Uncertainty is one big obstacle holding publishers back from outsourcing their distribution, observes CEO Gareth Cuddy of ePubDirect. “As the marketplace shifts, margins are squeezed on print, and industry reports showing e-book prices for bestsellers continue to average between $2.99 and $7.99, publishers are cautious about entering the e-book market. But distribution services such as ePubDirect not only share the digital publishing expertise but also allow publishers to access new markets, grow sales internationally and ultimately sell more books.”
And publishers do have a much stronger appetite to sell content directly to consumers nowadays, says executive director of publishing services Walter Walker of code-Mantra, attributing it “to either the U.S. Department of Justice’s decision on e-book price-fixing or simply the astonishing level of activities in the e-book retail business. But the XML-first mandate is one that many publishers find intimidating, and our goal is to use highly efficient plug-ins and templates at the prepress stage without disrupting the traditional Word-to-InDesign authoring environment.”
For co-founder and president Kevin Franco of Calgary-based Enthrill, the loss of retail discovery for books is a major industry change. “While many companies are focused on remedying this online, few have addressed the issue at the physical store level. Part of our offering addresses this by placing title-specific e-book gift cards in mass retail stores, thereby introducing discovery within high-traffic locations to a digital product. Additionally, our ability to fulfill e-books to any reading device means we can partner with mass retail stores, giving them the tools to compete online as well.”
The extent to which self-publishing has become not just a source of well-priced reads but also a segment where authors move the fastest to meet reader demands is something not to be ignored, says Kobo’s chief content officer Michael Tamblyn. “Take the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon. While many bricks-and-mortar retailers are struggling to match year-on-year sales after the blockbuster series ended, we had surprising growth because self-published authors saw what readers wanted and started writing. We had new titles to recommend in that genre that didn’t come from traditional publishing and were not available in bookstores. Quite a few landed on our bestseller list. So while some traditional publishers may roll their eyes and mutter ‘genre fiction’, anyone who doesn’t think that this marks an epochal shift in the business is in for a shock.”
As for technology trends, two are obvious to COO Michael Cairns of Publishing Technology: disaggregated content and responsive Web design. “Instead of regarding digital publishing as putting monolithic content on the Web, publishers should consider utilizing format-independent technologies to break down books, textbooks and journals into digital components—chapters, summaries, images, tests, and so on—that can be more easily discovered, remixed and sold anew. It will require a shift in emphasis but it will generate opportunities for new revenues. Publishers also need a Web-based approach that allows them to maintain one site to serve all devices and screen sizes while providing support for Web pages and features with fluid and flexible layouts.”
Still, monetizing content and distributing titles online is easier said than done. CEO Kris Srinaath of Qbend advises: “Firstly, publishers need to be able to get their content to work in different sales channels and platforms that are available out there with minimal cost and maximum speed. Secondly, they need to link their content to the needs of their consumers and thus increase their sales. This can only happen when they have the means of communicating, interacting and engaging consumers on their own.”And amid talks of challenges and changes, big data and cloud computing remain hot topics.
Krishna Tewari of Datamatics finds that “one of the biggest misconceptions is that many clients think of big data only from the volume, storage, retrieval or sales data analysis perspectives. In fact, there are two aspects to big data: volume and velocity. In publishing, we are used to large volume of data, which is the content. But the social media and other mediums like Twitter, Facebook and review sites are generating as large an amount of data at a much faster pace. The ability to capture and analyze the data without incurring massive infrastructure cost is therefore the key to big data application.”
The publishing world, adds Cuddy of ePubDirect, “has been slow to take advantage of big data. There is a distinct lack of real-time analytics available to e-book publishers, making it difficult for them to gauge how their e-books are performing. It also hampers their ability to take advantage of fleeting trends. So publishers with real-time analytics can set themselves apart by possessing vast amounts of information that can be drilled down to the minutiae, giving them previously unrealized insight into what is selling, what is not, who is buying and where and online inventory compliance data.”
Managing data requirements is becoming a necessity, acknowledges executive director Vinay Singh of Thomson Digital, adding that his company has embraced semantic tagging and big data. “Our support crosses three dimensions—the volume of data being collected, the velocity or ability to analyze the data in real time, and the variety of structured or unstructured information including text, videos, images, log files or click streams. Analyzing various data sets can help editors and publishers make informed decisions about how to develop, package and deliver content using the right tools.”
