Phil Madans, Director of Publishing Standards & Practices at Hachette Book Group, discusses the changing eBook landscape and the challenges publishers face in adapting workflows and infrastructure to new digital formats. Madans advocates for a content-centric model where content is stored in a single digital format and transformed into multiple products like eBooks, print books, and apps. He acknowledges that changing standards, workflows, and relationships with trading partners can be difficult during periods of industry turbulence.

1. Whither eBooks: A Publisher’s
Prospective
Phil Madans
Director of Publishing Standards & Practices
Hachette Book Group
The Changing Standards Landscape
ALA, New Orleans 2011

2. Phil Madans--Whither eBooks, ALA, 2011 2
Hachette Book Group

3. Phil Madans--Whither eBooks, ALA, 2011 3
“Change is inevitable - except from
a vending machine. ”
– Robert C. Gallagher
“Nothing endures but change.”
– Heraclitus

4. Auto-Sync Digital Platform
Creative
Content
Software
Building Blocks
Social
Reader
Blogs Video Audio
Pictures
Contests
Commerce
Author 1 Author 2 Author 3 Author 4
GamesMaps
Analytics Marketing Community
4
Phil Madans--Whither eBooks, ALA, 2011

5. Phil Madans--Whither eBooks, ALA, 2011 5
“Every time I find the meaning of life,
they change it.”
– Reinhold Niebuhr

6. Multipurpose
One, and only one, instance of content is
stored in a digital format easily transformed
into any number of products, physical or
digital, at any time..or at the same time.
6Phil Madans--Whither eBooks, ALA, 2011

7. Marketing
Physical
CONTENT
Mobile
B2B
Communities
eBook
*Enhanced
Paid
Apps
Marketing
Create Content Once for All Forms of Consumption
7Phil Madans--Whither eBooks, ALA, 2011

8. Print/Product Centric
Content Centric/Format Agnostic
Hardcover
(First Format)
Paperback
Large Print
eBook
Digital Galley
Enhanced eBook
App
8Phil Madans--Whither eBooks, ALA, 2011

9. Content Centric/Format Agnostic
Paperback
Large Print
eBook
Digital Galley
Enhanced eBook
App
Hardcover
DELIVER
US
FROM
EVIL
Content
Content Centric
Think Outside the Page
9Phil Madans--Whither eBooks, ALA, 2011

10. Content Creation
Content
DescribingAuthoring Editing
10Phil Madans--Whither eBooks, ALA, 2011

11. Content Creation
Content
DescribingAuthoring Editing
Product
DistributionFormats QA
Multi-Product Delivery
11Phil Madans--Whither eBooks, ALA, 2011

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Collaboration

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Collaboration
Product Centric

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Collaboration
Content Centric

15. Focus on Process: Simplicity, Integration of Workflows,
and Continuous Improvement
Data
Acquisition
Data Quality
Data
Architecture
Data
Management
Digital
Workflow
Contracts
& Royalties
Publicity
Warehouse
Management
Systems
DAM
Order To
Cash
Reporting
Suppliers Customers
15Phil Madans--Whither eBooks, ALA, 2011

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16
Standards
Identify
Product/ISBN
Work/ISTC
Authority/ISNI
DOI
Describe
Bibliographic
Subject
Categories
Contextual
Keywords
Descriptive
Marketing
Rights
Territories
Sales/Tax
Content
Structure
Communication
Tools
ONIX
MARC
XBITS
GDSN
EDI
Communities
Trading
Partners
Internal
Systems
Reviewers,
Influencers
Consumers
Authors

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Infrastructure change is
a challenge
Workflow change is a
challenge
“Every path has its puddle.”
– English Proverb
Trading partner relationships
during times of turbulent
change can be a challenge

18. Auto-Sync Digital Platform
Creative
Content
Software
Building Blocks
Social
Reader
Blogs Video Audio
Pictures
Contests
Commerce
Author 1 Author 2 Author 3 Author 4
GamesMaps
Analytics Marketing Community
18Phil Madans--Whither eBooks, ALA, 2011

19. “All is connected… no one thing can
change by itself.”
– Paul Hawken
(Yoga Journal)
“Life is change. Growth is optional.
Choose wisely.”
– Karen Kaiser Clark
19Phil Madans--Whither eBooks, ALA, 2011

20. Thank You
Phil Madans
Director of Publishing Standards & Practices
Hachette Book Group
phil.madans@hbgusa.com
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