Self-Publishing: A Vain Enterprise?

• Even a brief Google search reveals over fifty self-publishing companies.

• 2005: Self/Very Small Publishers made £7.5Bn in turnover• Industry enjoying 30% growth a year• The range from little more than print and bind services to

complex, multi-million pound companies.• At present there is a consolidation occurring within the self-

publishing market. The author solutions consortium accounts for over 7% of US trade titles.

• Even so, vanity publishing has always existed. Why should it impact on a company like Macmillan now?

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LULU LEADS THE WAY

Not Just is terms of products…

•Basic Package Cost: $0 (ISBN $60)•Author Royalty: 80%of profit

•Distribution: Mostly direct through Lulu.com•1.2 million books sold

•232,000 books•90,000 items sold per month

•$30 million revenue (est)

•Bricks and Mortar Partnership with Boarders•300,000 titles (all media types)

…But also in terms of community

•1,300,000 member community•15,000 registrations per-week•Some forums attract thousands of posts.•Largest Facebook book group attracts about half as many users.

LULU STOREFRONTS CAN BE EASILY EMBEDDED ON WEBSITES AND SOCIAL NETWORKS

It should become increasingly easy to amalgamate author profiling, customer data and marketing initiatives within interoperable services. These could be author or publisher orientated.

It should become increasingly easy to amalgamate author profiling, customer data and marketing initiatives within interoperable services. These could be author or publisher orientated.

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MarketingMarketing

1.Lulu manage buttons badges and widgets

2.Google Ad-words

3.Excellent Search Engine Optimisation

Could Macmillan authors manage their own marketing?

1.Lulu manage buttons badges and widgets

2.Google Ad-words

3.Excellent Search Engine Optimisation

Could Macmillan authors manage their own marketing?

LULU: SKIP TO MY LUIn many cases Lulu’s services match or surpass those offered by conventional

publishers. These will only grows in sophistication

BookmarkingBookmarking

1.Delicious, Digg and Reddit etc are all embedded on storefronts.

How will bookmarking impact on publish to share material.

1.Delicious, Digg and Reddit etc are all embedded on storefronts.

How will bookmarking impact on publish to share material.

PartnershipsPartnerships

1.Free use of Getty Images

2.I-Phone and Sony reader

3.Universal Press Materials

4. Digitalization through Kirtas technologies.

5. New Borders initiative

Will other large players become more interested in these sorts of partnerships. Will there be increasing content sharing?

1.Free use of Getty Images

2.I-Phone and Sony reader

3.Universal Press Materials

4. Digitalization through Kirtas technologies.

5. New Borders initiative

Will other large players become more interested in these sorts of partnerships. Will there be increasing content sharing?

The Lulu Market PlaceThe Lulu Market Place

1.Lulu has pay as you go author services provided by third parties. These include:

•Translation

•Bookfair representation

•Design and Illustration

•Proofing

•Indexing

•Content editorial

•Bespoke publicity and marketing services

Could this style offering, the dynamic marketplace where the quality product is dictated by the authors own ambition and or skill impact on future publisher services? If all these features can be outsourced will there be a demand for changes in royalty structures etc?

1.Lulu has pay as you go author services provided by third parties. These include:

•Translation

•Bookfair representation

•Design and Illustration

•Proofing

•Indexing

•Content editorial

•Bespoke publicity and marketing services

Could this style offering, the dynamic marketplace where the quality product is dictated by the authors own ambition and or skill impact on future publisher services? If all these features can be outsourced will there be a demand for changes in royalty structures etc?

NetworkingNetworking

1.Some of Lulu’s forums attract tens of thousands of posts.

2.Lulu storefronts can be embedded on Myspace, Facebook or author websites.

In some areas could author/organisation profiles provide useful purchasing sites e.g. magazine Myspace pages.

1.Some of Lulu’s forums attract tens of thousands of posts.

2.Lulu storefronts can be embedded on Myspace, Facebook or author websites.

In some areas could author/organisation profiles provide useful purchasing sites e.g. magazine Myspace pages.

Lulu.tvLulu.tv

1.Online video sight where advertising revenue shared with users.

Once search and interoperability improve will we see more blended products utilizing lulu and its sister site?

1.Online video sight where advertising revenue shared with users.

Once search and interoperability improve will we see more blended products utilizing lulu and its sister site?

Publish to SharePublish to Share

1.Users can now upload digital materials to share.

Could this feature combine paid and unpaid content within the academic space? Could it prove a future threat to services like OnestopEnglish?

1.Users can now upload digital materials to share.

