That’s one of the scariest lead-ins I’ve ever read. Having lived near Basingstoke I can imagine that scenario..

In reply to the Malvern Writers’ Circle, we at Ljinteractive.com are offering services to publishers who are trying to make sense of digital and need some help in forming a strategy. We are happy to meet with publishers for a free no commitment open discussion on the various opportunities out there.

I agree with Jon’s article in that many publishers are missing the point with digital and are seeing at it as a bolt on to their existing business rather than a potential evolution.

As in many industries where significant change happens, there is a great deal of opportunity for re-casting the landscape, if publishers don’t redefine their role they will be left behind.

Dave

This is rigorous journalism and much better commentary than I am reading elsewhere.

Like you, I share the overwhelming sense that publishers are not necessarily the protagonists on this new digital stage – even the small and medium sized ones are finding it difficult letting go of legacy business practices and dying markets – basement geeks in underpants are the genuine new entrants although I am not sure the team at Enhanced Editions would like that label!

The point is that change doesn’t start with technology and yet too many people are fixated with it. Instead, leaders need to rethinking markets, business models, audiences, workflows, business drivers, teams, roles, skills, marketing, new product development and they need a “hero project” to act as catalyst for change in their organisation. They also need vision and urgency to drive change and I don’t see enough signs of that anywhere.

I am a consultant offering the best advice in this area and yet the leaders I talk to file the problem and its challenges at the bottom of their inbox whilst they wait for the bank manager to call them in.

As you say “Anyone can do it” – I myself spent Sunday afternoon publishing on the Internet for my audience using digital rich media and Apple software. The cost of producing, delivering and distributing that digital content was 3 hours of “prosumer” time – so, yes, where does that leave publishers? Not as content creators but as content curators who search for, locate, aggregate, filter and offer their communities the relevant stuff that will inspire, educate and connect their customers.

Stephen Bateman
http://www.concentricdots.com/business-models/my-takeaways-from-lbfdc/

Quality is important too, of course. And this is one role publishers still have – those quality control, filtering, editorial, gatekeeping functions. Or is it? I think good content will still find an audience online – even if it is self-published.

One comment, though. “The market is always right.” Really? I thought that had been proven wrong several times, with one particularly bad example last year. Or have we forgotten?

If the publishing industry is struggling to make profit is because the market has not always been right. A big problem is that often those who make decisions about what people “want” have no real idea of who that people is or what “wanting” really means. When “profit” becomes the only or most important reason to do things (especially those “things” publishers do), then, well, to be honest we are doomed.

So it’s not about creating “content”. It’s about creating quality. “Quality” is a word with a long heritage. It evokes the senses– it does not matter if it’s digital or analogue or both, many readers and collectors want quality, and will pay for it.

If it’s bad content, we won’t want it, even for free.