publisher

I'm drawn to LinkedIn now more than ever before. The rate of connection requests I've been receiving there has also been accelerating over the past few months. Maybe it's due to all the uncertainty of the publishing industry but I think there's more to it than anxious job seekers.

There are all sorts of terrific publishing groups on LinkedIn where opinions are shared and discussed. A good example is our TOC LinkedIn group; check out the stats here. We're rapidly approaching 20K members. If you're not a member you're missing a great deal of terrific industry banter.

You may have heard of LinkedIn's recent acquisition of Pulse. Although Pulse isn't my favorite news platform it's probably in my top five. It's the combination of LinkedIn and Pulse that intrigues me though.

LinkedIn has always been a great place to network with others in your industry. Adding a dedicated content service like Pulse is smart and I believe it's just the first step in LinkedIn's goal of becoming a publisher. Well, I'm not sure they'd consider "publisher" as one of their future roles but that's basically where they're heading.

Lifelong learning is important today and it's only going to be more important tomorrow. We've all had to adapt and grow professionally more than our parents had to. Our children will be asked to grow and adapt more than we've had to. As LinkedIn becomes the Google of job and career search you can bet they want users to spend as much time on the site as possible. What better way to do so than to offer a variety of self-improvement and professional development content for all those lifelong learners? Looking for an entry-level accounting job? Here's content explaining the 10 most under-appreciated features of Excel. Want to become a better salesperson? Here's a piece on how to close the deal. You get the idea.

Just as Google recently bought Frommer's to feed travel content into their search engine I fully expect LinkedIn to sign more deals to acquire rights to job training, career development, professional certification, etc., content. Some of the material will be written exclusively for LinkedIn but a lot could be redeployed from books.

So although they won't publish books, just like Google isn't publishing Frommer's books, look for LinkedIn to add more and more content to their service. And if you're a publisher (or author) with a rich set of career and professional development content you should consider reaching out to LinkedIn to see if your content might be a good fit on their platform.

Direct sales of ebooks in multiple languages

O'Reilly has long been a leader in fostering community and building a direct sales channel. This week we took the next step in enhancing the customer's direct buying experience by offering German editions for many of our ebook titles. Take a close look at the bottom of this screen shot:

I grabbed that image from the search results for "Windows 8" on our website this morning. If you click on the English title you'll see this screen:

You can either buy the English language version from here or click the Deutsch link in the bottom right corner and this edition is displayed:

We're in the process of adding more German titles to our online catalog and you can expect to see other languages added in the future as well.

Why is this significant? As I've said before, I believe every publisher needs to build a direct channel so they aren't overly dependent on other retailers. I'm not suggesting a direct channel replaces other retail channels but it's a very important extension that helps publishers establish a relationship with their customers, learn from the data generated and create even better products in the future. By adding other languages to the assortment we're making it easier for anyone around the globe to find the O'Reilly content they want on one site. And, of course, it's all being delivered with the multi-format (EPUB, mobi & PDF), DRM-free approach pioneered by O'Reilly.

Pre-publication samples

This one has been nagging at me for years and I'm amazed none of the major ebook retailers offer a solution. I'm talking about the ability to pre-order an ebook sample prior to publication. Today I received a bulk email from Eric Metaxas, author of Seven Men, telling me the book is "now available." His team either pressed "send" prematurely or they just want us to pre-order today. The print book doesn't release till tomorrow and the ebook doesn't come out till a week later. (Btw, why is a publisher delaying the ebook's release by a week? That's such out-dated thinking.)

I don't want to buy the ebook today but I'd love to request the sample when it's available. The ebook isn't released for eight more days so the sample obviously won't be available till then either. The chances of me remembering to check back next week and request the sample are close to zero.

So why not add a button that lets me pre-order the sample now? You don't have to send it to me now, but have it sent to me on April 30 when the ebook releases. How hard is that? More importantly, how many sales have been lost because this sample pre-order button doesn't exist?

Lessons for all PR professionals:

1. Never send the email blast saying the book is available the day/week before it actually is available.
2. Tell your publisher to make sure the ebook is available the same day as the print book, not a week later.
3. Tell your publisher and/or retail partner to implement a sample pre-order button for all ebooks. Better yet, make the ebook sample available on your own website, in all formats (EPUB, mobi, PDF), before the book releases anywhere else. What do you care if it gets out in to the wild and everyone shares it? It's called "establishing a direct channel with your customers", and it's a good thing to do.