Could this feature combine paid and unpaid content within the academic space? Could it prove a future threat to services like OnestopEnglish?

Lulu are also beginning to grow their corporate printing and distribution servicesLulu are also beginning to grow their corporate printing and distribution services

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LULU SUCCESS STORIES

•Norwegian Language Textbook

•Blended Learning Product, these materials could be shared through Lulu

•Essentially a custom textbook used in a small amount of US Universities

•Technical Guidebook

•Lulu’s all time top seller- over 100,000 copies sold

•Most sales direct from Zen-Cart website

•Retails at £24.77 equating to almost $2.5m turnover

•Lulu production charge £7.67 per book (experts estimate 35% of which is profit) and £3.42 royalties – circa £6.10 profit per sale

•Authors make £13.68 profit per-book

• Selected from top science blogs.

• Reviewed twice in Nature

•Sold direct from the authors blogs.

•Successful enough to run a small conference from the proceeds.

#1#10 #1,198

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COULD ACADEMICS LEAPFROG PUBLISHERS?

What Macmillan offers must be significantly better that what the Author or Editor could feasibly make of their own accord – in terms of both product and status

What Macmillan offers must be significantly better that what the Author or Editor could feasibly make of their own accord – in terms of both product and status

• Conferring status through peer review and brand.

• Could aspects of peer review go independent,.

• Author status and marketing shifting more online even in traditional spheres.

• Developments in online print, marketing and distribution make it easier for top editors to go independent with their authors.

• Author services become competitive and granular in nature, in the manner of the Lulu marketplace?

• Could we even see academic collectives striking deals directly with libraries?

WHAT ARE THE CURRENT OBSTACLES TO AUTHORS? WHEN AND HOW SOON WILL THEY BE SURMOUNTED?

WHAT ARE THE CURRENT OBSTACLES TO AUTHORS? WHEN AND HOW SOON WILL THEY BE SURMOUNTED?

STABLE UP TOP

Key New Features within self-publishing:

•Any Length texts•Shorter time to market•Direct Sale: Especially for textbooks and monographs•Pay as you go author services marketplace•Electronic submission and editing

Current strengths for self publishing:

•Gift books and Vanity Publishing•Institutional/Organisational Publishing•Unsigned Authors•Niche Products especially specialized textbooks/technical guides/self-help books•Books of blogs (Blooks?)

The advance system will probably continue to offset the lure of 80% royalties, even so, there has already been a degree of change

Exercise 1: Prospective areas where self- publishing might grow within books and e-books

• Better business publishing solutions through PrintOnDemand.com – Infiltrating annual, society and institutional publishing.

• Products which generate a certain degree of interest through networking. E.g. comics, poetry, companion books

• Textbook and monograph publishing

• Where time to market is essential e.g. Wikitravelpress.com

• Bespoke anthologies and textbooks using both uncopywrited and licensed content.

• Open ended publishing , including fan fiction and collaborative projects like protagonize.com.

•

•

•

•

•

•

What are our competitors doing already……What are our competitors doing already……

- 13 -

THE CHALLENGE TO MACMILLAN IS TO INNOVATE AROUND THE THREE MAJOR TRENDS IDENTIFIED

Web 2.0 self-

Publishing

Web 2.0 self-

Publishing

Print on DemandPrint on Demand Databasing Databasing

• Growth of the database as an academic resource

• Growth of open access convention

• The aggregation of different databases becoming standardized

• Sharing of educational resources

• Growth of the database as an academic resource

• Growth of open access convention

• The aggregation of different databases becoming standardized

• Sharing of educational resources

• Formation of dynamic/niche markets

• DIY author formatting

• Multifaceted products

• Direct to customer sales

• Super-short submission to production time

• Formation of dynamic/niche markets

• DIY author formatting

• Multifaceted products

• Direct to customer sales

• Super-short submission to production time

• Synergized self- promotion

• Blended Products

• Online Eduspaces

• (Inter)networking

• Folksonomy

• Synergized self- promotion

• Blended Products

• Online Eduspaces

• (Inter)networking

• Folksonomy

11

3322

- 14 -

LIBRARIES ARE INCREASINGLY RECEIVING RECQUESTS FOR SO CALLED ‘GREY MATTER’

Theses/DissertationsTheses/Dissertations

Working Papers, Unpublished ReportsWorking Papers, Unpublished Reports

Conference, Workshop Papers, PresentationsConference, Workshop Papers, Presentations

Undergraduate and Graduate MaterialsUndergraduate and Graduate Materials

Traditional publishing: Range of offerings

including journals and books

Traditional publishing: Range of offerings

including journals and books

Areasin

whichmaterials

areself-

published

Areasin

whichmaterials

areself-

published

Low Demand/Hard to Access

High Demand/Easy to Access

There is a hierarchy of quality and demand within

author content

There is a hierarchy of quality and demand within

author content

Conventional Acade

mic Publish

ing

Demand and findability are strongly correlated. Studies show that when dissertations were readily finable their use went up thirty fold.Demand and findability are strongly correlated. Studies show that when dissertations were readily finable their use went up thirty fold.