Meanwhile, cloud computing is finally starting to take off, observes CEO Nizam Ahmed of DiTech Process Solutions. “It benefits the digital services industry in many ways. Cloud-based server, for instance, has enabled DiTech and its e-platform STUDYeBUDDY to offer content and information access from any system, online or offline, regardless of where it was last stored or saved. It is also less expensive and more convenient because of its built-in back-up, monitoring and firewall system. It is also fast in terms of deployment speed, and you only pay for what you use.”
The following pages highlight what some companies in the digital space are doing at Frankfurt.
This year, senior v-p of sales Jeff Statler and sales director Marion Morrow will be meeting customers at the fair to share the latest on its modular workflow solutions for publishers.
Several new products announced recently include Global Pro-Edit, Cenveo XML Suite, InDesign automation and PDF-XML correction tool. Global Pro-Edit, for instance, is an online pre-editing system for editors and authors to apply editorial and stylistic updates to documents that will be delivered to downstream production tools. “Cenveo XML Suite, meanwhile, receives XML input files and validates it to ensure conformance with industry standard DTDs such as JATS, NLM, DocBook, NIMAS and DITA,” explains marketing director Marianne Calilhanna, adding that the latter continuously validates content throughout the workflow after any automated transformation.
Summit Professional Network, for instance, is using Cenveo’s InDesign automated workflow solution to produce PDF and XML for its magazines and books. The team configured a publishing workflow that uses Summit’s multiple magazine templates and streamlines the content delivery into InDesign. For another client, Georgetown University Law Center, Cenveo Publishing Lab developed an online e-commerce solution for students to order and retrieve coursepack content from any browser or mobile device. The e-commerce capability has resulted in immediate revenue as well as cost savings in content production and resources for the center.
Another product, Mobile dPub, now has 60 new customers. “We are launching an STM journal app—with evolving features and toolsets that scale with business needs—that eases the entry of scholarly publications into the mobile world. Mobile dPub can import either PDF or XML content and deliver a unique mobile experience based on customer needs. So while we may not know exactly what is the next big thing in publishing, we do know that having content in XML will get you there faster,” says Calilhanna, whose team launched Cenveo Publisher Services Blog (http://cenveopublisherservices.com/blog/) to keep publishers apprised of industry trends, technology and general topics of interest to the community.
For more on Cenveo’s products, innovation and sample projects, please contact Calilhanna (Marianne.calihanna@cenveo.com or +1.267.640.9158) for an appointment.
“Publishers can look to us to compose, produce, convert, enrich and manage their content as well as to help them distribute and control the resale of their content. If not a theme, then I would say that ‘manuscript to market’ is certainly a mantra for us,” says executive director of publishing services Walter Walker. This integration of publishing services and software is provided through collectionPoint (cP), its trademarked Web-based digital asset management and distribution platform. “cP continues to evolve into more than just a digital archive, and with the cPTitle Management module, we now provide clients with a collaborative, responsive and transparent production environment,” Walker says. The new module also offers systematic processes for dynamic capture and management of financial data and bibliographic metadata across a publisher’s entire value chain.
“Many customers use cP as their dedicated workflow platform, for which internal and outsourced production and conversion suppliers submit and retrieve all manner of work-in-progress. And with more than 1,100 employees based in Chennai, we are both the software provider and outsourced service provider. So you can say that we represent both workflow and workforce solutions for publishers.” Meanwhile, new production toolsets are being integrated into its traditional offshore workflow to create cleaner and more efficient XML extraction. Such tools, adds Walker, “create well-formed XML, valid against any DTD, from a traditional Word-to-InDesign workflow, and are designed for complex STM and higher-ed content.”
Recent months have seen codeMantra strengthening its overseas presence especially in Spain, Mexico and Brazil. “Director Greg Bateman of Hondana—our Brazilian services/software partner—will be here, and we invite all Brazilian publishers to stop by our stand to explore our software and services, as well as examine sample Portuguese digital products.” Newly hired Lucy Sharp, formerly of Lightning Source, is now its senior sales manager for the U.K. and Western Europe, and will also be at the fair.
