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EDITORIAL
(from November 03 issue)
Solutions at Frankfurt
I was looking forward to the new ‘Solutions
Forum’ at Frankfurt (August Book People), and after I visited
the press centre in Hall 4 I was keen to see what I would find
when I set off up to the second floor. It was impressive, but
I was surprised by the absence of many of the companies I associate
with the technical, print and pre-press, publisher-support industry.
German, European and Asian companies were well represented, but
certainly not most of the main players in the UK or US markets.
They were at Frankfurt, they just weren’t part of this group.
Most were in Hall 8, and as the marketing director of one US company
put it to me: ‘This is where my customers are, this is where
I need to be’.
This underlines a serious point that the Book Fair may feel the
need to address. There is great value for all in grouping exhibitors
by type, but the fair is huge and in true marketing terms, everyone
wants to be close to their customers. There is no easy answer,
but I’m sure that the Buchmesse’s Holger Ehling may
have a view on this he’d like to share with us.
Paul
Thorne
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Audited
circulation for the year to 31st December 2002. Average circulation
of 5,707.
Book
People is published by Rigden Thorne
16 Chilham Way, Bromley, Kent BR2 7PR
Telephone: 08456 580068• Fax: 08456 580068
Email: paul@book-people.net
Editor:
Paul Thorne
Special features: Susan Dixon
Sub Editor: Paula Arkell
Production: Liz Bingold
Advertising Sales: David Bonner
© 2003 by Chappell Thorne. All rights reserved. No part of
this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publisher.
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Lightning
Source celebrates printing of 10-millionth book
Executives
of Lightning Source joined customers, associates, family and friends
at the company’s headquarters in Tennessee to celebrate
the printing of Lightning’s 10-millionth “on demand”
book.
The event marks a major milestone for the company that in six
years has become the industry leader in digital content management
solutions for the book industry.
“Just six years ago, our goal was to create a whole new
business opportunity for the book industry, and today it is clear
we have achieved that goal,” said Lightning Source chairman
and founder John R. Ingram. “Today, publishers are more
profitable when they use print-on-demand to better control their
inventories, and retailers have learned to make thousands of niche
titles available to their customers through their powerful search
engines.”
Lightning Source’s CEO J. Kirby Best: said: “The most
impressive aspect of this 10-millionth-book milestone is this:
It means Lightning Source has helped publishers capture some $200
million in ‘found revenue’ based on an average retail
value of $20 per book.
Lightning Source’s 10-millionth book is the biography Edison:
A Life of Invention by Paul Israel. The publisher is John Wiley
& Sons, Inc. This important biography was published in 1998
with traditional offset printing. After four years, John Wiley
& Sons added the title to Lightning Sources’ library
where it remains available and in print.
The growth of Lightning Source’s print-on-demand services
is symbolic of the dramatic changes underway in the publishing
industry, Mr Best said. In addition to on-demand printing, increasing
numbers of consumers are requesting books and other information
in a range of readable formats. Lightning Source’s wide
range of printing and digital-fulfillment services give publishers,
authors, retailers and libraries an easy, cost-effective way to
meet that demand.
The growth in Lightning Source’s business volume has been
dramatic. Only two years ago, the company observed the printing
of its landmark one-millionth book.
“The moral of the on-demand story is that everyone wins
– authors, publishers, retailers and consumers,” Mr.
Best added.
For more information, visit the website at www.lightningsource.com.
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Keeping
records – Guinness style
Now aiming towards its half century, has the Guinness World of
Records truly kept up with the times, and does it still reflect
all that it aimed to do way back at the start, in 1955? Book People
went to find out.
Claire Folkard
Just what have a plover and grouse to do with record keeping?
It was over 50 years ago that Sir Hugh Beaver, MD of Guinness
(of beer fame), was out shooting when
some golden plover, and on another occasion, some grouse, flew
past so fast that they were missed by the shooting party. Querying
which was Europe’s fastest game bird and not being able
to find the answer in any reference book, brothers Ross and Norris
McWhirter were called upon to create a reference book.
Eminently suitable, they ran a fact-and-figure agency compiling
records, and created a 198-page black-and-white edition aimed
at pub regulars who were apt to discuss such questions while propping
up the bar for their stouts. The initial edition was an instant
success, becoming a number one best-seller when published at Christmas
1955.
But this was a long time ago - and what has been happening since
then? Until as late as 1997 the Guinness Book of Records as it
was then called, remained in Guinness’s hands before being
merged with Grand Met to create a company known as Diageo. In
2001 Guinness devolved itself of its publishing interests, selling
these off to Gullane Entertainment (of Thomas the Tank Engine
fame). A further takeover occurred last year when UK-owned HIT
Entertainment, an international licensing company, bought Gullane.
Fortunately, Guinness World of Records (GWR), the current title,
has been able to retain virtual total independence as HIT concentrates
exclusively on its return on investment.
