The Book in Transformation

The Book in Transformation
Dominique Raccah
Sourcebooks, Inc.
CongressoInternacional de Livro Digital
July 2011

today… book publishing in the United Statesis an industry in transformation

advantages of hindsight

The Book in Transformation
Consumer data — BISG & PubTrack
Practical implications
What’s beyond ebooks

[consumer data]

3 Year Study (11 contracted publications)
5 publications to date
Methodology
PubTrack™ Consumer panel of U.S. book buying men, women and teens balanced to US Census
Survey pool of ~78K book consumers at the time of last fielding
95% probability threshold
© 2011, the Book Industry Study Group, Inc.

2 Year Study (4 contracted publications)
2 publications to date
Methodology
PubTrack™ Consumer panel of U.S. college students
All institution types – all grade levels balanced to statistics from American Council on Education
1,500 students per fielding
95% probability threshold

Benefits of e-reading devices…

Why consumers purchase e-books instead of print books

Trade E-Book Market Growth Rate

[Trade Consumer]

Who is Today’s Core Trade E-Book Buyer?
Woman (66%)
~44 years old
HH Income ~$77K Yr
Predominantly Fiction (58% of all ‘e’ sold)

Core buyer of trade E-Books is growing and has tremendous buying power!
Frequency of Purchase
18% of buyers = 61% $$$ for ‘e’

Dedicated e-readers Now Dominate the Trade Market…

Dedicated e-readers are the dominant choice for all book genres now.
15

…And Kindle still dominates the trade device market…

Kindle is the dominant source for Trade E-Book downloads…

…Not So in the Higher Ed Market
Spring Semester 2011

[Textbook Consumer Data]

Who is Today’s Core E-Textbook Buyer?
Male
~23
Graduate Student or Distance Learner
More likely ‘pirate’ print or digital texts then under-classmen
Still only buys a small portion of his texts 17% as ‘e’

E-Texts do not have a clear source for download

Feature requirements from students are demanding on E-Books

When given a choice, students choose print over ‘e’ 3 out of 4 times…

…And find ‘other’ forms of digital content more useful than E-Books

While still lacking functionality, students perceive similar value points to trade

For now…ebooks having significantly larger impact on trade books than textbooks

Wish list of trade E-Book buyers offer clues for the future

The rise in e-book units is not offsetting the cannibalism of print.
28

E-book buyers still look to ‘free’ as a major component to digital transition.

Downloading of FREE e-books is central to the digital content experience.
30
30

[practical implications]

Sourcebooks results at a glance
10 years of consecutive sales growth. Of those, 5 years of double digit growth
YTD 2011 BookscanPOS (through the register sales) up 8%(industry down 8%)
YTD p-book market share is up 23.5%
Net sales up over 20% at the end of 1st half 2011

aninteresting aspect…
When add ebooks into both 2010 and 2011, “total POS” has grown by 60% so far in 2011

[ebooks]

Licensing &
Administration
Trademark/
Copyright protection
Accounting;
Royalties
Positioning
Cultural Filter
Content
Development
Copyedit and
Proofread
Physical & Digital
Warehousing
what
book publishers do
Content Design
Physical Distribution
Creation of content
portable files
Digital Distribution
Printing/
Manufacturing
Author branding &
career development
Trade Shows
Niche community
building
PR, Marketing
and Advertising
Creative Partner
Retail Marketing
and Sales
eCommerce
Administration

law of diffusion of innovation
-Simon Sinek, Ted Talk

Ebooks. How far? How fast?

for Sourcebooks,
January 2011 eBook dollars
= 35% of $ sold

2 major trends driving this growth

1. anytime, anywhere…buying

Trade E-Book Consumers are buying more titles…

…Majority of trade consumers now report spending more money overall

2. anytime, anywhere…reading

80% of ebook readers reported reading somewhat or a lot more

What categories of books are most impacted by ebooks today?

What’s Transforming (2010)?

It’s about stories…

Slower ebook transformation for categories such as reference and children’s books

Continuing downward
pressure on pricing of ebooks

How much infrastructure is enough?

