For Cenveo Publisher Services, 2014 is the year digital strategies must deliver in terms of profits for its publisher clients. Publishers are figuring the best way to use technology to creating products and content that best serve their markets as well as their business. “There is no one-size-fits-all answer. Some markets—trade books, for instance—demand both print and digital offerings simultaneously whereas other markets such as STM journals require digital editions ahead of print version,” explains Cenveo marketing director Marianne Calilhanna, who believes that the tipping point of acceptance for digital products has been reached. So faced with publishers who have been investing heavily in technology for decades, how does Cenveo go about helping them put the “R” in “ROI” (return on investment)?
Simplifying app development is one of the ways. Cenveo offers three flexible app solutions that showcase complex content to engage readers and open digital revenue channels. The three different packages—Starter, Business or Custom editions—meet publishers’ requirements and budget while showcasing content in a modern app. Publishers provide the Cenveo team with PDF, XML or application files, and the Cenveo Mobile dPub framework flows the content into a rich mobile experience, allowing publishers to distribute content easily on any mobile devices.
Cenveo, which has more than 125 years of experience working with publishers to create the printed page, has used that understanding and experience to craft digital solutions that provide return on investment. One society publisher, for instance, needed to shift its peer-reviewed journals from print to digital-only in response to the business needs of its members who required immediate access to content via mobile devices. “We were already producing their print-ready XML files. So modifying those files and flowing them into the Cenveo Mobile dPub platform was a natural, and fast, solution,” notes Calilhanna.The Cenveo approach is to help publishers monetize content however they want. That includes in-app purchases, single-edition payments, multi-issue licenses, or all of these combined. “You can start at a digital baseline, capture user metrics such as devices used and time spent on specific content areas, and even facilitate user feedback,” says Calihanna. “You have the ability to test many concepts and evolve your digital path and offering. And the great thing that digital has over print is the speed in which these things can happen.”
Cenveo also can help publishers repackage its content. “Repackaging content is not a new concept. Special print editions, anthologies, and annual collections are familiar concepts to publishers. But with digital products, it is easier to envision ‘content remix’ and publishers are indeed combining assets to create new products. This is particularly common among educational publishers,” Calihanna says.
Users now expect both digital and print formats of content across devices, says Calilhanna. “But have publishers reached the expected return on digital products? Will readers pay for hybrid publication models? Are audiences looking for more than print replicas with a few interwoven pieces of rich media? These are some of the questions we ask in our publishing survey, Making Digital Pay, which gather metrics direct from the source.”
Take part in the survey at www.cenveopublisherservices.com/making-digital-pay. The responses, results and analysis will be published in a white paper and made available at the same address. Respondents will receive a free copy of the consolidated research and understand how their organization measures with others on the profitability scale. More information about the survey and Cenveo services is available from booth Q510.