The one major change from the first edition, however, is the readership
market. The original pub clientele has long been replaced by families
who use the book to check out “fundamental, amazing and
fun facts”, the majority being about people-related records
plus their related idiosyncracies. It seems that 8—13 year
old boys with their natural competitive spirit have long represented
a major market, GWR being one of the few books that they are prepared
to read or, more appropriately, to dip into. This makes it an
ideal Christmas present. Publication is consequently geared at
September for the UK edition while the US edition, Americanised
in both language and measurements by a freelance American editor
based in the US, is published one month earlier, in August.
Visually it has changed beyond comparison, now being 288 pages
in extent, colour-rich and reflecting the pace and values of today’s
technological world. Nevertheless, the basic guidelines for record
inclusion remain the same, namely those that are proven, measurable
and beatable. Videos, tapes, measurements or independent witnesses
are examples of required evidence, emphasising the thoroughness
of the content. A similar amount of detail is incorporated as
in the early days. Generally, the only omissions are, and have
always been, records relating to cruelty or gluttony.
Norris McWhirter continued editing the book for some 31 years
until as late as 1986 (22 years with his brother Ross, until he
was tragically killed by the IRA in 1977). An array of editors
replaced him until the current managing editor, Claire Folkard
came on the scene in 2002. Claire spoke about the many aspects
of presenting an annual reference book with the aim of retaining
its authoritativeness while simultaneously striving to present
a fresher image each year, both to reflect progress and to capture
new and ever-increasing markets.
How does she go about this? Prior to each six-month frenetic production
cycle, Claire considers a new design for the spreads from a selection
put forward by a range of designers. A new cover concept by the
long-standing Guinness cover designer is also included at this
stage. She then passes both to the Guinness market research team
for feedback.
For the current cover, a more wide-ranging and upmarket approach
has been emphasised with a 3D blue lenticular foil – blue
being popular with boys – highlighted by foil lettering.
A text block and strapline, proven to have a positive feedback,
however, have been deliberately retained.
Once the initial design is sorted, the production cycle proper
commences; this is in January. Claire sifts through the last edition
to refine what will and will not be included among the 3,000—4,000
records taken from a total of 40,000 on their database. Certain
unbroken ones, some still from the first edition, have to go in
each year, examples being the tallest man, fastest man, landspeed
record etc. Those that have been broken are obviously omitted
and replaced; others need updating.
The proportion of old to new is about 30 - 40% new records. To
revitalise the content, fewer unbroken records are alternated
each year rather than being repeated in each edition. New ones
are selected from those put forward by Claire’s team of
eight specialist researchers. Aside from proven records sent in
by the public, many might be via the internet, from press information,
news reports and public government sources.
Claire also selects pictures that the picture researchers come
up with. Most are obtained from agencies as GWR, perhaps surprisingly,
owns a minimal number of images. This consequently restricts in-house
experimentation on a spin-off level. On the plus side, however,
this means that each edition will present an array of new colour.
Inevitably, deadlining, the adrenalising bane of every editor’s
life, represents a considerable element of Claire’s time
input. This applies as much to her team of three freelance hands-on
editors and several proofreaders, who follow a strict editing
style as it does to the 12 scheduled batches that ensure that
the book is as up-to-date as possible. Written updates only can
be made as late as iris proof stage. Despite the speed of today’s
production, records broken between iris proof and publication
make further updating unfeasible. Those challenged once the book
is in print are taken onboard for checking and possible inputting
for the next edition.
Owning the copyright of everything it produces, GWR is also published
in approximately 23 languages, miscellaneous foreign-language
editions including national records having commenced in the 1960s.
A global book, however, since 1998, all now comprise the same
information and design as the English-language editions with one
exception: Germany is allowed to omit pages referring to war,
though even with these omitted pages, replacements must conform
to the Guinness design.
Today’s foreign editions range from miscellaneous European
(German, French and various Scandinavian being strong markets),
a range of East European languages including Estonian and Czech
with their considerable growth appeal to, newest of all, Chinese,
the Far East being the company’s latest target market.
All are licensed out so that translation, production and printing
are generally handled individually by each relevant country. As
each batch and any late updated records are completed in the UK,
these are signed off, pdf-produced and put on to an extranet site
from which they are picked up by each relevant country.
On the printing side, this goes out to tender for financial reasons
although well-known Barcelona-based Printer Industria Grafica,
commonly known as Printer, has been printing the English-language
and US editions for over 10 years. It also publishes the bulk
of languages for the traditional European countries plus the Russian
edition. This year its sister printer, Printer Portugesa in Lisbon,
has also become involved, printing the other East European editions.
Claire travels to Barcelona several times a year with Guinness’s
production director, Patricia Langton, to press pass at various
stages including a week of final press passing in June. English-language
trade editions have a 650,000 print run while the US edition has
an even larger run of up to one million, emphasising the significance
of Printer, whose capacity to print and store far outweighs many
other printers. GWR does not reprint, thereby aiming not to have
overstocks. A rare exception occurred as an aftermath of September
11, when some US stock had to be destroyed.
