Suppor&ng mul&‐format publishing
Leslie Hulse
VP, Digital Business Development
HarperCollins Publishers
Start with XML Conference
January 13, 2008

One of the largest English‐language publishers 30,000 books in print
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worldwide
A subsidiary of NewsCorpora&on
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HC was the first publisher to digi&ze its content and create a global digital
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warehouse to protect the rights of its authors, meet consumer demand and
generate addi&onal business opportuni&es
HarperCollins US publishes 5,000 books in e‐book format with DRM protec&on
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HC’s approach to digital content
Produc&on process that supports output into many formats
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Centralized repository with content for online readers (below) and e‐
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books
Business deals to distribute marke&ng content as widely as possible
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Global solu&on that support all divisions
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Our e‐book publishing strategy has evolved over the years
2001 2005 2009
Title Count 200 600 5,000
Approach Only Select books Select All (contracts
published in e‐ permi_ng)
book format
Type Text Only Text with some Text, image,
images and charts charts, video,
audio
Extras Every book had Some books had Most books don’t
extra value‐add extras have extras.
content (Q&A, Experimen&ng
Reading Group with video, etc.
Guides, etc.)

•Conversion costs declining due to the EPUB standard and technological improvements
•EPUB shibs costs from the publisher to the distributors/retailers

Sym&o bricks & mortar distribu&on

Lessons Learned
Efficiencies to be gained from centralized produc&on processes
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Set up workflow that enables lots of outputs at low cost.
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Don’t over‐build or over‐tag. Tag appropriately for your business model;
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Re‐evaluate as necessary