Best of TOC 2012

66 Pages·2012·4.068 MB·English

by  O'Reilly Team

Connecting the
people inventing
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The acceleration of change and
Todd Sattersten
innovation in the publishing industry
today is dizzying, and the pace can
be overwhelming. But this change/
forward/fast environment is also
ripe with opportunity for those who
embrace it and learn to adapt and
innovate quickly. O’Reilly Tools of
Change delivers a deft mix of the
practical and the visionary to give
the publishing industry the tools
and guidance needed to succeed—
and the inspiration to lead change.
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Best of TOC 2012
O’Reilly Radar Team
Beijing • Cambridge • Farnham • Köln • Sebastopol • Tokyo
Best of TOC 2012
by O’Reilly Radar Team
Copyright © 2012 O’Reilly Media . All rights reserved.
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ISBN: 978-1-449-32814-6
[LSI]
1328038552
Table of Contents
Introduction ........................................................ vii
1. The Adaptation of Publishing ..................................... 1
A War Story, a Kindle Single, and Hope for Long-Form Journalism 1
What is it like to write a Kindle Single? 1
Why did you price “The Shores of Tripoli” at $1.99? 2
Did the royalty factor in your decision? 2
What has the response been thus far? 3
How would you compare the response to your experience with
traditional publishing? 3
Why did you decide to experiment? 4
How do you see Kindle Singles and their ilk benefiting and
shaping the future of journalism? 4
How do Kindle Singles compare to something like Spot.us? 5
Do you see the Kindle Single as a viable funding model? 5
This ongoing struggle with digital affects all aspects of the in-
dustry — how do you see it shaking out? 6
How do you envision the future of long-form journalism? 7
The Paperless Book 7
The consequences of book updates 8
Possibilities arise from a new name 9
We’re in the Midst of a Restructuring of the Publishing Universe
(Don’t Panic) 10
What’s the story behind “Book: A Futurist’s Manifesto”? 10
This is a broad question, but what are the major ways digital is
changing publishing? 11
Which digital tools should publishers focus on? 12
Why is metadata important to digital publishing? 12
What will the publishing landscape look like in five years? 12
iii
What’s the publishing schedule for “Book: A Futurist’s Mani-
festo”? 13
The Problem with Deep Discount eBook Deals 13
Publishers: What Are They Good For? 15
What do publishers offer? 16
Book Piracy: Less DRM, More Data 18
What’s the current impact of piracy on the book publishing
industry? 19
Can content tracking tools, such as those from Attributor, curb
piracy? 19
What tactics are publishers using to thwart piracy? 20
Is piracy really a threat to the book industry? 20
Will publishers — and content producers in general — get past
the “lost revenue” mindset attached to digital piracy? 21
2. Digital Publishing and the Legal Landscape ........................ 23
Public Domain Here, Under Copyright There 23
Legally Speaking, Think Before You Tweet 25
How has libel law been affected by social networking platforms? 26
In light of Courtney Love’s recent settlement, what are some
guidelines people should keep in mind while tweeting or post-
ing on blogs and other social platforms? 26
Do libel laws for bloggers and tweeters differ from those that
apply to professional journalists? 27
Do you think we’ll get to a point where “Internet celebrity” (i.e.,
you’ve got 1 million Twitter followers) could serve as a thresh-
old for actual malice? 28
The Digital Rights Quagmire 28
How have rights and licensing issues changed with the growing
ubiquity of digital publishing? What new issues exist that didn’t
with traditional publishing? 29
How are digital rights any different from traditional print rights? 29
How are digital rights affected by international trade relation-
ships? Are they approached differently than traditional print
rights? 30
How do these issues affect the publishing industry as a whole? 30
3. Publishing Tech and Tools ....................................... 31
A Sensible Look at HTML5 and Publishing 31
Why should publishers care about HTML5? 31
So what is HTML5, exactly? The term is thrown around a lot,
but it seems undefined. 31
iv | Table of Contents
In your book, you instruct readers on using the <canvas> ele-
ment. What is that and why is it helpful? 32
How can publishers make use of HTML5’s geolocation abilities? 32
The International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) has signed
off on EPUB 3. What effect will EPUB 3 have on HTML5? 32
What’s your take on Kindle Format 8? 33
What’s the best way for publishers to approach your book? Is
it more of an introduction, or do they need some basic knowl-
edge first? 33
What should publishers keep in mind as they explore HTML5
for their own needs? 34
Metadata Isn’t a Chore, It’s a Necessity 34
How can metadata help publishers future-proof their content? 35
How does metadata fit into digital workflows? 35
Doesn’t this require an entirely different skill set? Do publishers
need a completely separate digital workflow? 35
What is the marketing impact of metadata now, and how might
that role expand in the future? 36
Why is ongoing metadata maintenance important? 36
How does metadata relate to search engine optimization
(SEO)? How do you see this relationship evolving? 36
Six Ways to Think About an “Infinite Canvas” 37
Continuously changeable 37
Deep zooms 38
Alternate geometries 38
Canvases that give readers room to contemplate and respond 38
Delight 39
Jumbo content 39
4. The Edge of Publishing .......................................... 41
The Future of the Book 41
Easy-to-use authoring tools that enable content creation and
distribution 42
Readily available in all formats 42
Continuous updates (more tech-oriented and some non-fiction) 43
Rich media integration 43
Socially and personally connects readers to publisher/author/
community 43
Engages the distracted and partial attention society 44
Written and translated simultaneously 44
Gamification features 44
Access from the source 45
Table of Contents | v
Culture, staffing, and innovation 45
Open source 45
Priced fairly 46
Publishing Needs a Social Strategy 46
Open-Ended Publishing 48
Everything can be public 49
Go forward or back whenever you like 50
Just start 50
Expectations and platforms 51
Your thoughts? 51
Tim O’Reilly on What Lies Ahead in Publishing 52
How will ebooks change publishing? 52
Does the definition of “publisher” need to expand? 53
Does a focus on infrastructure block adaptation? 53
How can publishers adapt to digital? What mindsets should
they adopt? 54
vi | Table of Contents