Despite its brand name, marketing is still a significant factor.
Claire gets involved in radio and TV promotion prior to launch.
There are also TV and poster campaigns plus a range of other marketing
tools including, this year, a half-term hands-on shopping centre
tour for mothers and their children to break records and find
out exactly what GWR is about.
On UK sales, aside from trade and book club offers, Tesco and
Woolworths are major store outlets. On international sales, Frankfurt
remains a major ground for developing markets.
Claire stressed that the GWR website, in action since 2000, is
not a replacement book; indeed, its contents represent merely
a taster co-ordinated with aspects such as stories and TV shows.
Aside from being the major source for the public to put in their
record claims, its main purpose is to complement the book and
to act as a marketing tool. Hits on the site rise dramatically
when the book is published.
Other small licensed spin-off editions are produced by packagers
for the non-book market; these are illustrated with cartoons and
aimed for the low level gift market. Generally, however, GWR is
careful with licensing as a negative sales pattern might reflect
back to the big book itself. More favourably, it has produced
quiz pads and colourful wallcharts that obviously have a strong
marketing pull.
And how to approach the quintessential tome, namely the 50th anniversary
edition? The Guinness adrenalin is already going to work with
considerable preparation and planning both on an editorial and
PR level. Various ideas are being mooted including, perhaps, a
facsimile of the first 1955 edition. What is perhaps more concrete
is that Norris McWhirter is to be involved on a promotional level,
and may also write a preface to this major milestone or, more
appropriately, super-record.
And all of this emanated from the casual sighting of some plover!
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Frankfurt
- more exhibitors, more visitors, more events
The 2003 Frankfurt Book Fair concluded amidst claims of
more exhibitors, more visitors and more events at the biggest
book show in the world. “This is a clear indication of optimism
returning to the industry,” according to Book Fair chief
Volker Neumann speaking at the closing press conference. “The
positive mood at the Book Fair and the huge interest shown by
the media and readers in this autumn’s new titles are sure
to have a positive effect for the book trade,” said Dieter
Schormann, president of the German Publishers & Booksellers
Association.
A total of 6,638 exhibitors from 102 countries were at this year’s
Frankfurt Book Fair, an increase of 4% over last year. By Sunday
evening, 273,229 people (+ 7.7%) had flocked to the exhibition
centre where more than 335,000 titles were on show. More than
1,000 authors were introduced to their readers in the course of
more than 3,000 events. There were also numerous specialist events
for booksellers, librarians, publishers and other members of the
book industry.
The positive response to the Book Fair in the media was reinforced
by the results of the exhibitor survey: “The overwhelming
majority of exhibitors was very satisfied indeed with their business
successes at the Book Fair. This was also reflected in many personal
conversations we had during the Fair,” reported Mr Neumann.
There had been a clear increase in rights and licence business
in particular, according to information from exhibitors.
There was a great deal of praise for the Frankfurt Book Fair’s
new events concept, aimed at arousing readers’ enthusiasm
for books. The total of 13 forums and centres at the Book Fair
met with huge interest among trade visitors and the general reading
public.
The continued development of the Frankfurt Book Fair as a platform
for international rights and licence business, and the opening
up to include new exhibition sections were also considered to
have gone well: “The investment in the infrastructure of
the Centre for Literary Agents and the creation of a new Centre
for Literary Translators provide an important momentum for the
future of our industry,” commented Mr Neumann. “With
our new commitment to audiobooks and to film and TV, we have also
expanded the spectrum covered by the Book Fair.” Both sectors
are closely involved with the book business and represent further
links in the chain of commercial exploitation of contents.
The 56th Frankfurt Book Fair is scheduled for October 6 - 10 2004.
The Guest of Honour at the Book Fair will be the “Arab World”..
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TMS
releases editorial and production system
TMS, developer of Bookmaster, has released a new editorial
and production system that is already in use by 130 editorial
and production staff at Pearson Australia.
The system automates a range of publishing activities from the
initial publishing plan, through the estimating and book production
processes to costing and receiving stock in the warehouse.
“The new system was developed in conjunction with Pearson
and adds significant publishing functionality to Bookmaster,”
said Paul Napier, TMS UK sales manager.
Multiple levels of estimating are provided and the system automatically
interfaces with printer scales and book specifications. This makes
it easy to do profitability and break-even projections before
making a decision to proceed, and also allows publishers to compare
actual costs and revenue with the estimates.
Once a project begins the final estimate becomes the initial budget
and costs are tracked against the original and revised budgets,
with external costs being managed through the use of purchase
orders while internal costs can be incorporated through the use
of timesheets.
The system also provides full project management, including automatic
scheduling of multiple levels of tasks and resource management
of internal and external resources. It automatically interfaces
to Microsoft Project to provide Gant and Pert charts, supplementing
the wide range of standard reports and inquiries that are provided.