For more on cP, cPTitle Management and a sneak preview of cP 3.5 (set for Spring 2014 release), drop by stand M147 in Hall 8.0. A live demonstration of the cP platform will also take place in the Digital Zone.
“We have upgraded our digitization capabilities to cover non-English languages, especially German, French, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean and Chinese,” says president Amit Vohra, who has just completed a manga series with right-to-left EPub conversion.
His team currently converts about one million pages per month into XML and EPub formats. “Our conversion services are divided into four parts: large-scale XML conversions for newspapers; digitization of books, journals and magazines in DocBook, PRISM and other proprietary XML formats; e-book conversions in both reflowable and fixed layouts; and enhanced media-rich e-book creation,” adds Vohra, citing art development, photo research, page design for educational textbooks, and XML-first books and journals as his focus on publishing services.
One large-scale conversion project using Digital Replica Plus EPub format, for instance, required an unprecedented level of embedded interactivities. “Up to 700 magazines and 200 newspapers—in French, Dutch, Spanish, German and other European languages—are digitized monthly with a turnaround time between 24 and 48 hours upon receipt. By deploying our purpose-built proprietary software, we can work with multiple PDF formats and layouts, and control the system access so that some team members can only work within a certain publication while others can work across several levels. This workflow has been effective in providing customized solutions in both traditional and new formats regardless of volume or workflow complexity,” says Vohra.
Another project on social studies with an instructional model required stunning visuals, graphics and media-rich interactivities to increase student engagement. “Oxygen was used as the XHTML editor for the structural authoring while the course authoring involved the creation of sharable content objects such as flipbook, infographics and image galleries. We also took on instructional design, photo research and management, artwork development and cartography. Collaborative brainstorming right at the start and comprehensive rounds of reviews were critical to its success,” adds Vohra.
For more on Contentra’s solutions and sample projects, head over to stand L151 in Hall 8.0, or e-mail Vohra (amit.vohra@contentratechnologies.com) for an appointment. Or attend its “Transforming Content for the New World of Ebooks, Apps, Tablets and Mobile Devices” presentation at Hall 8.0’s HotSpot Digital Innovation on October 10, from 1:30 p.m. to 1:50 p.m.
This year, the team is focused on introducing various full-service models, including assessments and digital product deliveries, to European book and journal publishers, says Krishna Tewari, global head for digital publishing and retail solutions (DPRS). “Both DPRS and PreMedia Global [which will be merged] have been the market drivers in this area, and Frankfurt allows us to showcase these technologies to major industry players. We will also launch a white-label EPub3 reader app sPark, rights management solution RightPhoto, and HTML5-based authoring and publishing solution.” Going forward, the combined DPRS and PreMedia Global offerings will be organized into Intelligence, Content, Design, Digital and Learning solutions to cover end-to-end needs of publishers of all segments.
Over at Datamatics-Open Source Practice, business is brisk as publishers test and prepare for both open source and big data. “The first order of business for most of our customers has been to move and consolidate existing portals and delivery platforms from proprietary to open source, followed by analysis and data gathering. We are currently in strategic design and review phase for one major American publisher in these areas,” says Tewari, adding that DPRS services have helped a corporate client (with 80 million patents in different repositories) to increase performance by as much as 20-fold in terms of total cost of ownership. “We have also helped one online content publisher to consolidate over 70 sites and save money by implementing open source solutions.”
For one of Europe’s largest university presses, the team is developing an advanced form of EPub3 e-book with more than 25 types of interactivities that allow user to save comments within the book itself, for instance. “Such application is enabled within the EPub framework without deploying individual apps model,” explains Tewari, whose team also provides specialized multi-year service on legal content summation and abstraction for one major aggregator.
Demonstrations on various topics—making e-books interactive, Flash to HTML5 migration, publishing a book as an app, rights and permissions management, and big data, for instance—will be held at stand B56 in Hall 4.0 regularly throughout the first three days of the fair.
