1. Assignment
On
E-PUBLISHING
Xavier Institute of Social Service
PGDM (IT) – 2013-2015
Submitted to: Submitted by:
Prof. Sarbjeet Prasad Aryaman C. Pandey (35)
Department of IT Neha Tekriwal (44)
XISS, Ranchi
3. Introduction
Definitions
Commonly, Electronic Publishing (also referred to as e-publishing, digital publishing,
web publishing or internet publishing) includes the digital publication of e-books,
EPUBs, digital magazines, and the development of digital libraries and catalogues.
EP = Electronic technology + Computer technology + Communication technology + Publishing
It is the process for production of typeset quality documents containing text, graphics,
pictures, tables, equations etc.
Most popularly, E-Publishing is represented as:
Ingredients:
Content
Community
Commerce
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4. Overview:
Electronic publishing has become common in scientific publishing where it has been
argued that peer-reviewed scientific journals are in the process of being replaced by
electronic publishing. It is also becoming common to distribute books, magazines,
and newspapers to consumers through tablet reading devices, a market that is
growing by millions each year, generated by online vendors such as Apple's iTunes
bookstore, Amazon's bookstore for Kindle, and books in the Google Play Bookstore.
Market research suggests that half of all magazine and newspaper circulation will be
via digital delivery by the end of 2015 and that half of all reading in the United States
will be done without paper by 2015. Although distribution via the Internet (also
known as online publishing or web publishing when in the form of a website) is
nowadays strongly associated with electronic publishing, there are many non network
electronic publications such as Encyclopedias on CD and DVD, as well as technical
and reference publications relied on by mobile users and others without reliable and
high speed access to a network. Electronic publishing is also being used in the field
of test-preparation in developed as well as in developing economies for student
education (thus partly replacing conventional books) - for it enables content and
analytics combined - for the benefit of students. The use of electronic publishing for
textbooks may become more prevalent with iBooks from Apple Inc. and Apple's
negotiation with the three largest textbook suppliers in the U.S.
Electronic publishing is increasingly popular in works of fiction as well as with
scientific articles. Electronic publishers are able to provide quick gratification for
late-night readers, books that customers might not be able to find in standard book
retailers, and books by new authors that would be unlikely to be profitable for
traditional publishers.
While the term "electronic publishing" is primarily used today to refer to the current
offerings of online and web-based publishers, the term has a history of being used to
describe the development of new forms of production, distribution, and user
interaction in regard to computer-based production of text and other interactive
media.
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5. E-Publishing Process
The electronic publishing process follows a traditional publishing process but differs
from traditional publishing in two ways:
It does not include using an offset printing press to print the final product.
It avoids the distribution of a physical product.
Because the content is electronic, it may be distributed over the Internet and through
electronic bookstores. The consumer may read the published content on a website, in
an application on a tablet device, or in a PDF on a computer. In some cases the reader
may print the content using a consumer-grade ink-jet or laser printer or via a print on
demand system.
Distributing content electronically as apps has become popular due to the rapid
consumer adoption of smartphones and tablets. At first, native apps for each mobile
platform were required to reach all audiences, but in an effort toward universal device
compatibility, attention has turned to using HTML to create web apps that can run on
any browser.
The benefit of electronic publishing comes from using three attributes of digital
technology:
tags to define content
style sheets to define the look of content
metadata to describe the content for search engines
With the use of tags, style sheets, and metadata, this enables reflowable content that
adapts to various reading devices or delivery methods.
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6. Phases of E-Publishing According to Brown:
Period up until the early 1990’s. Print based information system. Dominated
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the printed pages.
From the mid 1990’s to the early 2000’s – period of confusion. New dimension
to the information industry (set of new legal, business and technical
challenges).
From the early 2000’s – strong electronic publishing drive, with digital
versions of information out selling and outperforming their analogue
equivalents.
Changes that Drive Developing of E-Publishing
Changes in Technology
Changes in the Business Model
Changes in the Product/Service concept
Changes in User Behaviour
Changes in Scientific Disciplines
Changes in Copyright
Changes in Demography
Business Models
Open access (publishing)
Online advertising
Online distribution
Pay-Per-View
Print on demand
Subscriptions
Self-publishing
7. Copyright
Copyright laws are currently tailored to printed books. Electronic publishing brings
up new questions in relation to copyright. E-publishing may be more collaborative,
often involving more than one author, and more accessible, since it is published
online. This opens up more doors for plagiarism or theft.
Some publishers are trying to change this. For example, HarperCollins limited the
number of uses that one of its e-books can be lent in a public library. Others, such as
Penguin, are attempting to incorporate the elements of the e-book into their
publications instead.
Copyright licenses provide a simple, standardized way to give the public
permission to share and use creative work.
Copyright licenses let easily way to change the copyright terms from the
default of “all rights reserved” to “some rights reserved.”
The licenses make the transfer of rights away from the traditional holder of
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publisher’s right.
8. EXAMPLES
Blogging:
Blogging is the act of posting content on a blog (a Web log or online journal) or
posting comments on someone else's blog. Blogging is very popular today because it
allows people to interact with each other. Blogging has also become a popular search
engine optimization (SEO) tool because search engines like Google and Yahoo know
that a blog is frequently updated with content or visitor comments, so their spiders
visit blogs frequently looking for new content to include in their index.
Blogs with good traffic can also be registered with Google AdSense to make money.