An in-built workflow management system gives all members of a
publisher’s production team a daily “To Do”
list, simplifying the management of outstanding tasks. The workflow
management system also provides automatic electronic approvals
for estimates and commitments.
“The beauty of this system is its flexibility as well as
its range,” said Mr Napier. “It’s business-rule
driven so it’s easily adaptable for use by all kinds of
publishers. Publishers can define their own book specifications
so it can also be applied to non-book products like CDs, videos
and websites.
“We’ve already demonstrated this to customers in the
USA, Asia and Australia including Harvard, Yale and Columbia University
Presses. They have been very enthusiastic about it and we expect
to sell several copies of it within the next three months.”
For a more information contact Paul Napier on 01249 811 003
or at Paul.Napier@tms.ws.
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BookExpo
America looks for international growth
Officials at BookExpo America (BEA) have announced several
new initiatives, including hiring a European-based consultant,
who is a former executive at the Frankfurt Book Fair, to help
define and develop BEA’s presence in the international publishing
community.
These programmes fit a broad plan to stimulate commerce at the
annual book convention by creating “customised” business
environments for key constituent bases. With the international
sales and rights communities viewed as especially important areas
of growth, BEA officials note that they are eager to set useful,
achievable goals which will have an immediate impact. BEA will
take place this year at Chicago’s McCormick Place Convention
Center, June 3 – 6. It will take place in New York City
in 2005.
Among the BEA initiatives is the announcement that Rüdiger
Wischenbart, former chief press officer and director of communication
of the Frankfurt Book Fair (1998 – 2001), will be retained
as a consultant to advise on how to effectively market BEA to
the European community.
The Rights Center - which provides meeting tables for publishers,
agents, and international scouts doing business at the book fair
- will be moved to the convention floor, increasing its convenience
and making it an integral part of overall convention activity.
“We are the largest English language market in the world,
and we want our international visitors to feel like they are getting
productive work done at BEA,” notes Greg Topalian, vice-president
and show director for BEA. “This is the biggest book convention
in North America, where almost 1,000 English language publishers
who do not participate in other international book fairs come
to participate. This represents a significant opportunity for
both rights buyers and rights sellers, as well as for international
sales executives looking to expand their business interests.”
Mr Wischenbart comments: “While I have always thought that
BEA provides an ideal setting for international commerce, I think
the show might evolve so that the international community feels
a sense of ‘kinship’ with BEA’s future direction.
There is an enormous advantage to being an ‘American’
convention, and there is significant value in building international
awareness of the diversity of American publishers who don’t
otherwise get international exposure.”
The BEA Marketplace, introduced last year, provides convention-goers
with their own webpage for advance planning. It will offer a special
rights component, tailored to suit the needs of both exhibitors
and Rights Center participants who want to let interested buyers
know what’s on offer, whom to contact, and who is open for
appointments. BEA will also provide a special hotel, with a discounted
rate, for international visitors.
Visit Rüdiger Wischenbart at his website, www.wischenbart.com
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Proofreading
training online
The
Publishing Training Centre (PTC) has expanded its online training
provision to include proofreading.
As with the existing online copy-editing training, a large section
of the new site is free for anyone to access, following a short
registration process. However, to take full advantage of the service,
students need to have enrolled on “Proofreading for Editors,
Proofreading Promotional Material” (both one-day courses)
or on “Basic Proofreading by Distance Learning”.
PTC’s own research has shown that students see e-learning
primarily as something that can supplement more traditional methods,
rather than replace them. Therefore part of the site will serve
as pre-course material for people on qualifying courses, while
the main body of the site will be there to support students in
the months after attending the open course (or while they study
the distance learning course). This helps to ensure the time spent
face to face with a tutor is not wasted.
The website is split into various areas. The main course materials
and exercises can be found in the learning centre, while students
will be able to personalise their learning experience via the
personal profile area. There is also a resource centre, containing
a wealth of reference material, and a forum, in which it is possible
to discuss any areas of particular difficulty or interest. The
forum is only available to those who have enrolled on one of the
qualifying open or distance learning courses.
As with the editing material, open course delegates will have
access to the restricted area of the site for three months after
they first use it. Distance learning students will get access
for six months.
To be eligible, open course delegates must have attended the relevant
course on or after October 16 2003, while distance learning students
must have enrolled on or after the same date.
For further details, visit www.train4publishing.co.uk. Alternatively,
call Graham Smith or John Whitley on 020 8874 2718.
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ALPSP
events
Seminar briefing – digitising
journal backfiles
December 1 2003 (1.00pm - 5.00pm). Chair: Simon Inger, director,
Scholarly Information Strategies Ltd. This is a half-day seminar
designed for journal publishers who are looking for practical
information on journal backfile conversion. With major initiatives
led by JSTOR, Elsevier Science and the National Library of Medicine,
many smaller publishers are feeling the pressure to convert their
own backfiles. Now that a number of publishers have converted
and loaded these, it seems the ideal time to review their experiences
and to evaluate the real costs and benefits associated with this
process.