SSPARKL, a vibrant content delivery solution, gets the center stage at diacriTech at this fair. “Device-agnostic SSPARKL enables content creation and distribution with portable and dynamic viewing solution, and it uses industry standard HTML for vendor and platform neutrality,” explains executive v-p A.R.M. Gopinath, adding that SSPARKL also has social media features, interactivities, multimedia elements and LMS integration capabilities that makes it ideal for e-learning or training. “SSPARKL is great for custom publishing as it is based on XML and has a secure repository system for product customization. It offers publishers immense value creation for their content. SSPARKL e-reader, on the other hand, manages e-books in an ergonomic GUI [graphical user interface], which is very user-friendly and can be customized by the end user to suit their reading preferences,” Gopinath says.
The creation of SSPARKL, adds Gopinath, is prompted by the multitude of devices and e-readers that do not quite meet customer requirements. “A survey that we conducted among students, teachers, enablers and publishers threw these shortcomings into focus. Interestingly, 15 years ago, we actually created a product similar to SSPARKL but it was obviously far ahead of its time. Now, we have recreated—and added a sparkle—to this technology-driven product to fit the current scenario.”
For Gopinath, understanding client’s challenges and requirements has been the key to diacriTech’s success. “For instance, we have parlayed our math expertise to support many of our solutions that help clients create better products. Our patent-pending InXML, a true XML-first software for InDesign, now enables iBook Author automation, universal ePUB and supports SSPARKL. We recently used InXML for a client who is planning to eventually take his content through to handheld devices. The 4,500-page series went to print and handheld markets seamlessly faster than the time frame that our client had anticipated.”
Head over to stand D96 in Hall 4.2 to understand more about SSPARKL, InXML and other diacriTech products. The launch of SSPARKL will take place at the HotSpot Education on October 9 at 10:00 a.m. in Hall 8.0, and on October 10 at 10:30 a.m. in Hall 4.2.
Seven months after its launch, STUDYeBUDDY now offers e-content from 32 publishers, including Usborne, Crabtree Publishing, Kendall Hunt, Carson-Dellosa, Pustak Mahal, Popular Prakashan and Aardash Books. “Another 40 publishers are set to join this hassle-free e-platform to store and access content,” says founder and CEO Nizam Ahmed of DiTech Process Solution, pointing out that the eLibrary’s EPub-based content can be read anywhere at any time through iOS and Android apps. Secure access and a DRM system is another key feature.
“STUDYeBUDDY ensures that different educational requirements are met while offering best-quality audio/video learning materials. For instance, medical students in India will be able to access videos to better understand specific medical procedures performed by doctors around the world. Users can highlight important points, write notes, add bookmarks and perform robust key word search while reading content online as well as offline—thus providing a personalized reading experience,” says Ahmed. Its built-in B2B capabilities further offer two options: subscription for educational institutions requiring customized e-content packages, and retail for customers purchasing e-books on a perpetual access basis.
With the STUDYeBUDDY portal and DiTech’s digital publishing solutions, clients now have access to an end-to-end solution. “We take care of every aspect in creating a book, from copyediting to content development to converting it into multiple e-formats. At this fair, we will be promoting TypeFi Publish and indexing. TypeFi’s accelerated proofing and composition processes enable up-to-the-minute content, faster publication cycle and instant online updates, with a one-click button to get to multiple outputs in XML, EPub, PDF and print PDF. Visitors to our stand B85 in Hall 4.0 will get to know more TypeFi Publish features.” DiTech currently works with Insight Guides (U.K.) on this system.
“Our services, both STUDYeBUDDY and digital publishing solutions, are direct results of our constant R&D for innovative solutions. STUDYeBUDDY, for instance, is targeted at India’s 100 million active Internet users, which are expected to grow to 237 million by 2015,” adds Ahmed, emphasizing that this new market potential is too attractive for publishers, international and national alike, to ignore.
“We are proud to announce the launch of Endpaper Editor, a cloud-based software that enables users to upload e-book files, generate download codes and create promotional campaigns with unprecedented flexibility,” says co-founder and president Kevin Franco, adding that “publishers can now fulfill bulk corporate sales orders from one fulfillment engine to all reading devices while maintaining control over their content and connecting directly with the consumer.”