P.S. -- The reason I'm on Metaxas' mailing list is because I read his amazing book Bonhoeffer a year or so ago. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it. It's one of the most inspiring books I've ever read.

Why Paperight should be distributing your content

The opening statement on Paperight's "about" page says it all:

Paperight turns any business with any printer and an Internet connection into a print-on-demand bookstore.

This isn't just about distributing content through copy shops though. Paperight helps make content available in the developing world. That's why Paperight was named "Most Entrepreneurial Startup" from TOC's Startup Showcase in February. They're opening an entirely new channel and serving the needs of readers who might otherwise never have access to this content.

That's also why O'Reilly recently signed an agreement with Paperight. We're thrilled that Paperight is distributing our content and I want to encourage you to sign up with them as well. You can learn more about the Paperight/O'Reilly distribution deal here.

Please take the time to learn more about Paperight and get your rights team in contact with them.

Author (R)evolution Day videos now available

If you missed TOC's first Author (R)evolution Day you missed a lot. Cory Doctorow kicked things off and more than 20 speakers followed with terrific presentations on marketing, audience development, choosing service providers, and my favorite topic, data.

The room was filled throughout the day and we know there were countless others who wanted to be there but simply couldn't make it. That's why we recorded the entire event. You'll find more than 5-1/2 hours of Author (R)evolution Day programming in this $19.99 video product. Cory will be pleased to know there's no DRM or other irritating technology restrictions on this content. In true O'Reilly fashion, we trust you as our customer and want you to have the flexibility of either streaming or downloading all the video to your computer.

If you're an author searching for marketplace success you'll definitely want to purchase this video collection. Let us know what you think about the programming for our first Author (R)evolution Day and stay tuned here for more information on future events.

Why I created a Flipboard magazine

Flipboard recently announced the ability for anyone to become a publisher on their platform. Within two weeks 500,000+ magazines were created. I created one of those and I'd like to tell you why.

Before I do that though, let me tell you how you can get my Publishing 2020 magazine. Since Flipboard isn't available as a web-based app (which is a shame) I can't just embed a link to the magazine. Here's the link Flipboard provides, but it's nothing more than a short note saying my magazine exists and to download the Flipboard app and search for "Joe Wikert" to find it. That's not the best approach so let's hope they make it easier to share magazines down the road.

Now let's talk about "why." I've said before that I'm accessing my RSS feeds less and less. I switched from Google Reader to Zite for awhile but that wasn't always the best option either. I still love to see what others in the industry find interesting though, mostly by reading what they're reading.

Twitter kind of addresses this but I find it very difficult to focus on one person's point of view via tweets. It's everyone's stream of consciousness coming at you all at once. Even with the best filters in place it always feels like you're drinking from the fire hose. And every tweet has a shelf life of seconds at best. The Flipboard interface encourages a deeper dive and even though it's presenting much of the same information it doesn't come across as having a short shelf life.

As fun as it can be to abbreviate and get creative, Twitter's 140-character limit gets in the way at times, right? I see Flipboard magazines filling a nice, comfy space between Twitter and blogs. I read articles throughout the day and some of them are tweet-worthy. But the best deserve more commentary or context than I can squeeze into 140 characters. That's where a Flipboard magazine comes in. The majority of the articles I'm adding to my Publishing 2020 Flipboard magazine also include my thoughts about the piece. Annotations are an important element of the Flipboard magazine model but, unfortunately, the Flipboard user interface makes them hard to see. That's another item I hope Flipboard fixes in an app update.

My last point has to do with my addiction to the magazine called The Week. It's one of the last magazines I still subscribe to in print (mostly because it's not available as an Android app...yet). If you're not familiar with it, The Week aggregates the best news stories and adds some commentary. It's like reading the Cliffs Notes for all the major newspapers, magazines, and websites. I'd like to think that in some small way my Flipboard magazine is doing the same for the publishing industry.

My goal is to give the publishing community another resource for industry news and analysis, all delivered conveniently and elegantly via the Flipboard interface. I hope you'll sign up and let me know what you think. Also, if you feel I've overlooked an important article, send me a link so I can read and add it to the magazine.