The seminar will focus on providing answers to the following three
questions: Why convert my backfile? How do I convert my backfile?
Now that I’ve converted my backfile, what do I do with it?
Key issues to consider when approaching backfile conversion; steps
in the process; beyond the cost of conversion; lessons learned.
Apex e-publishing is conducting a survey on this subject and the
results will be shared with the delegates at the seminar.
Venue: One Birdcage Walk, London SW1H.
To register online: www.alpsp.org/events/s011203.htm
Fees: including lunch and reception (excluding VAT): ALPSP members:
£82. SSP/SFEP individual members: £127. Non-members:
£160.
Changes to UK Copyright Law
December 8 2003 (15.00 -16.45) Chair: Judith Sullivan, Patent
Office
All the member states of the European Union are obliged to amend
their copyright legislation in order to implement the European
Copyright Directive. In the UK, this has been done by means of
a Statutory Instrument that modifies the existing (1988) Copyright
Act; this came into force on October 31. On the same date the
Copyright (Visually Impaired Persons) Act also came into force.
The Copyright Licensing Agency has developed licences to help
learned society and other libraries to cope with the first, and
to help organisations providing copies of publications to visually
impaired people to cope with the second.
The focus will be on legal introduction; the implications for
publishers; the implications for societies; discussion.
Who should attend? Editorial and rights staff in publishing organisations
and learned societies .
Venue: One Birdcage Walk, London SW1H
To register online: www.alpsp.org/events/b081203.htm
Fees: (excluding VAT) ALPSP members: £55. Academic: £65.
SFEP independent members: £75. Non-members: £92
Scholarship-friendly
publishing
March 26 2004 Chair: Stella Dutton, BMJ Publishing Group. It is
vital that publishers understand and satisfy the needs of the
scholarly community, and those needs are changing in response
to many drivers: technological (what can be done); financial (what
can or cannot be afforded) and social (how people wish to behave).
Publishers are undoubtedly listening increasingly carefully to
what their customers tell them as the challenges become ever greater.
They have already done much to respond to these needs, but more
may be necessary if some or all of scholarly communication is
not to bypass them entirely.
In this seminar, representatives of the scholarly community -
scholars, universities, societies - clarify what they want from
publishing. We will hear just how much publishers are already
doing to address these requirements, and what else they might
need to do in future if they want to stay in the picture.
Who should attend? Senior staff in all types of publishing operations
- both not-for-profit and commercial, as well as scholars, librarians
and university administrators.
Topics to be covered include:
- Is there such a thing as scholarship-friendly publishing?
- What scholars want from publishing
- What universities want from publishing
- What societies want from publishing
- Scholarship friendly copyright management
- Scholarship-friendly publishing practice (report on the ALPSP
Study)
- What publishers are already doing
- What more should publishers do?
Venue: One Birdcage Walk London SW1H 9JJ
For further information and to register online: www.alpsp.org/events/s260304.htm
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FEATURE
- Publishing software
A
host of new features
In our first publishing software feature back in April we had
a brief overview of the market and the most active companies in
the various sectors. Except for the launch of a new UK-based company
by TMS, those basics are relatively unchanged. What has been changing
constantly is the wealth of solutions that the software companies
are developing.
The following pages should give you an update on the thinking
and directions taken by many of the top software companies. We
open with an edited version of a speech by John Wicker, executive
vice-president, VISTA International, speaking at the 25th annual
Supply Chain Specialists Meeting during the Frankfurt Book Fair
last month.
Is
IT worth it?
Wendell Lotz, vice-president of Ingram and vice-chairman
of EDItEUR introduced John Wicker at the Supply Chain Specialists
Meeting.
WL: At VISTA, John is responsible for worldwide business development
in major international accounts. He’s worked at VISTA for
11 years and is a member of the VISTA International main board.
He also is a board member of the Book Industry Study Group in
the US.
John has asked me to point out that despite the title of his presentation,
his livelihood and that of VISTA (as well as many of the rest
of us I think) depends on the deployment of technology for publishers.
JW: Thank you. I should note at the start that this is not a philosophical
debate, so no one should be concerned that I’m going to
get into the philosophy of IT.
I’m a little nervous about this speech, and not just because
I’m speaking to such an illustrious group of friends, colleagues,
competitors, customers and hopefully some prospects. I’m
nervous because as we shall see, the evidence is not so clear
that IT is really worth it. And since my livelihood and the livelihood
of the people I work with depends on deploying IT solutions, this
is potentially not a very happy subject for me.
I was originally going to title this speech the “Elusive
ROI” because if, in fact, technology is really worth it,
then it should be providing some level of ROI. Surveys of several
vendors’ websites provide some interesting promises of ROI.
