Applied Project Proposal Presentation

In today's session (13/05/13), we presented our business plans to receive feedback and listen to each other's ideas. My business idea is a community forum, which would be run by a traditional publisher. The site would be utilised by publishers for market research; by authors to communicate with readers; and by readers who will have the opportunity to both communicate with authors and the web editor, and to suggest titles to the publisher that they would like to be published. Uniquely within the publishing industry, the site will request users to contribute a small amount towards the production of the book the user votes for. Crowdfunding is a useful tool for new ventures as the entrepreneur has the ability to engage with a community to gain feedback and ideas. I believe this site would be of most benefit to niche publishers. Osprey, for example, have sold £35,000 books based on user generated suggestions.

 

My Time at the London Book Fair

This year was the first time I had been to the London Book Fair and I enjoyed it immensely. However I noticed that one sector of publishing was more dominant at the fair, this was digital publishing. The digital zone was full of innovative businesses who were warring with each other to show the best technologies  and seminars about their new and exciting ventures. What I found interesting was that businesses which are not traditionally linked to the publishing world, such as Samsung, had large and bustling stands. It proved to me that the publishing world is not archaic and it, like lots of other sectors want to explore other digital options. I found that many of the stands were focused on the creation of apps and were exploring how to fully integrate this technology into the digital development of publishing companies. 

My favorite part of LBF was the marketing and publicity seminars. One particular marketing seminar turned how we as publishers research target audiences, on its head. Instead of discussing how to hit young target audiences with new and modern technologies, it discussed how to target the over 45's in campaigns and motivate them to maybe start using modern technologies. There was also a lot of discussion about digital marketing and publicity and I found it interesting how companies are using completely different strategies than the traditional model. 

However, what I did notice, that I found to be rather idiotic was that the digital zone was completely separate from the trade. Surely there shouldn't be a divide as it is imperative for trade publishers to be in the digital fold and using new publishing technologies to keep up with competition.  Maybe next year the organizers would have realised this also and it won't feel like two separate entities like this year. 

Assignment 1 Presentation Wattpad

Inspired by the technology and community-focus of Youtube, Wattpad is the most popular self-publishing community with a membership of 15 million. Its mobile application allows its content to be accessed anywhere including emerging markets, such as in Africa and Vietnam where there is little access to books.

Venture capital is essential to the business as it does not monetize its literary content. Currently, Wattpad capitalizes on banner advertisements but its co-founder, Allen Lau, does not view this as a long-term business model and hopes that as its writers are discovered by traditional publishers, Wattpad can take a cut. Wattpad has recently partnered with Lulu to enable its writers to have their books professionally published.

Aspiring authors can treat Wattpad as an unpaid internship where they have the opportunity to hone their skills before approaching a traditional publisher. Literary agents and publishers utilise Wattpad to discover new talent. Essentially Wattpad precipitates the publishing process by assuming a role undertaken within the marketing department of a publishing house.

Wattpad is disruptive to the publishing industry because it presents self-publishing as a viable alternative to traditional publishing. Publishers such as Penguin and Simon and Schuster have adapted to this by offering self-publishing services.

Please see below my presentational slides:

The London Book Fair 2013

This year’s London Book Fair was my first experience of the world famous event; I was lucky enough to spend two days at the fair, one accompanying a publisher, and one as a student. The experience allowed me to examine the recent developments in the industry from two different, but equally interesting, perspectives.

I spent the first day accompanying a publisher’s digital department, and sitting in on their meetings with a number of major eBook distributors. An issue that came up in each meeting was whether the distributor had plans to produce a device that will read ePub3; an eBook format which supports JavaScript, and which would enable the publisher to create interactive eBooks. This question was generally answered with another question: ‘When will you be selling ePub3 eBooks?’ This chicken-and-egg scenario suggests that the world of digital publishing is still finding its feet; nobody is sure how much to invest in this new phenomenon.

I spent the second day looking around the book fair with fellow students, and had more time to explore the different stands and seminars. I realised that the digital section was large, whilst there were very few printers present.  This is a strong indication of how much presence the digital world currently has in the publishing industry. I also took note of the major campaign of this year’s book fair, ‘Books are my Bag’, the aim of which is to encourage people to buy physical books from bookshops, and to help prolong the life of this experience.

It was interesting to be in one room which completely encapsulated the prominent standpoints in the industry at the moment. Some are embracing the inevitable change and trying to get ahead of it, whilst others are trying to encourage people to cling on to tradition.

Reflection on Mondays class 22/04/13

During Monday’s lesson we applied our second assessment ideas to different marketing strategies and business plans. One of these was the 9 elements of a business model. I applied my women's film magazine idea to this model which helped me to assess which areas are in need of more detail or improvement. We also looked at the Three Intensive Growth Strategies: Ansoff’s Product/Market Expansion Grid and tried to fit our business ideas into one area of the grid.  Initially I wasn’t sure which box to put my idea in because, as a magazine, it is an existing product, and it is also catering to an established audience, women. But as the first film magazine targeted towards women it makes it a new product in an existing female/filmic market. And so mine fits nicely into the third box of Product Development. This is because it is a product being produced for an existing market, but for is an entirely new idea.

Ansoff’s Product/Market Expansion Grid:

	Existing Products	New products
Existing Markets	1.       Market Penetration	3.       Product Development
New Markets	2.       Market Development	4.    Diversification

London Book Fair

during the visit to the london book fair i spent the majority of my time within the digital zone. here i saw what new digital innovations would be entering the publishing domain within the next 12months. Much of the new technology was focused upon the increasing demand for E-books and the necessities to host, download and sell these products online. Metadata was the buzzword of the convention and how it was essential for the continued success and development of digital products, during a key note speech I noted the varying methods of classification which is used for digital devices such as dewey or ISNI alongside ISBN etc.

Self publishing and the needs of self publishing authors was an area of interest for me, due to this i sat in a amazon self publishing seminar and took note of the variety of tool available, such as publicity features and pricing models to gain success. The Amazon representatives were very secretive towards revealing further plans for this sector of their business however I got the impression that further developments were ongoing.

Digital Zone: The London Book Fair's glimpse of the future

During my short time at the London Book Fair, despite the phenomenal variety of exhibitions, stalls and discussions available - particularly from the increasing international markets - I spent much of my time in the Digital Zone, where the exhibitions focused not just on the ebook, but also on how to market, sell and create this new wave of digital literature.

Multiple topics were covered, such as the importance of classification and metadata within the ebook world, and the development of the app as an important feature in marketing oneself. A report displayed there stated that, in the US, tablet PCs had overtaken ereaders as the platform of choice for ebook downloads - emphasising the shift towards multi-functional items over dedicated ones. As a result, with tablets being able to browse the internet for ebooks (compared to e-readers being linked to certain stores), independent and niche authors and booksellers are finding that selling through their own sites is becoming easier - essentially allowing the long tail model to triumph over the conventional model and become the norm.

However, the spectre of Amazon did loom over the proceedings somewhat - nearly every talk in the Digital Zone did touch upon the complications Amazon was inflicting upon the digital industry. From the 99p book skewing statistics to the refusal to release sales figures, there was a vague sense that Amazon was an elephant in the room. Given the growing rate of the ebook industry, it will be interesting to see next year how things will have changed.