- 15 -

OPEN ACCESS REPORISTORIES: A WIDE DIVERSE RESEVOIR OF RESOURCES

Source: openDOAR

As this resource grows will search increasingly overtake subscription as the dominant model within the academic arena? As this resource grows will search increasingly overtake subscription as the dominant model within the academic arena?

Content types in open access repositoriesContent types in open access repositories

THE MARMITE APPROACH: HARNESSING BI-PRODUCTS

The brewing process (at least in the UK) yields the highly lucrative bi-product marmite. Are there bi-products of conventional academic processes that could be transformed into a profitable product?

And….?

Instructional Vidcasts and animations

Lectures Podcasts

Photos and Illustrations

Lecture Notes, Powerpoints

Custom Text Books, Course Readers

TestsModel Essays

Model Answers

Lectures,Textbooks,

Monographs, Articles

Marmite eaten alone is distinctly unpalatable, how can Macmillan solve the problem of toast – i.e. find a suitable means of delivering these disparate bi-products into an offering with real market value.Marmite eaten alone is distinctly unpalatable, how can Macmillan solve the problem of toast – i.e. find a suitable means of delivering these disparate bi-products into an offering with real market value.

HOW DO OTHER PUBLISHERS UTILIZE THIS CONTENT

FREEMaterial contributed online by usersFree resources including non-specialist materials such as historical database of oral narratives.

Alexander Street Press, formed in 2000, specializes in digital collections within the humanities and social sciences. They have demonstrated considerable business acumen by using free and syndicated content to drive users toward their product.

PREMIUMComplex multimedia products which syndicate both public and copywrited content and tailor it to the customer.

Can’t Palgrave, and Nature Education, follow similar methods to harvest their content – i.e. use their top customers to create it. Just as the science bloggers

Can’t Palgrave, and Nature Education, follow similar methods to harvest their content – i.e. use their top customers to create it. Just as the science bloggers

Macmillan/HoltzbrinckMacmillan/Holtzbrinck

My PhotobookNature PrecedingsHayden McNeilNature EducationOnestopEnglish Forthcoming writers applicationSecond NatureScintilla

My PhotobookNature PrecedingsHayden McNeilNature EducationOnestopEnglish Forthcoming writers applicationSecond NatureScintilla

Books/E-books, collaborative writingBooks/E-books, collaborative writing

CreateSpaceAuthorhouseHarper Collins AuthonomyElsevier WiserWikiProtagonize.comWikitravelpress.com

CreateSpaceAuthorhouseHarper Collins AuthonomyElsevier WiserWikiProtagonize.comWikitravelpress.com

Search, networking and sharingSearch, networking and sharing

OpenCourseWareOpenID OpenSocialScientific CommonsEthOSProQuestDART SlideshareYoutube and other video Ex.plode.us

OpenCourseWareOpenID OpenSocialScientific CommonsEthOSProQuestDART SlideshareYoutube and other video Ex.plode.us

EXERCISE 2: SIGNIFICANT INITIATIVES RELATING TO SELF-PUBLISHING

AND/OR INFORMATION SYNDICATION

KEY QUESTIONS:

• Are we seeing a paradigmatic shift from stickiness to the syndication of information?

• If we are, is this shift analogous to an authentic shift in customer need?

• How can Macmillan create meaningful movement at a granular level?• Will the findability, and indeed the demand, for content, be as

pronounced in other areas as it is in STM?• If Macmillan does act as a curator and editor of content, how can it

bestow value without risking becoming a broken brand?• How does Macmillan create or encourage ‘Top Customers’?

- 20 -

EXERCISE 3: SPECULATIVE IDEAS FOR SELF-PUBLISHING INITIATIVES

Database and POD service for customized trade books

High ImpactHigh Impact

Low ImpactLow Impact

RevolutionaryRevolutionary

EvolutionaryEvolutionary

Educational Repository Aggregating Service

New writing – Curation, POD and E-Delivery

Create a textbook/anthology

HSS Tagging and networking

Curation of Grey Matter/side products

Conferences and seminars to generate materials

Seeded Course Management systems