You can certainly see that they believe they can deliver enormous
opportunity and tremendous ROI. Unfortunately, if you probe into
their websites, and if you know anything about their track records
(and these companies are reputable firms), you will find that
the support of these claims are often surrounded by words like
“anticipated”, “expected”, “hoped
for”, and not hard results.
Turning to independent research, you will find a company called
“Nucleus Research,” about which I’m a great
current fan. This company interviews customers to independently
assess their ROI. They note that, “A majority of SAP customers
interviewed have yet to achieve a positive return on their investments.”
.
We did a survey on the value of ROI in which 50% of publishing
executives responded that they believe “IT expenses should
always be justified in terms of dollar savings and measurable
benefits”. Unfortunately, many find they can’t justify
projects on savings alone and they also find it difficult to link
their IT projects to company strategy. So it would appear that
publishers would very much like to achieve ROI from IT, but they’re
not getting much of it.
If it’s any consolation, publishers are not alone. An InformationWeek
survey of 130 senior executives in various industries found that
51% of businesses have no process to evaluate IT investments against
business strategy; 68% don’t compare a completed IT project’s
benefits to original targets; 74% don’t track financial
metrics once the decision has been made; and 80% say it’s
too hard. So apparently, nobody is getting the ROI they want.
If you look at most IT projects, according to Standish Group Analysis,
two out of three IT projects fail completely, or fail to meet
budget, schedule or other project requirements, and one in four
projects are cancelled before deployment. So executive ROI may
not matter as much as successfully completing the project.
However, IT spending does not necessarily equate with business
success or failure. A number of studies over the past decades
have shown that IT investments have not reduced the average net
assets needed to generate revenues – so companies are spending
an awful amount of money, but getting nothing for it.
Interestingly, companies with high IT expenditures per employee
weren’t doing any better than those who had low IT expenditures
per employee. Of course, one might say, this is all well and good
but perhaps it’s a recent phenomenon. One of the most interesting
facts that came up as I was preparing this presentation was from
1987. Professor Solow says: “You can see the computer age
everywhere but in the productivity statistics.”
This may be okay because at least it’s not getting any worse;
but that’s not true either. IT spending is now in the trillions.
In 1965, IT represented less than 5% of capital expenditures,
in the 1980s, after the personal computer, percentage rose to
15%. In the 1990s, by the early 90s, spending reached more than
30%. In 2000, this had grown to nearly 50%. Circa 2003, businesses
worldwide spend over a trillion a year.
Nicholas Carr in the Harvard Business Review wrote an article
titled, “IT doesn’t matter.” His primary thought
behind this declaration was that IT has become a commodity. Technology’s
potential for differentiation declines as it becomes accessible
and affordable to all. This caused quite a stir in the IT industry
and the IT media in particular when he went on to say that IT
is just a transport mechanism that carries digital information
from place to place, as power grids carry electricity, and the
Internet’s arrival has accelerated the commoditisation of
IT by providing a perfect delivery channel for applications.
Here I would disagree with Mr. Carr. While I’ll accept the
basic premise that there certainly is a lot of commoditisation
in IT, you really have to agree that it’s not only about
transport mechanisms. It’s about what is transported. In
the transport view, IT fails to recognise that information flowing
through the system has value. Publishers have long known this
by the name of “intellectual capital.” For example,
I don’t think electricity does too much from generation
to point of use, but it does a lot when it gets there.
So we’re spending much more money, we’re not getting
a lot more for it. What should we do? I think you’ve all
heard of magic suggestions in the past. Is IT worth it? This answer
says, “As the basics become commoditised, the competitive
playing field moves to a higher plane. Competitive advantage has
progressed from those who know how to implement the technology,
(which I would describe as a traditional role of the CIO), to
those who know how to apply technology to improve business processes,
to those who know how to use it to share, manage and increase
knowledge and in fact to improve business.”
Most CIOs traditionally focus on competitive advantage, and that’s
partly because organisations continue to view IT as a cost centre
rather than profit centre. An interesting statistic is that for
most IT departments in excess of 75% of their costs are internal
labor. Three-quarters of what they spend is for their own in-house
resources.
Executives get deluged with cliché solutions. A favourite
of mine is “getting management buy-in/ongoing support with
IT projects”. I suspect you’ve heard them all before
and I wouldn’t be adding much value if this is all I suggested
you do. So the way I’ve decided to approach this is to leave
you with some predictions that are intended to focus you on the
future rather than the present or worst – the past.
Prediction 1: Before 2010, publishers will realise they are no
more in the business of IT than in the business of printing -
50% of the current IT workforce will be downsized or outsourced.
We’ll see much more downsizing and much more outsourcing.
This may sound outrageous to target 50% but I really don’t
think there’s much point in playing around with this. I
think you need to make a significant decision. Another interesting
statistic is that the people employed by IT departments spend
more than half their time maintaining and looking after interfaces
between systems. So getting rid of or simplifying your interfaces
might be a good place to start.
