Recently we’ve been recapping some of the talks we attended at The Markets conference in Frankfurt. Today, we’re wrapping-up this series of posts by summarizing talks that showcased two exciting markets for innovation in digital publishing: the USA, and publishing content for mobile phones.
The USA
During Mapping the Future of Digital Publishing in the US Chantal Restivo-Alessi, Chief Digital Officer of HarperCollins Publishers, presented some compelling insights into the American ebook market. With headlines swirling about the decline of ebook sales (see The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal) and subscription service Oyster set to shut down operations in January, there is no doubt that the future of digital publishing in the US was a hot topic for discussion in Frankfurt. Contrary to the recent headlines, Restivo-Alessi explained that readership trends are actually on the rise, despite declining numbers of ebook sales. The reason, she argued, is that the influence of the millennials is growing. As an age group they read more books across all formats than any other bracket of readers. Millennials also pick and choose books across both digital and print formats. Very rarely do we see them solely consume content in one format or the other. The age of Amazon and ebooks has also brought along the era of the “one-click transaction”, and consumers have grown used to a retail environment which favours a simple customer experience, and where content is delivered almost instantaneously to their door whether via download or next-day delivery.
There is no doubt the US ebook market is in transition, with new pricing and changes being implemented on a regular basis. What publishers must learn now, according to Restivo-Alessi, is how to best match the price and customer experience of consuming content across both print and digital platforms. The beauty of publishing, she said, lies in the fact that even in the wake of all the recent digital innovations, the printed book continues to be an object of value to consumers. It’s up to us, as publishers and industry professionals, to find the best way for these formats to coexist, and continue to produce fantastic content that takes advantage of the opportunities available.
Interestingly, one of the most interesting points of Restivo-Alessi’s talk happened when she spoke about how, in her opinion, ebook subscription services continue to be the way of the future. The under 35’s have chosen subscription services over ownership in almost every avenue of their lives – and it’s logical that books would fall under that same category. Even better, she said, it’s also hard to think of a better model for encouraging backlist reading and backlist discovery. At the same time, vendors of subscription services need to figure out how to best segment their lists to make it work, and how to achieve the right balance of categories across genres.
She concluded her talk by saying that in order to realise the results we want, publishers will need to think about marketing and selling in an integrated fashion, and do continuous research to determine which specific markets they are looking to reach. Ultimately, she cautioned publishers would do well to bear in mind the power of the backlist.
The Success of Mobile Book Distribution in Emerging Markets
One of the most interesting talks of the day came from the people behind Bookmate. Based out of Russia, Bookmate is a subscription ebook service with a mandate to “make reading accessible to anyone in the world with a mobile phone.” Their product is aimed towards emerging and growing markets where print distribution poses challenges, but where a growing number of people have access to mobile phones.
Simon Dunlop, CEO, and Andrew Baev, Managing Director, spoke with Sebastian Posth, Managing Director of Publishing Data Networks, about the opportunities that subscription services can offer publishers in reaching new markets around the world. Although a relatively new company, Bookmate have an impressive global presence, with a total of 6 international offices by the end of this year. They credit their success to three central factors: the readiness of an international mobile reading market, a great English language catalogue, and strong distribution partners in local emerging markets. Interestingly, for Bookmate these local partners take the form of mobile phone carriers, whom they rely on to facilitate the process of the “1 click purchase”.
They spoke about how one of the hardest barriers for them is the lack of a universal standard for digital books in global markets. While the EPUB format is widely used across North America and Europe, some publishers in other territories continue to question EPUB because the existing business in their market is done almost exclusively via PDF. However, Bookmate have found that if you start establishing a format, customers will follow and adapt accordingly. But, they stressed that in order for this to work you need to have the right product, and more importantly the right catalogue of material, to convince consumers to alter their habits.
Another interesting point raised in their talk was the fact that some established markets for print can often be categorized as emerging markets for ebooks. Such is the case in Sweden, where Bookmate have just set up a local office, and where the popularity of digital publishing is still very much in its infancy. So how does Bookmate convince print readers to change the way they consume books? The secret lies in the fact that they capitalize on the amount of screen time people spend on their phones. Bookmate operate on the philosophy that if people weren’t reading books on their mobile phones, they would probably be doing something else on their device instead. Bookmate isn’t interested in converting print readers to digital readers, instead they are focusing their efforts on drawing mobile phone users to reading in the place of surfing the web or watching a video. They argue that with the volume of content available, people are always on the lookout for better and better content. In this sense, Bookmate’s audience is not just limited to dedicated readers. Reading on a mobile phone is fundamentally different from the experience of reading in your favourite chair on the weekend. The end game though, remains the same. If publishing’s digital revolution has proven anything, it’s that we need to get people reading again via paid outlets. Bookmate is certainly paving the way with an innovative method that just might bring us back to the basics of publishing; introducing readers, young and old, avid consumers and new beginners, to the wonders of the written word.
11/18/2015 | Book Fairs, Digital, Events, Export