#publishing changes

Photo Credit: khalid Albaih (Creative Commons)

A lot of concepts tweeted from the Bookseller’s FutureBook 2012 Conference #fbook12 smell good for self/indie-publishing and digital content!

Publishing is changing, no doubt about that. Changing to where? Changing to small teams -of authors or the author himself- focused on their consumers rather than big publishers focused on their own business; changing to writers having the control of their work rather than delegating it to a third party.

‏@Porter_Anderson #fbook12 @rebecsmart @OspreyBooks: "Specialize... in the customer...the future will be small teams focused on their consumers."

Writers engaged with their work and their readers. Not obsessed with social media and marketing, still ‘obsessed’ with improving their writing, but involved with these tools as part of this publishing revolution. Email lists and word of mouth, still leading.

@thecreativepenn #fbook12 email marketing still #1 for repeat shoppers & brand retention. Totally agree. Authors must focus on list building as priority!

New ideas, new formats, audience is changing. Audience isn’t looking for new books; it’s looking for new experiences WITH books. Something else to enrich the content.

@TheLitPlatform Pottermore is not an e-book sales business, these only represent 40% revenue as a business. Charlie Redmayne #Fbook12

@PublicityBooks#fbook12 our children will have new experiences with books,more interactive. We must grow new ideas and break downboundaries. #Raccah

@TheLitPlatform Shift to creating books for audience rather than finding audience for our books via crowdsourcing & conversation

Not so sure about this. It’s time to use one of the advantages of self-publishing and digital formats. Write what you want, every niche has it readers. This sounds better:

@Profwriting #fbook12 Joanna Penn- as a micro publisher I don't have overheads you guys have, therefore I can write what I want and make. Living.

Something has to change in the pricing models. Free content and e-lending are shouting: NOW! Movie ticket sales haven’t decline since movies can be downloaded for free, watched at home or in the seat of a plane. Ebook sales won’t fall if an e-lending model without boundaries becomes reality.

“The crux of the matter is that the paid content ecosystem is getting very fragmented.” … “Such fragmentation is inevitable given the breadth of the content industry, but it is a pain for consumers and publishers alike. As a consumer buying a book I have a lot of decisions to make – where to buy it, what version I want and which platform I want to commit to. After purchasing a number of books I can end up searching through a number of different apps and websites to find the book I bought a few months ago.” Oliver Brooks in Buy once, sync anywhere blog post. 

‏@Goodereader: Pricing panel: big frustration to publisher is a customer who wants to buy ebook & can't because in wrong country.#fbook12

‏@matteoberlucchi Ebooks aboard by RCS is pretty much the same as movies on planes. It's a value added service and also a way to discover new books #fbook12

And last but not least: agents and middlemen will have to find their place without trying to give the impression that they have to stay where they are to avoid that the publishing industry losses prestige.  

@Porter_Anderson #fbook12 "The Future Editorial Product" @kreeve "I'd like to propose that we need a new role in #publishing for editorial."

‏@thebookseller Geller: we are no longer an 'agent', we are 'copyright managers'#fbook12

@TheFutureBook #fbook12 Johnson: everything has changed about the gaming industry in the past five years: the change in publishing has barely begun.