Prediction 2: Unless you have seriously under-invested in IT in
the last 10 years or your company has grown significantly, your
IT budget will not increase above inflation over the next three
years. I’m sure there will be exceptions to this rule. I
personally think the economy is not only stalled, it will continue
to stall for years to come. You must learn to make do and learn
to re-allocate. So then the question becomes, how can you use
your money most efficiently? Can you break down your IT budget
into specific categories? Can you identify strategic business
priorities? Can you develop a partnership with someone who understands
your business? What could you learn by comparing current IT activities
spending against your peers?
Prediction 3: IT has become more complicated and will only get
more complicated. Can you find the staff with all these skills
– and can you afford them and what could you outsource?
Could you sensibly share accountability for your IT with a vendor
(and that doesn’t necessarily mean us, but obviously we
would be more than welcome to help). It really does mean that
you rethink the way you approach IT.
Prediction 4: Web services will define the computing marketplace
by 2007. We had an excellent presentation by Gregor [Wolf] this
morning and although I don’t agree with everything he said,
I think there are a number of important issues that people need
to look at in terms of web services. The largest vendors of the
IT community are gathering together on this subject. Something
is happening, something you need to know about and pay attention
to. So you must ask yourself, how can you invest in web services?
Partnering may be the answer.
Predication 5: IT vendor and customer relationships of the future
will involve higher vendor commitment to deliver promised benefits.
Companies are making massive claims about the benefits of doing
business with them. If all that’s true, then I think people
should be willing to put their money where their mouth is. So
I would argue that you should find an IT vendor who will take
a vested, financial interest in your success, sharing the risk
and costs if they are higher than anticipated and sharing the
benefits if those are higher than anticipated.
IT really can matter. It is a function of making sure IT contributes
to the overall business of publishing. Whether you are in IT or
not, what does that mean to you? The bottom line of my presentation
- and I think it’s come out through all the presentations
so far - is that you really need to partner. Partner with your
users. IT should be greatly intertwined with the needs of the
user. Partner with your industry colleagues, through forums such
as the ones discussed today. Last and certainly not least, partner
with your suppliers. Partnership requires that all parties involved
have a common understanding of the proposed costs, benefits and
ROI. It requires that costs and benefits are tracked and shared
collaboratively.
Thank you very much.
Reducing
the burden of royalty payments
Resource management. Cost efficiency. Optimum return.
Have you noticed how the language of the accountant has infiltrated
the publishing world? This is, of course, no accident. Publishing
is a business and, like any other, has suffered from the global
economic slowdown and changing consumer demands. People have not
stopped reading, but buying patterns continue to shift and the
whole publishing industry is watching the bottom line like never
before.
This is surely a good thing. The renewed focus on managing costs
should result in a tougher, better-managed publishing industry
that provides the products its customers want at a price they
can afford.
Why then do the generation and calculation of royalty statements
continue to weigh so heavily on the cost structure of publishing
businesses?
Publishers are often beholden to their distributors for this process.
Even if the publisher generates the statements itself, the manual
process can be based on confusing, incomplete and frequently misapplied
royalty rules and sales information. And because information management
systems are often inflexible, they fail to reflect accurately
the necessary details of an author’s contract.
We have seen cases where the generation of royalty statements
can cost more than £20,000 per year in distributor fees.
Swathes of royalty arrangements also had to be calculated manually
because the distributor’s system couldn’t cope with
changing the royalty basis from receipts to RRP when the discount
dropped below a certain level.
Shouldn’t the process of paying royalties to authors be
less Byzantine? And, surely it must be possible to reduce the
cost and administrative burden? Well, now it is.
Anko Royalty Statements makes the generation of royalty payments
simpler – and more accurate – than ever before. It
allows publishers to regain control over their royalty payments,
reduces costs and provides the flexibility to cost-effectively
produce royalty statements at any point, and as frequently as
required, throughout the financial year.
Saving publishers money? Giving them more flexibility? Increasing
accuracy? Sounds like a revolution.
Gary Bowerman is marketing director of Anko Publishing Software
Limited. For further information, call 01865 331 995 or visit
www.anko.co.uk
The
editor’s operations centre - for more profitable titles
The latest development from Schilling is called “the
editor’s operations centre”. The centre is designed
to provide an editor with all the top-level information on a title,
which is needed to make decisions. It is a powerful tool, which
instantly gives the editor an overview of the actual figures on
a title.
Having all the information available at hand from start to finish
of a title’s lifetime gives the editor a better chance to
react to deviations from budget to actual figures and increases
the efficiency of the editor’s time.
At the same time, the system is of great value to the management,
as it enables them to manage the way a project develops. Similarly
to the editor, the management can at all times evaluate the current
status of a project, including
the financials.
Overall it is a “one-stop-shop” to get all up-to-date
information on a title throughout its lifetime. This application
will enable a much better overview and management of the costs,
the possibility of fewer titles, but the right ones, and to produce
small editions with a profit. It is all about streamlining your
business and making it more efficient in the most profitable way.
