The birth of the Internet has produced a world where gathering and producing information is quick, easy and simple. No longer are authors and journalists the only people that are able to publish information. It has become a power that almost anyone can use. It has in fact come to the point where it has been argued that “it makes increasingly less sense to even talk about the publishing industry because of the core problem publishing industry because of the core problem publishing solves- the incredible difficulty, complexity and expense of making something available to the public- has stopped being a problem” (Shirky, 2009). But this isn’t necessarily true. The publishing industry is becoming an industry that isn’t just being on the web, but rather using it as a tool of the trade. By using the Internet especially for the collection of data and as a platform for new branches of distribution, publishing has been able to acknowledge that there is still a market and a desire for print publishing and therefore a need for the industry to exist.
The core problem of the existence of the publishing industry is the issue of conforming to the web, instead of using to it as another medium. The Actor- Network Theory acknowledges that human and non-human actants have equal capability to affect a network (Latour, 2005). This means that where people choose to publish has just as much of an influence on the publishing industry than the Internet does. There are a few problems with this. One is that if the majority of people choose to publish to online media only, then the publishing industry will eventually going under. Another problem is with the digital revolution itself. Danah Boyd (2009) illustrated that due to the vast amount of content on the Internet, people consume the content that is the most stimulating, not what is the most informative or qualitative. Add these two problems together what is left is a movement where people are choosing only to publish to online media, and most qualitative content isn’t being received because it may not be as appealing to stand out from the rest of the information mess. This is where publishing is beginning to use the Internet to its advantage. They are no longer just conforming to it and simply being ‘on’ it, but are rather using it as an instrument of the industry. They are starting to recognize these problems and are using the Internet to collect data that can help with publishing and are connecting traditional forms of publishing distribution with the Internet.
The Internet has proved to be a popular place for businesses to collect data due to the proficiency and the vast number of people that use it. Similarly, publishing is starting to use the web as a tool to determine what aspects of content people find most appealing. In the past, publishers had to go with their gut feeling and intuition on what content they should produce for the public. However, “publishers need to know what content will perform well tomorrow, not just what did well last month” (Kamdar, 2012) and are beginning to use the web to do so. By analyzing what content makes an article to go viral, they are able to establish what they need to publish to optimize the information people actually receive. This is not only benefitting the industry, but also the public, as they are able to receive the information they find appealing without having to search for it. This data can not only be applied to information published in online media, but also in print forms such as newspapers and magazines as well. This gives such print forms the potential to restore the appeal of being a condensed, qualitative source of information. This will produce more revenue into the industry, which will assist in it keeping alive.
Publishing is not only using online media as a gadget for data collection, but also as an opportunity for new forms of distribution to blossom. More so, the publishing industry is bringing traditional forms of publishing online. Printing on demand is something that is proving to be quite progressive and innovative. It allows for an individual to go online and request a book to be printed and mailed to them, allowing for the ability to obtain basically any book that an individual wants (Higgins, 2003). It additionally allows publishers to print books based on what people want instead of just a hunch. This has benefitted large publishing houses in particular, as “although it still is pricier to print books digitally, the overall cost of printing on demand is lower, since books are printed only when there is a buyer, and thus do not languish in a warehouse merely to be destroyed later” (The Economist, 2010). However, it has also proved to be quite successful for smaller companies for reducing the money wastage on unsold printed books. “For lower distribution academic presses, and self-publishing imprints, the benefits of a technology designed to remove almost all risk from the decision to publish lower profile titles has been welcomed with open arms” (Dammann, 2008), as it allows for the company to publish more titles and more authors without running the risk of them not selling. This technology has not only helped the sales of current books, but past books as well. The printing method allows for even books that aren’t current to be reprinted, which allows books to continue to produce revenue when they otherwise would have been out of print (Shatzkin, 2010). This is especially notable as it is bringing a new branch of revenue into the industry. Print on demand is not only beneficial for the publishers, but the industry as well. By basing the process from the Internet, it is allowing the industry to reach a much larger amount of people, as the geographical ground and the time and effort required to go to a bookstore are illuminated. It is using what the Internet is well known for, and applying it as a tool for the publishing industry.