Best of TOC

It's challenging keeping up with publishing industry news and analysis. I have way too many content feeds to monitor and I'm sure you do too. We do our best to highlight the most important developments on the TOC website but you're forgiven if you fall behind or miss an article every so often.

Most of analysis on the TOC site is somewhat timeless but the blog format might not make it feel that way. That's why we gathered the best of the best articles and assembled them for you in a handy, to-go version. It's called Best of TOC: Analysis and Ideas about the Future of Publishing. More than 60 of the most thought-provoking articles from the TOC team and community are featured and it's available in EPUB, mobi and PDF formats. Best of all, it's completely free.

If you need to catch up on your TOC reading you no longer have an excuse. Download your copy today and tell us what you think.

Will we ever see a "Spotify for ebooks"?

My music buying habits have definitely changed over the years. I'm doing a lot more streaming now and rarely buying individual tracks or albums. I use Spotify but I also started using Rdio. I'm still in the free trial period for the latter and not sure which, if either, I'll end up paying for.

One question that seems to keep popping up in the ebook publishing world is, "when will a Spotify for ebooks emerge?" You could argue that a few services already offer unlimited access to free ebook content. Those services are, of course, limited in their breadth. You won't find any offering all the latest bestsellers, for example, but Spotify and other streaming music services let you listen to plenty of hits.

You could also say that Amazon already has something like this with their Kindle Owners' Lending Library program (KOLL). This service lets Amazon Prime members borrow from hundreds of thousands of ebooks with no due dates. And it's all included in the $79 annual Prime membership fee, so it's almost like a free program, assuming you joined Prime for other reasons.

I'm not convinced KOLL is the answer though. It's basically a throw-in, or an afterthought, to the Prime membership program. And while 300K+ titles is huge, I don't believe the successful "Spotify for ebooks" will focus on breadth of content; I think it will be more about narrow focus and depth of content.

I don't have much interest in an all-you-can-read ebook subscription model with a million titles, especially if it doesn't have the depth I prefer. I'll pay more for vertical subscriptions that offer me more depth. Sports and history are two of my favorite topics. Rather than paying $15/month for a broad catalog with limited depth in those two areas, I'd prefer to pay $10/month each, or $20/month total, for two separate vertical subscriptions with more titles that are likely to match my interests.

This is the type of discussion we'll have at our free webcast on Friday, April 26 at 1PM ET. The webcast is called Why the Ebook Subscription Model Might Be Right for Your Content and features Safari CEO Andrew Savikas. Be sure to register now as slots are filling up quickly. Also, attendees will be able to ask questions during the webcast but if you've got any you'd like me to put on the top of the list for Andrew please email them to me.

The future of educational publishing

The ebook revolution started with the launch of the original Kindle back in late 2007. More than 5 years later the world is now moving away from dedicated e-readers to multifunction tablets. Despite the dramatic rise in ebook sales most students are still lugging around backpacks full of heavy textbooks. Why has this sector been so slow to switch to digital? What does the future of educational publishing look like? What attributes will be required for the successful textbook publisher of the future?

Those are just a few of the questions Schilling is asking as they research their next industry white paper. If you missed their last one on author and publisher relations you can learn more about it and download it here.

Schilling is in the investigation stage for this next report on the education publishing market. They plan to publish this free report in time for TOC Frankfurt in October. If you're in the education publishing space and would like to participate in this project you can learn more about it here and sign up for an interview here. You can also obtain more details about the report in this downloadable PDF document.

I took part in the interview process for the author/publisher relations report and if you're in the education publishing space I encourage you to schedule an interview with Schilling for this project.

Content ownership and resale

Over the past few weeks we've seen some landmark decisions on whether you really own that content you bought and if you can resell it. First, in the Kirtsaeng vs. Wiley case we learned that it's OK to buy low-priced print books from overseas, ship them to the U.S. and resell them for a profit. That's a victory for the middleman entrepreneur and everyone frustrated with high-priced textbooks. Well, it's a victory till publishers raise their overseas prices to be more in line with U.S. prices, at which point students in those foreign countries lose.

Next, we have the federal ruling against ReDigi on the digital content resale front. I'm hoping ReDigi appeals but for now this means you can't sell your iTunes library, for example. That ruling is considered a victory for labels (and publishers as ReDigi is looking to move into used ebook sales) and a loss for consumers.