Enthrill was the first company to bring e-book gift cards to mass-market retail stores with its proprietary software, Endpaper, delivering e-books to any device. “We offer a complete fulfillment engine that facilitates direct corporate sales for publishers and authors. Mass retailers and anyone wanting to distribute to consumers across all existing channels can benefit from Enthrill’s device-agnostic approach, which is accompanied by Endpaper Editor for catalogue and promotions management,” adds Franco, whose team were able to deliver—with just a few simple e-mails upon receipt of the first request—the redemption codes to an educational institute wanting to distribute 3,500 e-book copies of Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People as a gift to graduating students.
Several publishers have participated in the retail program with dozens of books available in Safeway and Federated Coop stores in Canada. “Open Road Media and RosettaBooks, for instance, recognize the opportunities with e-books, and they are taking active advantage of Endpaper to facilitate corporate, bulk and special sales,” says Franco, emphasizing the fact that the company is focused on both technology and intellectual property. “Our mission is to help publishers and authors gain control of their distribution and fulfill e-book content direct to consumers. Having our own purpose-built fulfillment engine gives us great flexibility in e-book file delivery.” Endpaper delivers EPub, iBook, Mobi/KF8 or PDF files to tablets, readers, phones and computers on iOS, Windows, Android, or proprietary e-ink devices.
“We are seeking forward-thinking publishers and strategic partners all over the globe, so come and talk with us and let’s see what we can be accomplished together. Drop by stand S92 in Hall 8.0 for more information and demonstration on Enthrill products and services,” Franco says.
For CEO Gareth Cuddy, the unveiling of eBookInsights takes the center stage. “With print books, publishers receive delivery confirmation, agree to recommended retail prices and can be reasonably confident that their titles will be on the shelf at the agreed prices. With e-books, this is not the case. It is possible to obtain the information by checking every online outlet but such exercise is laborious and costly. Our innovative online inventory checker eBookInsights eliminates this data black hole by getting the information publishers need as often as they like and produces exception reports that they can use to fix the errors.”
Continuous improvement on the simplicity and user-friendliness of its e-book distribution is important to Cuddy as new international sales channels, consolidated reporting features and new clients are added. “Random House Group U.K. and Australia, for instance, switched to ePubDirect in April. With thousands of titles, numerous imprints and varying delivery requirements, this publisher has been a true test of our system’s ability to scale and adapt,” says Cuddy, adding that the seamless title migration took less than two months to complete. Hunter Textbooks, Michigan State University, IMF, Hot Key Books, The Ivy Group and Osprey Group also moved to ePubDirect, resulting in its rapid expansion and a new office in Oxford, U.K., in the past year.
“One of our key strengths,” adds Cuddy, “is the ability to provide publishers with real-time data and detailed analytics on the performance of their titles—a critical element of a successful e-book strategy. Such insights allow them to react quickly to opportunities in certain markets, problems with particular titles, or seasonal trends. Our distribution platform’s agility and scalability remains a key differentiator in an increasingly crowded market as it delivers and does what it promises.”
Cuddy will be speaking about information black holes and eBookInsights on October 9, 12:00 p.m., at Hall 8.0’s Digital Innovation Hot Spot, and co-hosting an event with new client Turpin Distribution (stand L27 Hall 4.2) at 4:30 p.m. He and his team will also demonstrate ePubDirect’s next-generation e-book analytics and distribution service at stand M170 in Hall 8.0.
Visitors to stand G41 in Hall 8.0 will get to enjoy Kobo’s many content and product demonstrations—including the newly released Aura, Arc 7, Arc 7HD and Arc 10HD models—in a living room setting complete with a fireplace and comfortable furniture. The new product line-up based on Kobo’s Reading Life, says chief content officer Michael Tamblyn, “enables the collection, curation and discovery of content. It helps readers to discover more of the content they are interested in through our all-new Beyond the Book user experience. It highlights key topics within a book and provides aggregated content from across the Web known as Collections. Featured Collections are further personalized with Kobo’s own editorial voice as well as respected influencers such as authors, publishers and experts in their field.”
