New Technology, A Peek Behind the Curtain, and Book Applications at Yale Publishing Course

Good morning from the Yale Publishing Course! Today is all about New Technology. For starters Joseph Galarneau of Newsweek is lifting a corner of the digital curtain and giving us a peek at the secrets behind. It seems a real irony that publishing has not done technology very well or used it strategically to improve business as well as other industries, but comparing spending on technology, for example, publishing has lagged behind. Galarneau contrasts the business styles of technology companies and publishing: the former tend to have a high tolerance for risk, flat and meritocratic organizations, a disdain for bureaucracy, and rely on data and debate. Publishers tend to wait a long time before launching things online, have more hierarchical organizations, and rely on instinct and editorial voice.

Evan Schnittman of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc follows with the new world order in book publishing. The new world order is structured, of course, around "the big three": Amazon, Apple, and Google. To get an idea of just how big the big three are: global book sales in 2009 were about $90 billion; Amazon, Apple and Google together had $95 billion in sales. These three are going to be able to do things that no company we have ever worked with or around are going to be able to do.

So what are they doing? For starters they are changing the economic model. In print we give a big discount to incent the retailer to take a lot of copies. Pile 'em high and watch 'em fly! So we share the risk with the retailer. Plus we get advances up front so the more we place the more we're paid up front. With the ebooks, that is all changing.

Amazon sent shock waves through publishing when it set a standard price of $9.99 for ebooks on the Kindle, with a 40-50% discount. Apple's model appears more promising: they allow book publishers to set the price and take 30% in discount--as long as there are no lower priced versions sold elsewhere. Google will work with any model.

Where will all this lead? Amazon still has 70+ market share of print books online and an 85% market share of ebooks--although as competition increases, these shares dwindle. Amazon also has the Cloud; they have self publishing; and they're in for the long haul. Apple's strengths are in hardward and software, and their design and user experience. Apple is new to the book market, and will have to develop experience; and they'll want to work on that screen, their collection, the Cloud...But there are great opportunities for Apple in education and all sorts of coolness in store for readers. Google has the "Search, Find, Buy" formula down pat! Google can enable things no one else can--and they are 100% Cloud. Plus, they are in it for search, not margin on content. They are letting the publisher set the price. But they need to work on the browser interface, and what about the settlement?

So what about turning books into applications? We're getting several views from the speakers and audience here. There are so many bells and whistles that we can create to create applications from our books or to go with the books; but for a straight deep narrative will people want to pay extra for that--or does it just become an expense? There are compelling and well-reasoned arguments all round, and I might identify this early on as a fascinating peek at the years ahead and a preview of what they might contain.

Winding up the morning is Mary K. Baumann and Will Hopkins of Hopkins/Baumann, taking us on a tour of the current directions in publishing design. It's a fresh look at approaches publishers can take to express their ideas in a visual way; how to surprise and delight while breaking new ground visually. At a time when many see publishing as struggling, graphic design is in the best place it's ever been, Hopkins tells us; at one time you could buy a few magazines a month and keep up with the trends; not any more. Between the print product and sites and apps the challenges and opportunities demand publisher resources and offer great rewards.

Linda Ruth is a co-founder of Exceptional Women in Publishing (www.ewip.org); she is blogging from the Yale Publishing Course (http://publishing-course.yale.edu/). Today is its second full day.