XML: Why Bother?
January 13, 2009

Is a book only a book if it is printed on
paper?

Publishing in the future will be…
“an increasingly hybrid world of print and
digital. Those players who can master the
art of production, distribution, promotion
and marketing in the digital world, while
remaining equally effective in the print and
offline world, will be long-term winners.”
-- Richard Sarnoff, President, Bertelsmann
Digital Media Investments

XML:
eXtensible Mark-up Language

Think Outside the Page!

Traditional Publishing Model
Book Signings,
Advertisements
Content Creators Publisher Consumer
Bookseller
Content
Content +
Content +
Ad/Promo/
Ad/Promo/
Marketing
Marketing

Shifting Publishing Model
Consumer Defined
Product
Content + Metadata
(Chapters, Recipes)
(Websites, Newsletters)
Metadata
Consumer
Bookseller
Content Creators Publisher
Content Content +
Ad/Promo/ Content +
Marketing Ad/Promo/
Marketing/
Metadata
Content +
Ad/Promo/Marketing Digital
(Websites, Newsletters, Warehouse
Games, Contests,
Interactive Widgets,
chunked, mobile,
search)

<main topic>XML<\\main
topic>

Textual design is an evolutionary process, but
has been geared toward printed products
Moveable Type
•Gutenberg (1450) Typography, use of fonts
•Allowed mass distribution of printed
material
•Not very flexible
Desktop Publishing
•Adobe PageMaker (1985)
•DTP more flexible for print products
•Easy to change and correct
•Print ready PDF

The new publishing model calls for a
content-centric, design agnostic approach
Traditional Print-Centric Approach
Three
Content Structure Design Linked
Elements
Content-Centric Approach
Content
and
Structure
Structure Design
Content
are Linked
Design is
Separate

Disengaging the design allows flexibility to
create great looking content on any platform
Structural
components of the
work are identified
Any Number of
Designs can be
easily applied
Structure Design Design
Content
to the content
using style
sheets
and connected to
the content

Multiple formats from one master XML File
My Book
My Book
Chapter One
Chapter One
<title>My Book<\\title>
<chapter_number>Chapter I am Born
I am Born
One<\\chapter_number>
<chapter_title>I am
born<\\chapter_title>
Dedicated Reader Page Layout
My BookXML
Chapter One My Book
Chapter
One
I am Born
I am Born
Web
Phone
Large Type

Why Start With XML?
• Digital files become available much earlier in the
production process
• High quality content available for marketing and
sales
• eBook files created and distributed in synch with
print and audio
• XML becomes the master file
– Content is synchronized across all formats
and platforms
Time and Money are Saved!

Subject Category Vs. Context Tagging:
Breaking Dawn
Amazon.com Subject Categories
#1 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Series#1 in Books > Teens
> Social Issues > Dating & Intimacy > Fiction#2 in Books > Teens > Literature &
Fiction > Love & Romance
Librarything.com Tags
(12) 2008(40) August 2008(7) babies(6) bella(16) Bella Swan(5) drama(6) edward(13)
edward cullen(8) family(11) Fantasy(117) Fiction(113) Forks(5) hardcover(5)
Horror(9) love(26) marriage(10) Meyer(5) novel(5) own(21) paranormal(11)
paranormal romance(9) pregnancy(9) Read(31) Read in 2008(17) romance(119)
series(51) Stephenie Meyer(18) supernatural(11) tbr(11) teen(31) to read(5)
Twilight(33) Twilight Saga(24) Twilight Series(18) unread(8) urban fantasy(12)
vampire fiction(5) vampires(286) Washington(14) washington state(6)
werewolves(107) ya(86) Young Adult(100) Young Adult Fiction

Contextual tagging enables
“front-of-store display”
for every title
Enhanced Context Tagging
– XML allows for context tagging for enhanced search
and discovery
• Not just recognizing words, but discerning meaning
– Contextual searches provide better, more focused
search results
• Customers can discover content easier and faster
• Reaching out to your audience and leaving a trail of
breadcrumbs for your audience to follow
• Baseball diamond, Neil Diamond, Selma Diamond
– Pull out chapters based on contextual search criteria

Start With XML
Endings are elusive, middles are nowhere
to be found, but worst of all is to begin, to
begin, to begin.
--Donald Barthleme, The Dolt
Get Going!