The Moschovitis Group, a 14-year-old Manhattan-based book packager specializing in reference books and digital publishing services, originally developed Tobin (To Be In charge), its online content management system, to manage its own reference book projects. Now the company is offering the system as a subscription service to publishers.
Valerie Tomaselli, president of the Moschovitis Group's publishing division, told PW that Tobin was developed in-house to "help us plan, track and produce complex, multi-contributor book products." The service consists of a password-protected logon to a book project Web site. The site offers a Web page describing the project and different levels of access and information geared for managers, editors, authors, contributors or guests who simply want to review the project.
Tobin, explained Tomaselli, is essentially a production database of projects in progress, and it can store virtually every item necessary to complete a book project, particularly scientific and technical works. Tobin was developed by the company to allow its clients to logon at any time and track the editorial and production progress of their books. And while Tomaselli acknowledged that many publishers have their own in-house versions of Tobin, she claims that nothing else offers both the Web-based convenience and broad multiple-user access that Tobin supplies.
Tobin offers an adjustable number of data fields that allow project managers or editors to track articles, word counts, budgets and writer fees both in part and in total. The service stores a vast array of information, ranging from due dates to permissions.
The service charges about $2,500 to $3,000 per month to manage up to 10 projects simultaneously. Tomaselli said that "publishers are interested" in Tobin, "but are concerned about pricing." The service is also available on a per-project basis for about $300 to $400 per month. Both rates are offered as three-year contracts. The Moschovitis Group Web site is located at www.mosgroup.com.
