The Business of Digital Publishing

An Introduction to the Digital Book and Journal Industries

Frania Hall

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9780429751622
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Media Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

Thoroughly revised and updated throughout, the second edition of The Business of Digital Publishing provides an essential introduction to the development of digital products in the book and journal industries today.

Offering a fundamental overview of the main technological developments that have influenced the growth of digital publishing, the author introduces students to the key terms and concepts that make digital publishing possible. The four key publishing sectors (professional reference, academic, education and trade) are explored in detail, providing students with the technical literacy to understand digital developments and examine the growth of new business models. In this edition, sections have been updated to address the growth of audiobooks, reading apps, metadata, and open access, while original case studies address key issues such as digital-first publishing, EPUB, social media and crowdsourcing. Also covered are the key issues and debates that face the industry as a whole, such as pricing and copyright, and their impact on the industry is explored through relevant case studies. Taken together, the chapters examine the challenges of digital publishing and explore the opportunities it provides to develop new and diverse audiences.

The Business of Digital Publishing remains an invaluable resource for any publishing student looking for a starting point from which to explore the world of digital publishing.

Part ITechnology context for digital publishing

Introduction to Part I

DOI: 10.4324/9780429423314-3

In this part we will look at:

1. 1Developments in technology that led to digital production and new workflows
2. 2Data structure that forms the basic building blocks of any digital product
3. 3Web development and the implications for digital content
4. 4Information architecture and content management for digital products
5. 5The development and growth of e-readers and ebooks

In order to understand the decisions that publishers face with regard to developing digital businesses it is important to have a basic level of understanding about the technology involved. It is useful to see how the technology has developed and what the key building blocks are for publishing products as it can explain some of the reasons why the industry has developed in a certain way. It is also helpful to understand some of the basics behind the technology as it can impact on digital strategies in different ways. It can make it clearer why certain aspects of digital publishing cost what they do, something that is often questioned.

This part of the book therefore outlines the main technical aspects of digital production and digital products. It explains the evolution of some of the main technologies that are key to the creation and distribution of digital products today, showing how this history has influenced the way these products work. It also looks at some of the current technological developments that may well be key to newer digital products, as well as drivers for the industry and its structure for the future.

This part is not very technical but should provide enough information for the non-specialist to understand the basic components of the digital publishing environment. It selects those developments most useful when considering the way the industry is moving in terms of digital products. It does not go into detail about the way the technology works. However, by putting some of the main technical issues into the publishing context it aims to provide a useful starting point for the rest of the book.

1Developments towards digital production

DOI: 10.4324/9780429423314-4

Introduction

Publishing has been operating in a digital environment for decades. The production of content via digital processes developed alongside many of the key developments in computing for the general user. The digital environment has been the main way of processing information for some time and print products have for decades involved digital production methods. Some sectors of publishing have advanced more quickly down this route than others and it was those sectors, such as the professional and academic arenas, that developed genuinely digital products first, as we will see in Part II.

Developments towards digital publishing

What exists today has developed from various strands. These include:

• typesetting
• word processing
• desktop publishing (DTP)
• development of databases

Typesetting

Typesetting systems developed during the 1970s as publishers sought to streamline the time-consuming process of setting type. Manuscripts, previously marked up by hand and then typed into an electronic format, had code embedded in them at this stage to ease the creation of layout. These systems tended in the first place to be large commercial systems with special keyboards that allowed typesetters to label aspects of the layout such as headings, font styles and paragraphs. A variety of different codes developed (such as TeX and Troff) as different companies adopted different systems. Each had strengths and weaknesses for the user depending on the different operating systems and different levels of user-friendliness. The system was not electronic from end to end; to see what pages set this way would look like, typesetters had to output to paper.

Generic typesetting code began to be developed and screens were able to show what the text would look like once set, without the need for generating paper versions. This saw the development of ‘what you see is what you get’ (WYSIWYG). Large publishers developed their own systems (e.g. Oxford University Press and Wiley). Mathematical and scientific texts were especially critical in these early stages of development as it was this content that required complicated page layout; streamlining this complexity therefore would have clear benefits.

Word processing

In parallel to these developments, advances in word processing were growing rapidly during the 1980s, and ways of creating or generating text within a digital environment therefore were growing alongside the manipulation of the text by the typesetting systems. Early word processors were being developed by a variety of companies, using different hardware and software, so offices often had dedicated word processing machines to replace their typewriters, possibly with linked printers (usually of poor quality). Typesetting from these was tricky as the variety of systems meant it was difficult for a typesetting program to cope with them, and printouts were low quality, so while work could be authored in a digital format, the text was still often rekeyed at the typesetters’ end.

Proprietary hardware for the consumer market broadly disappeared and the range of consumer computers reduced in number essentially to a choice between Mac and PC. Operating systems suited to personal computers began to settle around a few main companies too. As personal computing grew, so word processing packages were developed as part of a suite of software for PC and Mac hardware. Mac developed more advanced systems for showing a user what their work might look like on the screen (and today the Mac is the designer’s choice for its more sophisticated software in this area); as you could see what you were doing on screen, it was easier to make corrections on screen too. PC, however, gained popularity as a desktop option for business and individuals.

Desktop publishing systems

There followed developments in desktop publishing systems, which could manage a variety of layout issues and allowed for the creation of templates that made publishing easier to manage on screen. Publishing became easier to do in-house without using external contractors for the page make-up. This was helped by rapid improvements in the printers available at a consumer prices that could generate high resolution prints. As with the original word-processing packages, a wider range of new DTP systems developed, of which only a few survived, leading the market finally to coalesce broadly around QuarkXpress and InDesign. One other key development towards digitised production processes was the growth of postscript files – the system by which a file can speak to a printer. This allowed content to be output to postscript files ready for printing.