Reading Life allows customization through the usage of TypeGenius and features such as tracking reading with fun stats and awards, sharing favorite passages or quotes with Facebook Timeline as well as personalizing recommendations and reading offers. (Kobo has partnered with San Francisco-based Pocket to enable readers to save articles and other Web content to their e-ink devices.)
Kobo has also introduced a simple one-tap interface that enables readers to go from one text column to the next without zooming and panning. “We remove distractions such as the toolbar to create a cleaner interface that focuses on the content. This new experience, developed with the same digital publishing tools that we offer to publishers and authors, significantly improves the reading experience,” adds Tamblyn.
Popular fashion, science, business and technology magazines are now available from Kobo in North America, with global access by the end of the year. A much expanded 100,000-title kids store is also up and running with special features allowing parents to set up dedicated accounts for their kids, allocate spending allowances, pre-select e-titles, adjust search-settings to ensure their kids read safely, set reading goals and track their reading progress.
At this fair, Kobo will host an in-booth party celebrating Brazil on October 10, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., with exclusive author readings by Paulo Lins, Bernardo Carvalho, Fàbio Moon and Gabriel Bá.
“We are launching ScholarStor, our third-generation cloud-based delivery platform for books, journals and reference works, at this fair,” says CMO Rahul Arora, adding that the hosted solution empowers publishers to manage and render content across multiple channels. “The platform has numerous innovative features, including a flexible administration tool for unique publisher needs, a robust subscription and e-commerce module, extensive marketing scalability, and rich discoverability functionalities.” ScholarStor is also powered by its analytics platform MPS Insight to allow seamless consumption of real-time user intelligence including COUNTER-4 and sales reports.
“The creation of ScholarStor is made possible by our software development division, MPS Technologies. This team of 100-plus software developers also allows us to offer continued maintenance and responsive support for the ScholarStor platform,” adds Arora, who will also showcase MPS’s flagship digital publishing platform DigiCore. “Specific DigiCore modules have gained significant momentum in the market since its launch at last year’s fair. We were recently awarded large editorial and production programs for a leading scientific society and also for a global health information services company, where the combined DigiEdit and DigiComp modules provide for a richer editorial experience while powering automated production processes.”
His team also implemented MPS Trak for a global publisher with scholarly works in disciplines such as business, management, education, health care and engineering. “MPS Trak is the workflow management module that extends beyond DigiCore, and this comprehensive cloud-based publishing workflow solution manages the tracking, information and reporting elements of the publishing process. For this project, the implementation was completed within three months, much to the delight of our client.”
One emerging trend that Arora has observed and appreciated is the early involvement of the publishing client’s IT division in digital product development. “This places MPS in a unique position as we have a IT support division, and our role has expanded to offering integrated services across content development, delivery and analytics. The value that we provide to clients translates to developing transformative digital products in reduced time-to-market and costs.”
Head over to stand P17 in Hall 4.2 for more information on innovative MPS products and solutions, and product demonstrations.
With its recent collaboration with China National Publications Import and Export Corp. in the spotlight, it is natural for Publishing Technology to promote its advance enterprise system, pub2web custom hosting platform, ingentaconnect turnkey hosting solution and Publishers Communication Group (PCG) sales and marketing consultancy at this fair.
“We are highlighting our PCG Sao Paulo office, which provides sales representation, marketing services and library conference exhibits in Brazil and throughout the wider region,” says marketing manager Michael Groth, adding that PCG vice-president for Brazil will be on hand to meet with publishers looking to reach the Latin American market. “Trade and large publishers will also be interested in Order to Cash, our next-generation digital + print marketing and distribution platform, which is available on its own or as a part of our advance system. It allows publishers to maintain their print business while also embracing digital, and to package, market, sell and deliver content in whatever formats that readers demand, wherever and whenever they want it. We are also promoting the theme of optimizing content and the user experience,” says Groth.
The company is currently implementing Global Product Manager for HarperCollins on its advance framework. Adds Groth, “This major undertaking unifies and centralizes HarperCollins’s editorial, marketing and business data around the world, and subsequently widens the reach of its print and digital publications in core target markets.” Egmont Kids Media is also using the advance framework to more effectively manage and monetize rights, sub-rights, fragments and permissions across the company. Then there are bespoke Web-based projects through its pub2web platform for the American Society of Microbiology and the American Institute of Physics that integrate multiple content types with various semantic enrichment features. “We have also just launched our first e-books-only site for Paris-based content aggregator Numérique Premium, integrating over 1,500 titles within 14 collections from 30 publishers.”
