Reaching a New Generation of Readers Making Information Pay Conference 2007 Nicole Poindexter, Hachette Book Group

Introduction: Hachette Book Group USA

Digital Publishing: Past 1455 Gutenbergs Printing Press 1878 Deweys Numeric Classification 1935 Mass Market books start with launch of Penguin 1971 Project Gutenberg 1988 Digital Cellular Phone 1990 World Wide Web 1995 Amazon.com 2001 iPod 1999 Napster 2006 Sony eReader

The Wall Street Journal Over the past decade, the book industry has lagged behind the rest of the entertainment and media world in embracing technological change. Few book publishers, for instance, had a systematized method of keeping track of manuscripts and marketing materials for completed books. Final drafts were stored all over the place, and unsold back copies took up valuable space in company warehouses.

HBG USAs Early Digital Publishing Efforts Time Warner Electronic Publishing –1995 Quick Reads Program –Interactive CD-ROMS –Modus Operandi

HBG USAs Early Digital Publishing Efforts Launched in April 2001 Online community and eBook store iWrite…online writing collaboration Closed December 2001 –Almost two years and more than $10 million later, Time Warner Trade Publishing will close with great regret its electronic publishing division iPublish.com and let 29 employees go. –Wired 12/04/2001 iPublish

Why werent we successful? Content Capabilities: Company + Partners Customer Technology Concepts required Web 2.0 in the Web 1.0 world Technology had not entered the mainstream Content Content not strong enough to surpass limitations in capabilities and technology Capabilities: Company and Partners TWBG did not control key aspects of successful product delivery and business model Partners not aligned for success of product Customer Could not create a product that would satisfy customer needs or inspire them to switch from other choices

Digital World Today 8

Customer How are people using the Internet? Horrigan, John B.. Home Broadband Adoption 2006:. Pew Internet & American Life Project, May 28, By 2007, Nielsen reported more than 211,000,000 internet users in the U.S. -- An increase of 121.4% from 2000 Exponentially increasing Web content escalates importance of search and filters Rise in comfort level of using digital resources thanks to rise in online commerce In the News industry the Web leveled the playing field between print and broadcast driving both online

Customer Are people reading books? Source: Excerpted from Surveying the Digital Future A project of Center for the digital. FutureUSC Annenberg School, 2007 Response to question: During any typical week, about how many hours of your leisure time, if any, do you spend with the following activities not online? 9.2 hours per week spent online at home Hours Spent in Leisure

Customer And will they be reading books tomorrow? Literary Reading Rates by Age Group Source: National Endowment for the Arts, Reading at Risk Survey, Percent of people who answered Yes to Have you read a novel, short story, play or poem in the past year?

Capabilities Partnerships can fill capability gaps Content Aggregation Search/ Filter Digital Delivery/ Storage eCommerce Relationship with Consumer Metadata/ ONIX Company Lightning Source

Our early efforts in digital publishing laid the groundwork –We began documenting our digital rights and building digital rights into our contracts (1999) –We began digital repository for our files (2000) –We created standards for the structuring of our digital layout files (2001) –We began tagging our content in XML (2002) Capabilities Investments in Digital Infrastructure

Technology eBook adoption vs. Book adoption One standard format for eBook seed files eBook files should handle graphics well and work across hardware platforms Consumer friendly Digital Rights Management Lower consumer price points for eBooks eReader hardware should be low priced, multi- functional and easy to use Need to reach critical mass of titles available as eBooks Inexpensive Portable Transferable (sharing, pass along, gifts) Valued as objects (and signifiers of status) No batteries required! The 4 Bs (the bedroom, the bath, the bus, the beach eBook Adoption Criteria Book Adoption Criteria

Content New media is radically changing content Consumers want to create content in new ways Consumers want content targeted to their individual needs or interests Consumers want to create community around content Consumers are attracted to multimedia experiences

To act or not to act

To act or not to act Arguments against Action Publisher revenues from digital content are fairly small today Basic criteria for wholesale e-book adoption are not yet present – especially lack of low cost eBook reader Implementation of digital publishing is difficult and costly We are concerned about piracy and loss of ability to monetize our intellectual property

To act or not to act Arguments for action Numbers of book readers are declining; internet/ digital content consumption growing rapidly Search can be a powerful marketing tool exposing readers to backlists The time to prepare is now. The next generation of readers are digital natives. We will have no chance of controlling our content and being able to monetize it if we are not proactive/ able to put into digital formats *Source: The New York Times, April 2, 2007

Why HBG USA is taking action now Arguments for non-action diminishing –Easier to implement with players like Bookstore and NewsStand –eBook adoption criteria moving in the right direction Opportunities associated with taking action becoming clearer –Search, tagged/ chunked content, mobile phone delivery –Direct relationship with the customer –Process benefits –Must be ready to serve our future readers Control argument –Standards only possible if we participate

We think factors today are likely to make digital efforts more successful Content Capabilities: Company + Partners Technology Widespread broadband access makes downloading content easy Advances in eBook readers and smart phones make future of widespread eBook adoption more likely Content Tagging, chunking, collaboration and other concepts should enhance content so that the customer perceives value Capabilities: Company and Partners Willing partners relieve some of the investment requirements HBG past investments in technologies to reduce costs make incremental investment manageable Customer Customers are demanding content when and where they want it; they want to participate in the creation of it and want it tailored to their needs Will they pay for it? Customer

Capabilities: Challenges Digital publishing is not the same as physical – Implementation requires vision, the commitment to invest and a shift in culture Need to decide which capabilities the publisher must own and which can be outsourced Need to develop industry standards –Without them, implementation is more difficult and much riskier What will it take to implement digital publishing strategy ?

Content: Challenges Leverage current consumer activities online –Community –Content creation Provide content in new formats –Chunked –Multi-media Continue to provide quality and credibility of value inherent in book publishing Publishers and Editors must get involved in planning and marketing of digital content from the beginning How can we adapt book content to the new medium?

Technology: Challenges Technology could emulate the book reading experience –Easy to use –One eBook and DRM standard –eInk technology for ease of reading –Comparably priced with book reading experience Or, technology could enhance the book reading experience –Multi-function device –eCommerce capabilties –Multi media experience including audio and video –Support consumers new content interests (community, sharing, creation of new content) How can technology encourage adoption instead of being a barrier to it?

Customers: Challenges Increasing marketing exposure through the Internet –Digital distribution of content should definitely increase awareness of and hopefully purchase of our titles – digital and physical Reducing the costs of publishing through process benefits –Some of the technology investments should reduce our costs to produce physical books Selling content Once consumers switch, will it erode or enhance our physical book business? How will we make money?

Conclusion There are challenges to pursuing a digital strategy Partners can make implementation easier The path to financial success is not clear The world today points to a future in which digital will be an important way to reach book customers Meeting customer needs requires alignment of technology, capabilities and content Not clear what will be the tipping point or when it will come Mistakes have been made before in this arena, and will probably be made again But, can we afford not to try?