Another form of distribution that the publishing industry has used as a tool for adapting to online media is the connection between hard copy forms of publishing and digital forms. Instead of the two mediums fighting against each other, publishing are linking soft copy publishing to hard copy publishing and vice versa. Many books now have the capability to connect the individual to content online that provides them with extra information, facts, details etc. Melville House is an example of the publishing industry putting this concept into practice. When an individual buys a printed book printed by Melville House, a Quick Response barcode is provided by the company which can then be scanned by a smart phone to access “supplemental material that the publisher is calling “illuminations.”” (Witt, 2011). Such ‘illuminations’ or supplementary material are extra information about the book including essays, poems, videos, lessons and even rules to games that appear in the book. The best part about these types of printed books are that they are an example of “an innovative publishing program that gives print books the features of enhanced eBooks” (Witt, 2011), giving them the interactivity that eBooks have whilst still being published. They likewise provide further motivation to buy hard copy books instead of soft copies. Such motivation is also evident in the linking of soft copy information to hard copy. Most books and publishing companies have formed websites to convince an individual to purchase the printed book. But many have taken this concept one-step further and created information teasers, especially in the form of videos. An example of this is a YouTube video created by David Gauntlett on his book ‘Making is Connecting’. The video he created provides the basic themes and concepts of the book that allow an individual to receive just enough information to not only understand what the book is about, but to want to find out more. Such methods not only create a stimulating way of finding out about a book, but also have the capability to connect what is considered the soft copy version of the book to the hardcopy version.
However, as history goes, new forms of technology never go without controversy, and publishing using the Internet as an instrument of adaptation is no exception. Whilst books have been quite successful in connecting hard copies and soft copies forms of publishing, magazines and newspapers in particular have not been as successful. Many magazines and newspapers have created paywalls on their websites, which basically allow an individual to view content up to a certain point. After this, they cannot access further information without paying/ subscribing. There are many debates regarding the effectiveness of paywalls in producing revenue for the industry. The New York Times found that by “erecting a paywall that that requires users to pony up digital subscription money after viewing more than 40 stories in a month actually helped the New York Times boost its Sunday print subscriptions – the first increase in print home delivery for the newspaper in five years” (Maurer, 2011). This is a positive for the print publishing industry, as it proves the paywalls potential to increase print revenue. However, others have lashed back at the paywall believing that people will instead just go to another website once they’ve reached the paywall threshold, with the newspaper making no money. The Guardian editor- in- chief, Alan Rusbridger also noted that the problem with paywalls is that they turn away from a world of openly shared content, which he believes is “about the most fundamental statement anyone could make about how newspapers see themselves in relation to the newly-shaped world" (Busfield, 2010). Despite their controversy, paywalls are still an example of how the publishing industry is converging online publishing and print publishing as a tool to adapting to the Internet.
The Internet and its power to gather, produce and spread information in a quick, easy and simple manner has caused quite a lot of speculation as to whether the need for the publishing industry still exists. However, the publishing industry is starting to prove that it in fact can still co-exist with the Internet without it being replaced. Instead of conforming and only publishing on online media, they are now using it as a tool for the industry. Publishing are using the Internets powerful capability to collect data in order to analyze the type of content that the public find most appealing. This is not only to give the public what they want, but additionally give them the best information without it being lost in white noise. Publishing is also creating new branches of distribution through the use of print on demand services that enable publishers to minimize the cost problems associated with printing books. Such services also allow consumers to save time and have a wider variety of books to choose from. Connections between online and print publishing have also been established to benefit the publishing industry. Concepts that connect books to online media and vice versa are already in play and are continuing to grow, whilst models such as paywalls are in existence, but are yet to prove their success. Nevertheless, all these tactics are practiced by the publishing industry and demonstrate that they are not being replaced but are instead slowly but surely finding ways to adapt to the powerful movement that is the Internet.
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Busfield, S. (2010, January 25). Guardian editor hits back at paywalls. Retrieved June 5, 2012, from The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/jan/25/guardian-editor-paywalls
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