Chapter 4. Publishing

Digital publishing is fast becoming a critical requirement for publishers. It’s no longer just a desirable capability; it’s a matter of survival. Most publishers associate digital publishing solely with the production of eBooks and fall short of the mark. The crucial point for publishers today is to prepare their content for multichannel delivery where printed books and eBooks represent only two possible delivery channels.

The digital world offers many more possibilities to use content. Different types of content can now be connected with a wide variety of user experiences (UX): Fiction can be read as digital pages of eBook readers, travel guides can connect their route description to GPS devices, and dictionaries, which provide word definitions within text when and where they’re needed, are incorporated into electronic reading devices.

The publishing industry has already changed dramatically, but this is only the start. It will continue to change and the speed of change is expected to increase exponentially. Traditional handcrafted processes are no longer sustainable and automated processes have become an essential requirement.

Content needs to be understood as an asset in its own right, freed from output-based workflows. Device-independent content creation and delivery processes must be adopted instead.

Digital publishing, a tsunami of change

In the last few years the advent of digital publications (eBooks, enhanced eBooks, eBook apps, and digital editions) has started to dramatically change the way publishers do business. Driven by customer demand, slumping print sales, and increasing digital sales, publishers have been racing to convert their backlist to eBooks and simultaneously to publish to print. Some publishers have begun to publish eBook-first, and others have begun to publish eBook-only versions of content. Most eBooks, though, still resemble printed books. This situation keeps publishers happy with the “old world” but is just the first step at the beginning of a radically changing business model.

Aptara’s third survey of eBook publishers¹ in 2011 provides insight into the changing field:

• The major driver for producing eBooks is increasing revenue (42 percent), followed by increased customer demand (36 percent).

• The majority of book publishers (85 percent) are printing both eBook and print versions of their titles.

• One out of five eBook publishers generates more than 10 percent of their revenue from eBooks.

• Most eBook production still follows outdated print production models at the expense of significant operational efficiencies.

• The greatest eBook challenge (30 percent) is content format and device compatibility issues.

The publishing process

According to Aptara’s survey (see above), the majority of publishers still follow a traditional print process. To achieve full, device-independent publishing, however, the traditional workflow must change.

Traditional publishing

In a traditional publishing workflow, each book or document is created by one author using some form of text editor or word processor. The document is created, edited, and published as one entity, or possibly a series of chapters, and it doesn’t interact with anything else (see Figure 4.1).

Figure 4.1. Traditional publishing workflow.

Advantages

• Traditional publishing represents a typical, familiar workflow.

• Familiarity makes it easy to use for existing authors and editors.

• eBooks are created by a technology partner skilled in the conversion of print-oriented content to functional eBooks.

Disadvantages

• The file is managed as a complete document.

• Print-oriented content is converted, rather than specifically designed for eBooks.

• Future changes must be done in the production copy, or the content must be exported back out to Microsoft Word and then re-laid out for a new publication.

Note that in this scenario the creation of successful eBooks depends on the publisher’s understanding of the nature of the eBook they want to produce and the clear communication of those requirements to the technology partner.

This workflow is very effective for the conversion of the publisher’s backlist.

In-house eBook publishing

The in-house publishing workflow for eBooks is very similar to the traditional publishing workflow except for the end product, which is digital, not paper (see Figure 4.2). Publishers use the same publishing software to publish to an EPUB file that they use for print. EPUB, short for electronic publication, is an open standard for electronic books from the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) and is used by the majority of eReaders. In addition, the publishing software may provide the ability to publish to other channels such as Web or mobile.

Figure 4.2. In-house eBook publishing workflow.

Advantages

• In-house eBook publishing represents a typical, familiar workflow.

• Familiarity makes it easy to use for existing authors and editors.

• The publisher creates their own eBooks from the publishing software.

Disadvantages

• The file is managed as a complete document.

• Print-oriented content is converted; it is not specifically designed for eBooks or other channels.

• Future changes must be done in the production copy, or the content must be exported back out to Microsoft Word then re-laid out for publication.

In-house eBook publishing often feels like the easiest route for publishers because they don’t have to change any of their process or their technology. However, the content is often constrained by the print paradigm. It’s a difficult task to publish in different ways depending on the channel and the device. More often than not, it ends up as a simple conversion (different look-and-feel), rather than optimized output for each channel and device.

