3 Flying Penguins

3 publishing students who aim to keep you up to date with all that is happening in the crazy world that is publishing!

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Commiserations to the Cats.

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And the winner of the Birds vs Cats debate is...

The Birds!!!

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The Landing!!!

We've now come to the end of our flight and the 3 Flying Penguins are coming in to land. We hope you've enjoyed learning about the publishing industry. Look out for the winner of the Birds vs Cats debate, but for now it's goodbye.

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To celebrate the final of the Birds Vs Cats debate, here is the Freeview advert. The overall winner will be announced next week, as the 3 Flying Penguins post the final blog.

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Lesson Summary: Week ten

This week we will be learning about Digital Divides.

What is a digital divide? This is how digital technologies are divided in society. Publishers evaluate these trends to identify their digital market, as analytics can be used to see where sites are being accessed. These divides may exist economically, nationally, demographically, et c.

Different Types of Digital Divides include:

Global Context - This is the most important to publishers and the market they’re reaching. Countries have different access to digitisation, as small developed countries are the most connected nations with low social inequality.  

The National Divide – Different regions have different broadband and internet access. E.g. London has better internet access than rural communities.

Rural/ Urban Divide – Similar to the National Divide.

Continental Differences

Post-Soviet Divides

Racial Divides – Countries like America have different types of demand. For example, poorer communities in American states have a greater demand for web-based communities through schools, rather than home computers.

Age Divides – For example, there are low levels of demand for eBooks among middle-aged adults. However, there is a higher demand from higher age groups, as the elderly are fascinated and have time to engage with new technologies.

Class Divides

Hemisphere Divide – This is the divide between wealthy countries (north of the equator) and poor countries (south of the equator). Technologies and infrastructures are developed by poor countries, such as India, but they are unable to afford them for their own use.

It is important to keep an eye on systems within developing countries that are starting to digitise. They will either:

a)      Adopt existing Western infrastructures

b)      Invest in their country’s own needs. E.g. Catalan authors aren’t represented by Amazon, as there are not many countries that speak this language.

Closing the Divide

Digital inclusion is needed.

Make information and technology more accessible to everyone, stating the benefits of digitisation.

Encourage digital literacy and training.

Next Week: 3 Flying Penguins Land

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This week in the Birds Vs Cats debate, the Cats are represented by Bobo the Free Runner.

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Representing the Birds in the Birds Vs Cats debate this week, is the Tropicana singing parrots.

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Lesson Summary: Week nine

This week we will be discussing alternative publishing.

What is alternative publishing? Alternative publishing is an umbrella term used to describe a wide range of schemes that don’t follow the traditional publishing route. Some alternative publishing methods are:

Legacy Publishing – Developing a brand by curating a back-list

Self-publishing – Easier than ever thanks to digital, but not as low cost as you would think!

Print on Demand – A new mode of publishing which works on the principle of supply and demand

Subsidy Publishing – An author works with the publisher, splitting some of the costs

Vanity Publishing – The author pays the full cost of publishing their book

Online Publishing

As self-publishing has grown, more and more digital platforms are cropping up to facilitate these authors. Once an author uploads their own work as an e-book, the online platform then exposes the work to a wider market the author may not have previously has access to. Some online platforms are:

Smashwords

Project Muse

Lulu

Imago

Amazon Publishing

 Rights Models

The expanse of alternative publishing has also led to an emergence of alternative rights models called the Copyleft Movement:

SPARC Author Addendum Engine

Science Commons

Public Library of Science License (PLOS)

Creative Commons

Problems for Publishers

The rise of alternative publishing and rights brings a few issues to traditional publishers:

Lack of oversight

Has the potential to change the market unpredictably

Bad productions weaken demand for books as a whole

Most importantly, they represent change!

Next Week: Digital Divides

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Representing the cats this week, is the refreshing Be more dog advert (O2).

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Representing the birds this week in the Birds vs Cats debate, is the impressed owl in this Renault car advert.

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Lesson Summary: Week eight

Following on from last week’s blog, this week we will be taking a look at digital bookselling.

Online Retailers

Most online retailers are also successful chain book stores (such as Waterstone’s and Barnes and Noble), but there are some solely online retailers.

Amazon

AbeBooks

Alibris

Bookstore.co.uk

Sites such as Abebooks and Alibris sell second hand books, and almost all dedicated online bookstores offer substantial discounts.

Amazon

Amazon is undoubtedly the biggest online retailer of books. Created by Jeff Bezos in 1994, Amazon was first called Cadabra, but the name was changed in order to exploit search engine optimisation. The company went online as Amazon.com in 1995.

Following success in online retail, Amazon aimed to capitalise on its dominance and first released the Kindle in 2007. In 2009 they launched their own publishing unit, however this has been less successful.