Database

Database developments formed a further strand in the growth of digital technologies for publishing. Databases had existed for a long time as a way of storing information. The issue was getting information out of a database in order to send it to production, and in doing so embedding the relevant typesetting codes in order to format it as necessary. The aim was to produce material that did not need rekeying from the database – as entries were always the same, content was more likely to retain its integrity if it did not have to be manipulated more than necessary; it only had to be input once and extracted as needed in whatever format was required. Lloyd’s List was an early example of the use of a database for publishing.

Technological developments towards digital printing

With technology enabling the faster and more efficient production of material, various developments in the publishing process became possible. These developments also were able to change the business model around some aspects of printing. The ability to hold information in one format but produce it in many formats was being developed, but even if the output was just to be print (rather than any sort of digital product) it was increasingly possible to print much more precisely in terms of both quantities and timing.

This coincided with the development of the digital printer. This has brought several benefits:

• cost
• small print runs
• timing – just-in-time and print on demand
• lower stock holding
• lower shipping costs
• local printing options

While the offset or letterpress printers are cheaper per unit cost for high print numbers, the time it takes to get them set up for small print runs is not commercially viable. The digital printer has developed so that, while it produces copies of lower quality (though this is improving all the time), it can be cheap where print runs are small. So as some print book markets declined and print numbers reduced (for instance the academic monograph market), first ‘just-in-time’ printing and later ‘print on demand’ were opportunities available to publishers with the digitisation of the process.

Changing business models due to print on demand

The development of this digital process therefore has had direct impact on the business models of many publishers. Publishers can reduce the risk of holding large quantities of stock as they can print small quantities just in time or print individual copies on demand. Some print on demand (POD) companies have been set up predominantly for use by publishers (such as Lightning Source, part of Ingrams). Publishers do not have to hold stock at all but can make the title available on their catalogues and if someone wants to buy a copy, they can print it just at that point; titles that might have gone out of print therefore can stay potentially in print.

Digital printing has also made it easier to experiment with different formats. Academic research publishing, for instance, generally focused on two main formats, the journal article and the monograph, which were cost effective to produce in broadly standardised forms. Format options have expanded due to digital printing so allowing publishers to present research writing which is not long enough to form an average book of around 60,000+ words but is longer than the average journal article; this will be examined further in Chapter 7.

Print on demand technology has also helped fuel the self-publishing industry. Authors can now afford to pay for their own print runs, and there is no need for them to incur the cost of holding stock as they can reduce their risk by printing low numbers of books; entrepreneurial websites such as lulu.com have developed to help those wanting to publish their own books themselves and these are using digital printing options.

An additional attraction of digital printing is that the set-up time for digital presses is extremely quick; where publication of a book needs to be timely there is the opportunity to manage the print stage quickly, for example for reprints. Offset printing for colour work can be expensive and so is often carried out in print works in the Middle East or Asia, but shipping times mean long lead times need to be built in. With the development of digital presses some of the printing that previously was taken over to China and Hong Kong is coming back into Europe. Being able to print shorter runs also makes it more possible to print locally for local markets and some companies are avoiding bulk shipping costs in this way. This is growing in importance as companies look at ways to develop more environmentally friendly strategies: printing small print runs locally avoids both wastage in terms of unsold print and low transportation costs, as well as the environmental costs of keeping stock in warehouses.

Furthermore, digital printing is developing all the time: the quality of small digital runs is improving as noted and new technologies are emerging. Printing companies are exploring ways to benefit from the flexibility of digital printing while printing at higher quantities and with slicker finishes, improving the cost-effectiveness of printing large numbers on digital presses. HP Indigo is a printing system pioneered for general commercial printers whereby printers are able to print highly customised products, with wide options for colour management and off-set levels of quality; in addition it is much more versatile in terms of the materials it can print on. Technologies like these, while not yet widely utilised by traditional publishers, reflect the growth of flexible options for printing in the future and offer opportunities for smaller entrepreneurial companies to produce more customised books.

Changing production processes and workflow

Many companies have reviewed their workflow in light of the changes in production methods with the growing levels of digitisation within the process. Companies design their production systems in terms of workflow, analysing different processes a product goes through from raw manuscript to final product. In pre-digital terms this was reasonably straightforward as a manuscript passed through various stages of copyediting and proofreading, through typesetting and to printing. It was broadly a linear, single-layered workflow which led to a final product, delivered in one format. Figure 1.1 illustrates a very simple workflow. Each stage would involve various checks, responsibilities and supplier relationships. As the digital environment has developed, various stages have become more complex. Figure 1.2 outlines the way various activities take place concurrently and are collected ready to output in various formats.

Figure 1.1Simplified linear workflow.

Figure 1.2An example of a changing workflow to accommodate many outputs.

Workflow has expanded to accommodate two main issues:

• the ability to adapt the output from just one input – so that from one ‘manuscript’ many formats can be produced
• the need to streamline effectively various parts of the process, which can lead to cost savings, where certain activities are less necessary, or time saving, where content can be managed quickly through the workflow with as little intervention as possible.

One input many outputs

In the first instance, the aim is to prepare the content in such a way that the format is neutral in order for it to be readily used for a number of purposes. There are many format options, the common ones being:

• a print paperback (these can vary in size and binding)
• a print hardback (these too can be in different formats)
• ebook files of various sorts for different devices
• a PDF, which is often necessary for search inside mechanisms such as Amazon and Google
• ebook files that can then be manipulated further to form an enhanced ebook or app
• a file format that can be taken by aggregators to fit into their complex proprietary library databases
• formats designed to support different accessibility requirements such as documents sui...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Part I Technology context for digital publishing
• Part II Publishing sectors
• Part III Digital publishing issues
• Final word
• Index