NAVIGATING THE DIGITAL PUBLISHING

LANDSCAPE

The digital publishing field is exploding with the rise of a multitude of different devices on which to read and experience content. With more sophisticated devices and evolving customer expectations, the emerging trend is an emphasis on visuals and the viewing experience. To this end, interactive books, story apps and magazine apps now offer new ways to capture readers.

E-books can contain audio, video and interactive elements in addition to scaling/reflowing text. New distribution channels such as the iPad Newsstand platform are emerging that make it possible for digital, magazine-style publications to regularly release content and charge readers by the issue or via subscription.

The e-book, magazine and story app space is an evolving one. Entities such as Apple and Amazon are spending time and resources developing the platforms, devices and rules that best segment their markets and distinguish their products from competitors. Meanwhile, content creators — independent or large scale — are doing whatever they can to maximize scales and capture the attention of their audiences.

With the rise of possibilities comes a rise of confusion. Content creators, marketers and publishers just entering the digital publishing space need help navigating the digital publishing landscape. This guide will help you start navigating this next great frontier in publishing.

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INTRODUCTION

New distribution channels are emerging, and existing distribution channels are evolving. With the influx of e-books masquerading as apps in the iTunes App Store, Apple has been tightening the rules to keep content in the right distribution channels and segment its markets. That being said, an iPad or iPhone app is still a viable medium for digitally published content, assuming the experience is fitting to Apple’s preferences.

An easy way to get a good view of distribution channels is by pairing stores with their target devices, but this can be a bit tricky when you factor in apps as a content medium.

Some of the main distribution channels for digitally published content are:

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DISTRIBUTION

iPad | iPhone iTunes App Store and iTunes Books Store (aka iBookstore store on the device) Kindle Amazon Kindle Store Nook B&N Nook Store and Nook Newsstand Android Google Play Store and Sony Reader Store Sony Reader Sony Reader Store

It’s important that your content lives in as many places as it can to reach the largest audience. This means having your content converted into different formats and optimized for different devices. It isn’t necessary to be on every single store in every format, just the ones that make sense for your content, target audience and budget.

It’s important that your content lives in as many places as it can to reach

the largest audience.

An app is an e-book is an iBook Terminology can mean different things depending upon the way words are used, the understanding of the digital publishing field that the person has, or the audience the person is talking to. Almost anything is technically an application, including an e-book. Interactive books can be referred to as e-books whether they are in the format of an app one would buy in the iTunes App Store or the iBookstore. An “e-book” is probably used most often to describe a predominantly text-based media that could be used on a device such as a Kindle, but that doesn’t mean that the next time you hear the word e-book it’s referring to an app — language is evolving too.

Adding to the confusion, e-books can masquerade as apps and apps can masquerade as e-books. Apps that are almost identical to e-books exist in the App Store even though guidelines are tightening to restrict this from happening. It may have been a fluke — apps that don’t follow guidelines are sometimes accepted, perhaps on the whims of the person at Apple reviewing submissions. In other cases, developers and content creators push the boundaries of interactivity in iBooks, creating compelling, engaging reading experiences that cause people to question whether something is an app or an e-book.

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TERMINOLOGY

app

iBook

e-book

E-books come in as many flavors as there are devices on which to read them. Devices include the iPad, Kindle, Nook, Nexus, etc. and each has its own proprietary formats for packaging and distributing content. I won’t focus on every proprietary format, but instead will give a solid overview of the characteristics and distribution channels of each major format. As you’ll see, some formats are supported across many devices and converting your e-book into proprietary formats for multiple devices is a feasible option for many projects.

Know your content, target audience and budget. Knowing your content and target audience is key to selecting a format and will help guide questions such as:

Is layout and design a key consideration for my message?

Does it make sense to release content in issues such as a quarterly ‘magazine’ style publication?

What devices do my audience members own and consume content on?

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HOW TO CHOOSE A DIGITAL PUBLISHING FORMAT

Knowing your budget is also vital in choosing a format. Options such as branded e-book apps may be prohibitively expensive. Your budget may permit you to choose multiple formats or target multiple distribution channels.

Your content and target audience also help inform the decision of which features and distribution channels best fit your needs. Each publishing format comes with its own list of features. There is some overlap in features and distribution channels, but the limitations help to balance the scales and make deciding a lot easier.

CONTENT

AUDIENCE

BUDGET

1 / EPUBUsing the same technology as a basic webpage, EPUB’s are a widely used, open (no single company ‘owns’ the format), e-book format. Basic EPUBs don’t have much in terms of looks, as the capabilities for styling are dependent on the multitude of end devices that will read them. Things like custom fonts and colors aren’t supported on every end device. The EPUB’s strongest feature is its ability to reflow text, which makes it easy to read content on any size screen. This makes the EPUB chief for functionality rather than form. Images are supported but if complete design control is something you want, you better look elsewhere.