In a recent discussion with a new client of ours, they spoke about the challenges of creating eBooks. The output to the EPUB format was pretty simple, but testing on different devices revealed a number of display problems and usability issues. They were spending weeks “hand tweaking” the output for each device, and with each new device, the job got larger and more arduous.

XML early

Recognizing the challenges they face in publishing to multiple channels and the proliferation of devices, some publishers are choosing to use XML (Extensible Markup Language) in their publishing workflow. XML is a set of rules for encoding documents.

“XML early” means converting your content to XML early on in your workflow to enable you to produce content for multiple channels and to easily reuse content. (See Figure 4.3.)

Figure 4.3. XML early publishing workflow.

XML enables you to design and prepare content in a way that’s completely portable and open, which in turn enables a wide range of applications that allows you to automate common content tasks such as formatting. If you make the content intelligent by tagging and structuring it, and then if you design and prepare it for discovery and reuse, you’re freed from managing content within the “black boxes” of completed books. For more information on XML refer to Chapter 19, “The role of XML.”

Advantages

• Edits can be handled online using collaborative review tools. This speeds up the editing and allows multiple editors to work on the content simultaneously. Change tracking is supported in these tools.

• XML can be configured to support reuse across media (print, eBooks, apps, and so on).

• XML can be optimized to support current and future products (for example, article compendiums, eLearning, and custom books from selected chapters).

• Corrections and changes to content are done in the XML content and “repoured” into each of the outputs. There’s no need to transfer content back and forth.

Disadvantages

• Copy editors and others involved in the publishing workflow need to become increasingly comfortable with working largely online and with new software.

• The concept of WYSIWYG no longer exists because content can be published in multiple formats.

• Content is created and managed as components, which may be a paradigm shift for some people.

• Production staff need to learn to work with structured templates and cannot continue to manually tweak content.

• While most people in the organization don’t need to understand XML, at least one individual will need a strong understanding of XML.

Although XML early has the most advantages, XML can be incorporated into your workflow at any point. You might choose to incorporate it somewhere in the middle of your workflow, with content created in Microsoft Word, but converted to XML after the final manuscript was approved. This could be a long-term strategy, or it might be a short-term strategy only—a stepping-stone on the way to creating a full XML-based workflow.

The role of a unified content strategy

To take advantage of new digital markets, you must rethink the way you create, manage, publish, and deliver content. You must reengineer your processes to create a more flexible and sustainable future. You must also reimagine a production process that frees your content to be easily transformed into whatever new formats and devices that your customers desire. In this new world, a publisher becomes a content and service provider, capable of meeting the ever-changing time-to-market requirements. It is not as straightforward as simply incorporating XML into your workflow, because the workflow is only as effective as your content strategy. You also need to determine how you want to create modular, structured content that can be repurposed for multiple information products and services. What’s needed is a unified content strategy.

Summary

Digital publishing is fast becoming a critical requirement for publishers. It’s no longer just a desirable capability; it’s a matter of survival. Most publishers associate digital publishing solely with the production of eBooks and fall short of the mark. The crucial point for publishers today is to prepare their content for multichannel delivery where printed books and eBooks represent two possible delivery channels.

In a traditional publishing workflow, each book or document is created by one author using some form of text editor or word processor. This document is created, edited, and published as one entity, or possibly as a series of chapters, and doesn’t interact with anything else.

The in-house publishing workflow is very similar to the traditional publishing workflow with the exception of the production of eBooks. Publishers use the same publishing software they use for print to publish to an EPUB file.

Recognizing the challenges they face in publishing to multiple channels and the proliferation of devices, some publishers are choosing to use XML in their publishing workflow. “XML early” means converting your content into XML early on in your workflow to enable you to produce content for multiple channels and to easily reuse content.

To take advantage of new digital markets, you must reengineer your processes to create a more flexible and sustainable future. This requires a unified content strategy.

More information on the effective design and creation of eBooks can be found in eBooks 101: The Digital Content Strategy for Reaching Customers Anywhere, Anytime, on Any Device, by Ann Rockley and Charles Cooper.