The simple rule appears to be you can buy your physical product from anywhere and resell it to anyone but your digital products are really only licensed to you and you can't even resell that license. Now let's add Amazon's AutoRip service to the discussion to see how it further complicates things and the dangerous precedent it sets.

If you're not familiar with AutoRip, it's a nifty way for consumers to get the digital version of CDs or albums they've bought from Amazon. It addresses the issue everyone has experienced at least once in their life: you bought the album so why can't you have the CD, cassette or MP3 version free? Not all tracks are AutoRip-eligible on Amazon; presumably Amazon got permission from the labels for AutoRip-eligible songs.

So what happens if I buy a CD from Amazon, get all the tracks into AutoRip and then sell the CD to someone else? Maybe I'll sell it via Amazon's own Marketplace service. I get to keep all the songs I originally bought, still in AutoRip, and I've paid far less for them than I probably could have in any physical or digital format. Victory for the consumer! Maybe the labels participating in AutoRip still haven't figured out most people are ripping CDs on their own and then reselling them. By participating in AutoRip they've helped the consumer avoid the ripping step and are further encouraging resale of that physical CD. A resale, I might add, that the label gets zero revenue from. At least with ReDigi the labels were able to participate in the resale revenue stream.

Now let's consider the dangerous precedent this sets. What exactly is the value of the digital content from the consumer's point of view? In the scenario above it's the price the consumer paid after netting their original CD purchase with whatever they earn on the resale of the CD. IOW, the perceived value of the content is pretty low.

What happens when AutoRip is extended into books? Buy a print book today and get the Kindle edition free. In fact, Amazon could easily give you a free Kindle edition of every print book you've ever bought from them, including ones you sold to your local used bookstore years ago. Again, a victory for the consumer. But doesn't that further erode the value the consumer places on the digital content? The ebook basically becomes a free item tossed into the deal long after you made the purchase decision. It's like floor mats for the new car.

What worries me most about this model though is how it once again keeps publishers away from establishing a direct relationship with their customers. If you really want to give the consumer a free ebook version of the print book they bought, why not bring them to your own site and get to know them? The answer to that question, of course, is publishers would have to give up DRM to provide the free ebook. So once again, we have DRM being a tool used against publishers and their ability to create a direct channel with their customers. What a shame.

P.S. -- Here's a related article on Dear Author on how DRM also prevents independent bookstores from competing in the ebook space.

Current state of formats and platforms

Remember the old days when PDF was pretty much the only way to distribute content and those PDFs were read on computer screens? PDF still lives, of course, but now we're also faced with offering content in mobi and EPUB formats for consumption on a variety of platforms and devices.

SPi Global released a free whitepaper this week that covers the current state of formats and platforms. It's called Demystifying the King: Making Content Available to All and you can download it here.

I like the quote on page 2 from Sara Domville about how we live in a "content explosion model" where "content has broken free of constraints and can be used in multiple ways." Many publishers are still struggling with converting print to digital and probably haven't fully thought through the opportunities in repurposing their content as Sara suggests. They're also asking themselves the important question posed on page 3 of the whitepaper: What is the most efficient way to bring content to market?

The legacy of PDF is evident later in the document where we read that 73% of publishers responding to an SPi Global survey say they're distributing in Adobe's format while only 60-64% are distributing in mobi or EPUB formats. So there are still a number of publishers who are in the ebook marketplace with PDFs only, obviously missing out on the largest retail opportunities at Amazon, Google, B&N, Kobo, etc.

On page 8 we read, "publishers want more readers supporting EPUB 3 functionalities so more adoption and budget can be put into developing EPUB 3 files." And I'll bet if reader app vendors were polled they'd say they're waiting for publishers to produce more content that takes full advantage of EPUB 3 features before investing their development resources to support it. The classic chicken-and-egg scenario.

If you're looking for a quick overview on what's going on in the world of formats and platforms you should download this whitepaper. It also has several other interesting stats on where the market is today as well as where we might be heading.

Goodreads + Amazon: Winners and losers

I decided to wait a few days before writing about Amazon's acquisition of Goodreads. I wanted to let the dust settle before weighing in with my own opinion. Now that I've had some time to mull it over, here's what I think: This has the potential to be a game-changer that could be the next, and possibly final, nail in the coffins of other ebook retailers...but only if Amazon actually does something with the Goodreads platform.