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4 MAJOR DIGITAL PUBLISHING FORMATS

CHARACTERISTICS & FEATURES

Reflowing text allows for readability features such as changing the font size. It also makes for very versatile e-books content simply takes up the available space on the screen.

Interactivity is limited and supported differently among devices. No doubt there is lots of room for experimentation, but given that the EPUB was made primarily for basic, reflow- able, mostly text publications … why bother?

Wide device support: computer, tablet and smart phones.

Low cost to produce. Since the technology is that of a basic webpage, and room for design is limited, EPUBs are one of the cheapest e-book formats to make.

Believe it or not, basic EPUBs can include embedded images, audio and video.

PUBLISHING OPTIONS

e-book sites

Major marketplaces such as iBookstore, Nook Book Store, Sony Reader Store, Lulu, Google play store and Kobo

2 / PDFPDFs are exceedingly cheap to make and widely utilized across devices, and since they’re basically multipage images, the design can be as sophisticated as you want. The catch is that PDFs are meant mainly for computer screens — PDFs become cumbersome or unusable on smaller screen sizes. The PDF format is so widely supported that most writing or designing software allows you to export directly to the PDF format — as you probably already know because you’ve used a computer in the last 10 years.

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CHARACTERISTICS & FEATURES

Fixed-layout. Greater control over design. Preferable when

layout is important to the message.

Wide device support: computer, tablet or smart phone (use at your own risk).

Device independent (access is available across browsers).

Free to produce and share.

Includes multi-media (less utilized).

PUBLISHING OPTIONS

e-book sites

Major marketplaces will sell as is or convert into a usable format

Self-publishing and selling

4 MAJOR DIGITAL PUBLISHING FORMATS

3 / FIXED-LAYOUT EPUBOriginally designed by Apple (though really a no-brainer as the natural evolution of the EPUB format), the fixed-layout EPUB is a special kind of EPUB that has enhanced design control and capabilities. Support for full-bleed images and overlapping text and images lets visual-rich content come to life on newer screen-reader devices such as the iPad. These design capabilities come at the cost of device support and the ability to reflow text.

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4 MAJOR DIGITAL PUBLISHING FORMATS

CHARACTERISTICS & FEATURES

Limited device support: previously only Apple products such as the iPad and iPhone (use at your own risk), but has now expanded to support other devices including the Amazon Kindle and the Google Nexus.

Fixed-layout. Greater control over design. Preferable when layout is important to the message.

Medium cost. They take more time and resources than a normal EPUB to develop.

The same multimedia capabilities of regular EPUBs and PDFs with the benefit of better control over their presentation.

PUBLISHING OPTIONS

Apple iBook store. Given the popularity of the iPad, this may likely be your first stop for fixed-layout pubs.

Kindle store

Google Play store

4 / E-BOOK APPThe leading choice for interactivity and deal-breaking features such as multi-issue publications, e-book apps are the leading choice for completely branded, designed experiences on tablet and smart phones. E-book apps have taken the digital publishing world by storm but aren’t available for everyone. Apps are costly to develop. Multi-issue apps require yearly budget commitments on top of the costs for design and development.

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4 MAJOR DIGITAL PUBLISHING FORMATS

CHARACTERISTICS & FEATURES

Limited device support: tablets or smart phones.

Fixed-layout. Ultimate design control.

Supports features such as multi-issue publications and subscriptions.

High cost of development.

Advanced interactivity and scripting capabilities.

PUBLISHING OPTIONS

tablet and smart phone stores

CONCLUSIONNo one format encompasses all the features of digital publishing. Each format comes with its own benefits and limitations. Choosing a digital publishing format for your project should come with careful consideration of your content, target audience, budget, desired features and desired distribution channels. You may decide that you are able to publish in multiple formats for your project such as PDF and Fixed Layout (fixed-layout EPUB and e-book app). It’s important to remember that each end device may have its own special formatting requirements for e-books. To a skilled publisher or conversion house, these changes may be trivial, but they still involve extra cost and time commitment.

Determining which e-book format will work for your project begins with an understanding of your content and target audience, leads to deciding on features and distribution channels, and hinges on an understanding of the wide array of e-book formats out there to choose from.

BY DEAN VERLEGER

Start publishing. Contact Silver Square for content strategy and creation services. 317.569.5977 or raquel@silversquareinc.com.