ABSTRACT

The digital environment continues to change at a rapid pace and the business of digital publishing is changing with it. Different sectors tell different stories and there is only room in an introduction like this to touch on some of the dilemmas they face. Each has its own particular challenges, but in each we can see a proactive approach to the opportunities on offer. Some sectors are further along the line of reinventing themselves than others. But also some changes are less seismic than perhaps was first thought – we are a long way from the death of print. We know also that issues such as discoverability are becoming critical to publishing, while other areas are taking on new dimensions, such as open access, and we need to see the implications of these. The problem with a book like this is that things are changing so quickly along all

aspects of the value chain that it is difficult to include everything and keep all these elements up to date. In any case, as digital business models continuously change, so learning about one way of doing things is fruitless. Rather, future employees in the industry need to be able to adapt quickly, understand the implications of strategies, be capable of experimentation, apply creativity to publishing solutions, be responsive to trends and quick to recognise when change is needed. This and more! And yet none of this is entirely new. Publishers have been entrepreneurial from the beginning and the industry has gone through periods of great change before now. The ability to spot good content, craft it for a marketplace, perfect methods of distribution, and communicate and celebrate the products has always been fundamental to publishing. So understanding how different models have developed and how they are evolving is important for seeing how things can continuously change but still be rooted in the skills and expertise that the industry has always had. Exploring the various responses to critical issues such as copyright or pricing is also important as a way of understanding what problems and opportunities exist moving forward. From what we have seen, there is no doubt that the industry does need to look at

ways to reorganise itself quickly in relation to the changing marketplace; in many cases it is well on the way to doing this, though in other aspects it is at the start of this process. More significantly, the industry needs to understand the changing consumer. Reading habits are changing in a fundamental way; consumer behaviour and consumer expectations are being altered by the digital world, so the industry does need to pay attention and understand how it can become focused on different sorts of readers. Publishers need to take this right to the point of reassessing how books work, moving from linearity to connectivity, understanding what level of involvement a reader wants with the content, whether it is a researcher annotating with additional notes or a fan engaging with others to write additional material (while still also catering for those

who like the escapism and solitude of reading a good story). The consumer is much more in control now and publishers will need to continue to be much more sophisticated in understanding consumers’ demands. What is still a huge challenge for publishers is the fact they are operating increasingly

in an environment where other companies, outside the traditional publishing industry, are influencing the way it behaves. In this way, the boundary of the marketplace in which they move has changed from one that was reasonably contained to one where they are at the mercy of other people’s business models. It is this, in many ways, which is forcing the biggest change on the industry. Some criticise a company like Elsevier dominating a marketplace in the STM area, but that is not necessarily so different from the way Amazon could be said to dominate the internet retail space. Is the behaviour of the publishing industry that we can see now as it comes to terms

with these issues simply a route to a final goal, a fully transitioned digital publisher? Or should we, rather, see this as the way it is from now on; publishers will need to be constantly changing and innovating, continuously responsive to an environment that is continuously moving? In this case, publishers will need to be quick at adopting new methods of working in order to be agile in the digital age. As they move into these bigger digital environments, they may also need to spend more time explaining why they remain necessary. Publishers, who have traditionally been modest about their brand names and perhaps a little distant in their own direct contact with customers, need to assert themselves and explain what it is they do; and also continue to show, as they have always done, that they can do it extremely well.