I first have to say that I'm very disappointed that such a great service will no longer be independent. The acquisition makes a ton of sense for Amazon, of course. In the sporting spirit of the best defense being a great offense, Amazon gobbled it up before someone else did. Shame on those other ebook platforms for not jumping in first though. The combination of, say, Google and Goodreads might have finally put Google on the ebook map. That assumes Google even cares about ebooks though, which is a debatable.

What about B&N? While they're focusing on possibly splitting the company and the future of Nook device production they just saw a terrific acquisition candidate disappear.

Another interesting scenario that will now never be is the Goodreads and Readmill combination. See Craig Mod's thinking on that here.

Let's get past all that though and consider what might happen next now that Goodreads is an Amazon property.

I got to spend some time with Goodreads CEO Otis Chandler at TOC NY in February. We talked about how I use Goodreads to record purchases and rate books I've read, but that I never use it for book discovery. Based on his reaction I got the impression I'm not alone. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that many (most?) Goodreads members track their purchases and ratings there but don't use it as a discovery tool.

So how will this change under Amazon?

Let's remember that this isn't Amazon's first investment in this space. They already own Shelfari and they've got an investment stake in LibraryThing. I haven't seen technology from either of those companies integrated into the Amazon catalog though, have you? Maybe Amazon was just waiting to acquire the biggest player, Goodreads, before adding this type of functionality to their website. After all, whoever wins the discovery war ultimately sells more products and is crowned the winner.

For a glimpse of what the future might hold, take a look at slides 27 and 28 from the presentation Otis made at TOC NY. Those statistics on slide 27 show that when most readers finish a book they want to learn more about similar books and what else that author has written. IOW, they're open to being pitched on what to buy next. They also want to discuss the book with their friends and read other people's reviews. Meanwhile, as Otis showed on slide 28, what readers get at the end of the book serves none of those interests.

Now imagine that same, static back-of-book ad on slide 28 becomes the Goodreads platform, right inside your ebook. That's a nice enhancement for the consumer and it will drive a lot more ebook purchases for Amazon. It also opens up a huge can of worms.

Does Amazon, or any ebook retailer, have the right to insert something like this in the ebooks they sell? Would they have to get the publisher's permission before doing so? After all, those other titles recommended at the end of the book (or maybe throughout while it's being read) via this new integrated service will likely come from a variety of publishers. Does publisher X really want to see publisher Y's ebooks promoted in their products?

As I mentioned at the start, this is all predicated on Amazon actually doing something with Goodreads, not just hoarding the platform. Remember the original Kindle from 2007? Compare the reading experience of that to what you have on today's Kindles and Kindle apps and I think you'll agree there's been very little innovation in the past 5+ years. Yes, there are new devices, but the reading app itself hasn't changed much.

By integrating Goodreads into Kindle devices and apps Amazon has a tremendous opportunity to enhance their platform in a way the competition simply won't be able to touch. No, it doesn't change how an ebook is read, but we're talking about a significant impact it could have on further reinforcing Amazon's leadership position and driving more ebook revenue.

Years ago I exported my ratings and reviews from LibraryThing and imported them into Goodreads. At the time Goodreads was a terrific independent platform with lots of momentum. It's still a great service today and I'm sure it will continue to be solid within Amazon, but where can I go now for a service that's still platform-independent? And since there's no guarantee that today's independent provider won't be tomorrow's Amazon acquisition, maybe it's time to accept the fact that platform independence is nothing more than a myth.

Inspired by children's ebooks

The third TOC Bologna took place this past Sunday on the eve of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. It was a terrific show and closed with a session announcing the winners of the Bologna Ragazzi Awards for digital publishing. You’ll find all the details about the finalists here and I’ve also embedded a short video below where you can see the winners in action.

I encourage you to watch this 7-minute video, even if you’re not part of the children’s book publishing business.. You’ll see some of the amazing things happening in this space and how they’re moving away from the boundaries of physical books as they take full advantage of the digital canvas. As you watch, think too about this highly relevant quote from Mark Sigal:

The talkie wasn’t destined to become silent film with words, so too it follows that in the age of smartphones and tablets, publishing will evolve to become much more than a simple carbon copy of print.

Finally, think about how the print model you’re so accustomed to might be holding you back from making more than “silent films with words.”

P.S. – Congratulations to PlayTales for their role as the platform used to create “Four Little Corners”, the Ragazzi winner in the fiction category.