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Electronic Versions of
Traditional Media:
CD-ROM
E-book
Electronic journal
Online magazine
Online newspaper
PDF
New Media:
Blog
Collaborative software
Digital publication app
File sharing
Mobile apps
Podcast
Enhanced publication
9. Academic Publishing:
In some fields such as astronomy and some parts of physics, the role of the journal in
disseminating the latest research has largely been replaced by preprint repositories
such as arXiv.org. However, scholarly journals still play an important role in quality
control and establishing scientific credit. In many instances, the electronic materials
uploaded to preprint repositories are still intended for eventual publication in a peer-reviewed
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journal.
Since electronic publishing provides wider dissemination, a number of journals have,
while retaining their peer review process, established electronic versions or even
moved entirely to electronic publication.
10. Points of Concern
What to Consider Before Committing to Any E-Publishing
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Service
Is the service exclusive or nonexclusive?
E-publishing services marketed directly to authors almost always operate on a
nonexclusive basis. That means you can use their service to sell your e-book while
also selling your e-book anywhere else you like (or using any other service).
If it’s exclusive, what’s the term of the contract?
If you’re working with an agent to publish your e-book, you will likely be asked to
sign a contract that has a 2- or 3-year term. This is simply to ensure that, after your e-book
files are prepared, your cover designed, and all ducks put in a row, that you
don’t suddenly change your mind and take your e-book elsewhere. There are
sufficient upfront costs that the agent needs to be confident of recouping their initial
outlay. It is recommended that you do not commit for longer than 2 or 3 years due to
how fast the market conditions can change for e-books.
Do you control the price?
While some services may have reasonable pricing restrictions, standard practice is to
give the author complete control over pricing.
Most e-book retailers mandate that you not offer more favorable pricing anywhere
else (whether at another retailer or direct-to-consumer from your own site). Amazon
in particular is known for carefully policing this and will automatically lower the
price of your e-book if they find you pricing it lower somewhere else.
11. What’s the upfront fee and/or how is the royalty calculated?
While different services have different models, the fees should be transparent and
upfront. For example:
Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble PubIt!, and Apple’s iBookstore (and iBooks Author
software) are all free to use. They make their money by taking a cut of your sales.
Usually you earn 60-70% of your list price (assuming you price in the range they
specify).
Smashwords is free to use and distributes to all major e-book retailers except
Amazon. Smashwords pays you 85% of your list price on sales directly through the
Smashwords site, minus PayPal transaction fees. They pay you 60% of your list price
on sales through retailers (in other words, they take 10% after the retailer takes their
cut).
Are there hidden fees or charges?
You can end up paying more than standard rates for conversion/formatting if your
book runs very long, if you have an inconvenient file format that needs extra work
(common with PDFs), if you have a lot of chart/table/image formatting, and so on. If
your work has any kind of “special needs,” expect a service to charge you more.
What file formats do they accept?
This is critical to know upfront because it usually determines:
A) whether or not you can use the service in the first place.
B) how much you’ll get charged for formatting and conversion if that’s a service you
need.
Who owns the e-book files after they are created?
It is ideal if you own the e-book files, and that is usually the case when you pay out
of pocket for conversion and formatting services. In the case of some free services,
such as Smashwords, you do not.
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12. Are DRM protections or proprietary formats involved?
DRM stands for Digital Rights Management. DRM is supposed to prevent piracy, or
illegal copying and distribution of your e-book after is sold.
There are only two areas where you’re likely to run into a proprietary format or
DRM.
Amazon Kindle uses a proprietary format with DRM. If you use the Kindle Direct
Publishing program to publish your e-book, no matter what type of file you upload,
they will automatically convert it to their proprietary, DRM-locked format. However,
because their service is not exclusive, you can always make your e-book available in
other formats through other services, without restriction.
The Apple iBooks Author tool creates e-books in a proprietary format. No other
device aside from an iPad or iPhone can view an e-book created by the Apple iBooks
Author tool.
Where is your e-book distributed?
One common strategy among authors is to use Amazon Kindle Direct combined with
Smashwords (which distributes to all major e-book retailers except Kindle). You can
probably reach 95%+ of your market with that approach, if not 100%.
Can you make changes to your e-book after it goes on sale?
If you’re working directly with retailers (e.g., Amazon and Barnes & Noble), you can
upload new and revised files as often as you like—they don’t care. Same goes with
Smashwords. However, if you’re using a multiple-channel distributor other than
Smashwords, you will likely have to pay fees to make changes.
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13. Conclusion
Developments in computing, telecommunications and networking technologies have
brought E-Publishing to the current stage of online delivery to users. Much
experimentation and progress had been made with this form of delivery, including
concepts such as eJournals, POD, eBooks, customized courseware publishing,
Internet bookshops, Podcasts, audio books and so on. Although many e-published
products are produced for display on PC or laptops, there is a move to produce such
products for dedicated reading devices and mobile devices as this area is regarded as
a potentially high growth market. However, before ePublications can become as
prevalent and accepted as pPublications, copyright and technical issues need to be
resolved in order to allow readers or users a reading experience as good as, or better
than, pPublications. Likewise, the convergence of formats and emergence of
standards are essential to provide uniformity and to allow the constituents of
publishers, authors and readers to adopt ePublications on a wide scale. In this respect,
the development of eInk and ePaper may be important in E-Publishing’s future.
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