[what’s involved in making ebooks]

ebooks require
additional workflow

with printed books, we ship exactly the same product to different retailers

ebook distributors timeline
Amazon
Apple
Barnes & Noble
Blio
Copia
Google
Kobo
Overdrive
Sony
+ 2-3 more
Amazon
Apple
Barnes & Noble
Overdrive
Sony
Amazon (85%)
Overdrive
Sony
2008
2010
2012

ebook retailers use different file formats

Two kinds of changes:1. Changes to workflow process2. Additional workflow

ebooks were a by-product of the file out

creating a new workflow;
from bookmaking to content delivery

What conversion costs (will vary by kind of publisher/list):
Simple Titles: $54.93
Moderate Titles: $96.70
Complex Titles: $180.95Average price
per title: $111.00**

What do ebook sales look like(average unit sales per month):
Top 10 Titles: 479.6 Units
Top 50 Titles: 235.3 Units
Average for all ISBNs: 13.3
(October 2010)

What’s next for ebooks:
content management systems
epub 3
bundling
still no good reporting mechanisms
there are new devices every day

[what’s beyond ebooks]

3 different kinds of digital opportunity
e-books
apps
web-based
1.
2.
3.
enhanced e-books
communities
book
publisher
content sites
developer
interactive programs

developing a digital roadmap

some of what we’re seeing…

1. Vertical focus means we compete harder in fewer categories

developing reader (user)-centric models ~
based on key verticals

?
ebook
$0.99 - $4.99
$$$
$19.95
$12.99
$5.99
$4.99
Complete Book of Baby Names
25,001 Best Baby Names ebook
25,001 Best Baby Names MM
Baby Name Treasury
iPhone
apps

2. greater need for partnership between authors, agents and publishers

ebook
$0.99 - $4.99
$$$
$19.99
$14.99
$12.99
$17.99
Gruber workbooks
Gruber SAT ebook
Gruber Word-Master
Gruber’s Complete
SAT
MyMaxScore
Gruber Test Prep software
iPhone
apps

2. Metadata matters

3. Digital has cultural implications within your organization

impacts every department

4. Conceptualizing beyond the physical book

The Book Wheel
Print
Apps/interactive
/software
Audiobook
RTF
Web PDF
Book/Content
Kindle/Mobi
ePub
Enhanced/
additional media
Other/licensing

3 different kinds of digital opportunity
e-books
apps
web-based
1.
2.
3.
enhanced e-books
communities
book
publisher
content sites
developer
interactive programs

Author
Publisher
Developer

software
developer
book
publisher
Software/App customerSoftware retailersPublicity, marketing and advertising that drives software purchasesContent editing for flexible format productUser-Interface and designTechnical programmingDatabase design and programmingPlatform and device portabilityOngoing content updatingOngoing software updatingOngoing consumer support
Book or ebook customerBook or ebook retailersPublicity, marketing and advertising that drives book purchasesContent editing for fixed format productDesign and layoutPrinting and warehouse/storage capabilities
Content

Let Every Nation Know
Apple iBookstore
November 2010

iDrakula
App • Free, $1.99
Book

Where is the line between a book and an app?

enhanced
ebook
iPhone app
software
interactivity

5. focus on the user/reader & that person’s experience

“You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work back toward the technology — not the other way around.”
Steve Jobs
May 1997

user interface=
experience design

“We don’t pay for content.
We pay for the experience.”
Nick Bilton
I live in the future and here’s how it works

Digital opens opportunities
beyond ebooks
Focus on key verticals
Metadata matters
Digital has cultural implications
Publishers can conceptualize books in new ways
Focus on user experience

enhanced e-books
e-books
web-based content
the world for book publishers
just got a lot BIGGER
apps
user-generated content
communities

It’s not just the book that’s transforming.
It’s the book publisher.
Digital changes everything.

“We should try to be the parents of our future rather than the offspring of our past”
-Miguel de Unamuno (1864-1936)
Spanish essayist, novelist, poet,
playwright, and philosopher

Thank YOU!
Email: dominique.raccah@sourcebooks.com Twitter: @draccah
LinkedIn Group: Ebooks, Digital Books and Content Publishing Network

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The Book in Transformation

by Dominique Raccah on Jul 28, 2011

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