Signature May/June 2015 - 33

USING NEW TOOLS
Let's start with the three primary functions that underpin any sort of publishing:
authoring, repository, and distribution.
Authoring starts with an idea, one that
must at some point be turned into a work
of interest, suitable for distribution. Barriers are now lower, and authoring has been
increasingly democratized. While there
are new authoring tools, the most widely
used ones remain the manuscript-driven
options like Microsoft Word.
Repository once meant things like plates,
then film, then files. Old economics dictated the "minimum viable product, a
book, as the package that could be created
and sold. Now, the minimum viable
product can be just about anything - an
article, a picture, a collection of pictures,
a compilation, a component, an extract,
a snippet - anything that can be monetized, as well as some that can't or won't.
The key thing is this: Authoring and
repository must be organized to deliver
content that is distribution-ready. Competition now takes place at the level of
use. The minimum viable product may
not be a book. In many cases, it won't be.
Organizing content to be distributionready is the goal of tools like Scribe, which
works as a plug-in for Microsoft Word, and
Pressbooks, developed by Hugh McGuire
to support his vision of a world in which
the book and the web are aligned.
An extension of the widely used Wordpress CMS, Pressbooks gives its users the
ability to produce book content that is at
once print-ready and native to the web.
Standard output options include PDF (for
print), EPUB (for e-books) and HTML.
By generating multiple outputs from
a single source file, tools like Pressbooks
and Scribe provide publishers with an
opportunity to make "write once, read
many" a reality. "Pressbooks gives association publishers control and speed to
production," says McGuire. "Standard
templates help make projects easier. They
are especially powerful for publishers who
produce books in a series, as many association publishers do."
Association publishers that still want to
offer physical books have more options

than ever. The days of printing to inventory, storing copies, and potentially scrapping out-of-date material have ended.
On-demand printing has been around for
a while, but the quality compared to offset
printing had been an issue. For the most
part, those issues have been resolved, even
for color content.
CreateSpace (Amazon) and IngramSpark offer publishers the ability
to "sell, then print" in quantities that can
be as low as a single copy. Companies like
Strategic Content Imaging (SCI) and
Cierant, both owned by the Command
Group, provide publishers with services
that can include order processing and
optimization, color printing, binding,
and fulfillment.
"Digital printing and automated replenishment programs are more effective
than most publishers realize," says Jeff
Statler, vice president - sales, at SCI.
On-demand and digital printing solutions
lower costs by eliminating inventory, carrying costs (warehousing and financing
expenses), and shrinkage and spoilage.
"Publishers should measure the total
cost per book sold, rather than the cost
per book printed," says Statler. "When
they do, on-demand and digital printing
options are often a better bet."

DISCOVERY:
THE NEW MANDATE
Whether a book is printed, published as
an e-book, or released online, its success
still depends on how effectively it can be
found by a target audience. Here, many
association publishers have an advantage, as they have already assembled a
membership that is a natural market for
published works.
An advantage, though, is not a guarantee. The web has made content freely
available to wide audiences, and associations themselves may not be the first place
people turn when searching for a content
solution. This is true even for members,
who may not be aware of what their own
association offers.
Companies like Bibblio are developing
web-based solutions that help organizations expose content and deliver it to

The Four Guiding
Principles of
a Successful
Association

Book Program
1

Readers expect access to
book content in several
ways that are not tied to
the traditional formats
for physical and digital
books.

Books and book-like
content can play a significant role in an association's ability to engage
and retain members, but
the content has to be
structured in ways that
serve member interests.

The tools used to create,
manage, and distribute
content have never been
cheaper or more accessible, and association
publishers need to be
better than any author or
group of authors at using
these tools.

In an era of content abundance, the core challenge
most publishers face
is discovery. Association publishers can lead
the way in solving this
problem.

MAY/JUNE 16

signature

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Signature May/June 2015