Drop by stand M35 in Hall 4.2 to explore more of its products and services, and hear what CEO George Lossius has to say at the “What is a Publisher Now?” panel on October 9, 10:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m., at Hall 4.2’s SPARKS stage.
An integrated book-selling platform is the theme at Qbend this year. “We are introducing two new services—digital marketing and content distribution—which, along with the option to sell e-books and print books, custom and multichannel publishing as well as consumer analytics, will provide a complete toolset to get into the online book-selling market,” says COO Kaushik Sampath.
“Integrated marketing is focused on driving more traffic to our client’s eStore and engaging with their consumers via social media so as to increase our client’s ROI. It is a major service offered to publishers using our eStore to sell their print or e-books,” adds Sampath, explaining that “the hottest topic among online communities has been about ‘the social publisher.’ It is about how publishers integrate their marketing plans to leverage on the data gathered from their consumers’ purchasing patterns. With our integrated marketing service, we give publishers the perfect platform—their own branded eStore—to get in front of their consumers, engage them in conversations and provide content that are suited to their needs.”
Such eStore features have seen more publishers, especially those new to international sales, signing up with Qbend this year. Some have gone on to discover that the ability to expand internationally and capture new markets has contributed a lot to their businesses. Sales & marketing director Sheri Dean of Business Expert Press, for instance, finds that “selling to the far corners of the world has led to increased positive branding of our company”.
Meanwhile, Elsevier is using Qbend’s custom and multichannel publishing system S.N.A.P. (search, navigate, assemble, publish) to take their customized content offerings direct to the customers. Sampath and his team are also creating an eStore for Amar Chitra Katha, one of India’s top children’s publishing houses and a household brand name in that segment.
For more on Qbend’s solutions, head over to its stands (M132 in Hall 8.0 and P94 in Hall 4.2), or attend its presentation titled “Accelerate Your Ebook Business” at HotSpot Digital Innovation on October 10, 11:30–11:50 a.m. and October 11, 10:30–10:50 a.m.
Alongside its revolutionary 1P1P (One Person One Project) workflow, Thomson Digital will also demonstrate and launch its flagship web-based TD-XPS platform, which allows for a consolidated workflow, fastest possible time-to-market and reduced cost of production.
“Enabling a smart and lean workflow from input acceptance through to multichannel delivery is what 1P1P is about. This is facilitated by TD-XPS, which enables a robust XML-based production workflow that integrates authoring, reviewing, editing, formatting and multichannel delivery from a single content source. Production-cycle time is significantly reduced to the minimum, giving our partners the ability to radically transform their publishing process and match their consumer’s demand for dynamic and multiplatform content,” says executive director Vinay Singh, pointing out that TD-XPS’s high degree of automation further captures the granular essence of the content, limiting manual intervention while delivering consistent quality at unparalleled speed.
TD-XPS, explains Singh, is devised not only to benefit large publishers but also small presses, society publishers and self-published authors who have been unable to harness such technology in the past due to cost and resource issues. “TD-XPS is uniquely poised to let users pick and choose the tools needed and customize them to fit their needs. It also allows them to define their profiles and scale their licensing as required,” adds Singh, who has set up an office in Brazil, and plans to further strengthen Thomson Digital’s presence in the Spanish and French markets while expanding its South American and North African operations.
His team is currently working on a two-year 80,000-title conversion project to generate bibliographic data containing citations, abstracts and references for cross-platform publishing. “It started with a mapping process to cover all DTD elements that are needed to populate the output data format. The most challenging parts are identifying author information, and searching for book metadata and abstracts that often involve more than three different sources, including PDF/XML/ONIX input files and the publisher’s databases,” explains Singh.
To learn more about Thomson Digital and its capabilities, visit stand M100 in Hall 4.2, or contact senior manager for business development Padma Krishnamurthy (padma.k@thomsondigital.com) for a closer look at TD-XPS and 1P1P.