Specialised
rights management
Bradbury Phillips International Ltd. designs and develops software.
Specialising in PC-based systems for publishers, packagers and
agents. The main products are the Rights Management System, Permissions,
agents' accounts and the authors' royalties system. These systems
have been installed at over 250 sites around the world. Widely
used by publishers, large and small, the software has become the
industry benchmark product.
Clients range from sole literary agents to multinational publishing
houses and the client base is worldwide, with the majority of
users in the UK and US.
The rights management system handles all the needs of a rights
department, from pre-sales activities such as tracking interest
and submissions, all the way through entering deals, chasing for
overdue money, and recording sub-rights income. Extensive reports
and analyses include chasing overdue submissions, monies due,
overdue royalty statements, due contract dates and reversions,
projected income and bookfair reports. Invoices can be generated
and a royalty ledger is maintained. Optional extras include permissions,
tax exemptions and Batch Posting for publishers receipts of income.
The system can be linked into an external author’s royalties
system
For literary agents, the rights system can be extended by the
agency accounts system. This is a very powerful tool, dealing
with receipts of client monies and its allocation to clients,
recording of agents expenses, production of payment advices to
clients and the facility to print cheques. It includes multi-currency
accounting with analyses of relevant accounts, client bank accounts,
client ledgers and royalty ledgers and produces year-end (1099)
reports. Bradbury Phillips introduced a new version of the agency
accounts at Frankfurt this year.
The authors’ royalties system, for the calculation of royalties
and production of statements to authors, is the third main product.
It handles multiple authors and payees, calculation of royalties
based on net sales, published price or pence per copy, flexible
discount bands and markets, up to four escalators per author per
rule. It deals with subrights income, author expenses and payment
of advances. Royalty liability can be calculated at any time of
year. Royalty statements and remittance advices are produced,
and there is a facility to print cheques. The system accepts electronic
import of your sales data.
For further information and a client list, e-mail info@bradburyphillips.co.uk,
or visit the website www.bradburyphillips.co.uk
Security
in an uncertain world
Recent events such as the demise of Plymbridge, which was directly
attributed to implementation problems of a new computer system,
and the cancellation of high-profile implementations in international
publishers have highlighted the risks of changing publishing software.
Until now this has left many UK publishers that are unhappy with
their aging publishing systems trapped between the devil and the
deep blue sea – dissatisfied with their existing vendor
but wary of changing.
TMS plans to minimise the risk of moving to a new publishing and
distribution system and is challenging other vendors to match
them.
“We believe software vendors should share the risk of implementing
a new system and we’re leading the way,” said Paul
Napier, TMS UK sales manager.
Part of the Bookmaster’s implementation involves 2-4 week
workshops using a publisher’s own business rules and data.
Key personnel test their own normal work in Bookmaster to make
sure it does what’s needed and to identify any gaps in functionality.
TMS is offering to provide these workshops before contracts are
exchanged.
“Too often publishers discover too late that the system
they have chosen won’t work without huge additional expense,”
said Mr Napier. “When they can test their own transactions
they can make certain Bookmaster will do what they expect.
“If they are completely satisfied then they are already
well down the road to going live and can exchange contracts with
confidence. If they’re not 100% satisfied they have the
option to walk away with no penalties and without having made
any contractual commitments.”
TMS’ philosophy is to minimise modifications and to develop
any that are unavoidable within standard Bookmaster. This means
that most Bookmaster customers in 16 countries use the same system
and can easily take advantage of new releases.
If modifications are needed TMS provides a fixed price and adds
a clause in the license agreement giving publishers the option
to terminate and receive a full refund of license fees if the
modifications aren’t delivered to specification at the agreed
price.
“Too many systems need modifications that take much longer
and cost much more than expected. Publishers deserve more certainty.
More than 90% of our implementations go live on schedule and on
budget and we are committed to maintaining this track record in
the UK,” Mr Napier added.
Mr Napier believes no-one should buy any software unless they
have talked to at least four existing customers. “Publishers
should look for reference accounts similar to themselves and shouldn’t
be restricted to the ones provided by the vendor. We publish our
entire customer list and publishers can speak to any of our customers
worldwide.
“They should also ask detailed questions so they know what
they are in for. We publish a list of questions we recommend publishers
ask to get the full story.”
“We want to prove that Bookmaster works for UK publishers.
We are prepared to share the risk because we’re committed
to having satisfied customers. We’ve never had a failed
implementation in 20 years and we intend to keep it that way,”
concluded Mr Napier.
For a more detailed version of this article, questions to ask
vendors or for information on Bookmaster call Paul Napier on 01249
811 003 or visit www.tms.ws
CAREER
DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING
Throughout
the summer we have been running a series of articles in the hard
copy of Book People. These include contributions from major training/course
providers and recruitment professionals, plus a regular column
from Suzanne Collier of bookcareers.com on career development.
Press button to see the features included in the June, July, August
and September issues.
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Book People 2003
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