George Packer’s New Yorker Expose threw up some interesting statistics which demonstrate its power in the book market (a link to the article is below):

$5.25 billion: current annual revenue from book sales, accounting for 7% of the company’s $75 billion total yearly revenue

19.5% of all books sold in the U.S. are Kindle titles.

53%: The effective discount Amazon receives from Random House on its books.

14: The number of workers Amazon employs for every $10 million in revenue it generates.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2014/02/10/amazon-vs-book-publishers-by-the-numbers/

How has bookselling evolved?

The digitisation of bookselling has a number important factors:

Amazon is seizing control by becoming reliable and reputable

Consumer interaction with eBooks can yield valuable user data.

Self-publishers are realising there is value in co-opting the traditional model

These factors, alongside economic downturn and the effect of deep discounting, are contributing to the decline of physical bookstores.

On the other hand, digital gives publishers more analytics allowing them to provide better services to their customers.

Amazon: The Good and the Bad

It’s not fair to see Amazon as an evil, as many people do. It started out as a bookstore, and it encourages many people to read both through its pricing and the Kindle.

However, it is creating a monopoly, therefore forcing publishers to give heavy discounts or run the risk of losing profits.

Books Vs Other Media

Recent comments by Markus Dohle (CEO of Penguin Random House) warned that Amazon are not the biggest threat to the publishing industry. Issues with discoverability means that books are competing with other media such as Netflix.

He argues that there should be a focus on increasing reach and creating awareness to sustain the relevance of books. One way of doing this is to communicate more directly with consumers to ensure that the public choses books over other media.

Next Week: Alternative Publishing

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Lesson Summary: Week seven

Over the next couple of weeks we will be looking at how the digital age has changed bookselling, but to start with, this week’s blog is a quick overview of traditional bookselling.

The History of Bookselling

300 B.C. - Library of Alexandria

Pre-Reformation - Scribes and Stationer’s Guilds bring a stricter structure to the industry

Post-Gutenberg - Printers also become editors and booksellers

1529 – First Patent for Office of King’s Printer

1557 – Company of Stationers received Royal Charter

1710 – Statute of Anne (the first act to consider copyright)

1922 – Shakespeare and Co. publishes Ulysses

1970s Onwards – Modern chain booksellers

Types of Bookselling

Commercial trading

Chains or Independent

Diversified stock

Speciality stores (such as University stores and used stores)

As online bookstores and competition has evolved, the number of bookstores has decreased from 4,496 (2006) to 3,655 (2011), and there are fewer recognizable chains around. Waterstone’s remains the largest chain, followed by WH Smith, and Blackwell’s survives largely as a University bookstore.

So what do you think of this decline? Do you often visit bookstores or are do they now hold nostalgic qualities from childhood? Can you think of any ways bookstores could improve?

Next week: Digital Bookselling

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Representing the cats this week, is the original Cravendale advert - cats with thumbs!

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Representing the birds this week, is the Robinsons advert. Who will win the Birds vs Cats debate? - you decide.

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Be more dog. Do we need to say anything more? Cats are showing their diversity as the O2 represents the cats this week in the Birds vs Cats debate.

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This week, birds and cats are going head to head in the O2 adverts. The rubber ducks are representing the birds.

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Lesson Summary: Week six

Following on from last week, this week’s Lesson Summary will be focusing on digital printing and distribution.

Digital Printing Techniques

Short Run Digital Printing (SRDP)

Similar to lithography, this technique uses PDF pre-presses in short print runs

The cost per unit stays the same and does not change for different print runs, which makes this a much more economic technique – good for small independents

However, there is a tipping point where it becomes more beneficial to use the lithographic process, i.e. when a larger print run is needed, as opposed to many shorter print runs

Print on Demand (POD)

The invention of the Espresso Book Machine (EBM) has created a different business model.

Works on the principle of supply and demand, and allows publishers to wait for demand before producing a title, meaning there is no wastage.

Click on the links below to see more on the Espresso Book Machine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJUla8xJ5BM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ec2BZA50EaY

Strengths and Weaknesses of Digital Printing

Digital printing is fast, which is very important for modern day printing. POD allows for less wastage, and SRDP makes printing more economical for smaller print runs. The economic impact of digital techniques make it easier for small independent publishers to print books.

However, the rise of POD concerns some publishers as it facilitates self-publishing. The company Blurb is one example of this. To see more, click the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqbo0UbVwuU

Digital Distribution

Digital distribution is simply the provision of content via an online medium, iTunes and Amazon are two examples of digital distributors. It requires only two things; storage and format customisation. Although these are expensive, research shows that companies who are able to adapt to digital distribution have seen a rise in sales.

Strengths:

Rapid Delivery

Total access – 24 hours a day, on portable platforms.

Zero wastage

Weaknesses:

Costs to set-up have to outweigh the valuation of an immaterial object

Threat of piracy

Confusion over formats – Especially important when considering ebooks.

Next week: Traditional Bookselling