Nic's presentation from London Book Fair 2011 about what XML can do for and to publishers.

1. 1 Strategic Implications of XML for your Publishing Business Nic Gibson 11th April 2011 (nicg@corbas.co.uk)

2. 2 One-Slide Refresher XML is a meta file format Tagged text Lots of angle brackets A tiny little bit like HTML with stricter rules You can write your own language by following the rules* * Don’t to this at home

3. 3 The Environment Is XML important? Why is it important now? How does it affect your business?

4. 4 Digital Markets Mature More books will become digital only The price of printing may only be a small part but it’s a part Traditional publishing will be competing against a different cost base.

5. 5 The business is changing Publishing is paper centric It needs to be content centric The paper mindset needs to be replaced by a digital content mindset Change Happens

6. 6 The World has Changed When did you last use an encyclopaedia? pick up a dictionary? These are digital activities now

7. 7 Traditional Models are Threatened More writers will follow the Ian Fleming and Catherine Cookson estates Amazon has 20% of the UK book market In trade, more writers will be established indies before they even talk to a publisher

8. 8 Change Publishing is becoming more like software No coincidence that new media folk are moving in If publishing is becoming like software let’s learn the lessons of software development project management version control separation of presentation and data

9. 9 Content Driven Publishing XML is a valuable tool It’s not an answer in itself An XML first workflow doesn’t necessarily get you anywhere It’s the neutral format for your content

10. 10 Challenges/Opportunities? Process complexity Licensing and custom publishing Digital formats Content reuse Discoverability Increase ROI

11. 11 Processes XML first/last/somewhere Does it actually matter where the XML is? We need digital content driven processes

12. 12 How do you create your eBooks? From edited manuscript? From the application files? From the print PDF? From XML? Where Are We Now?

13. 13 How do you create your eBooks? From edited manuscript? From the application files? From the print PDF? From XML? Where Are We Now?

14. 14 The Continuum Where’s the right place to be?

15. 15 Traditional Workflows

16. 16 Traditional Workflows Traditional publishing workflows do not include digital content well Well-known process Developed over a long period Efficient way to produce books

17. 17 Traditional Workflows Traditional publishing workflows do not include digital content well Not suited to multi-format publishing Not particularly suited to the outsourced world Depends on valuable skill sets

18. 18 Transitional Workflows Transitional workflows are a first step Simply adding digital outputs to your existing workflows Convert the output into your new formats Easy to do You get XML You get eBooks

19. 19 Transitional Workflows Transitional workflows are a first step Simply adding XML to your existing workflows Convert the output into your new formats Some of the output benefits but none of the process benefits of content driven models All of the costs of traditional publishing workflows

20. 20 124 Content Driven Workflows

21. 21 Content Driven Workflows Get the content into XML as soon as you can For suitable content types there are major benefits Highly flexible Multi format publishing is much easier Repeatability Lowered costs

22. 22 Content Driven Workflows Get the content into XML as soon as you can For suitable content types there are major benefits Very different - new skills required Sometimes not applicable

23. 23 Licensing We want to license the content not the design If it becomes easy, we will do it Education Reference STM Poetry Cookery

24. 24 Custom Publishing Everything about licensing is true for custom publishing too Educational publishing sell by chapter custom textbooks

25. 25 Digital Formats Digital formats breed EPUB Kindle Web What next?

26. 26 What Does XML Get You? Agile content XML is an enabler for multi-format publishing EPUB Kindle Web multiple print formats

27. 27 Agility Content has to be agile It has to be easy to create the large format book sell a single chapter create the EPUB change from EPUB to whatever comes next XML enables agile content

28. 28 The Way We Think Design is integral The words are fixed

29. 29 Traditional Design Traditionally, a book could be viewed as a tightly grouped trio of design, content and structure

30. 30 Design and Digital Content XML helps us to extract the design Enables multiple designs for a single item of content Enables a single design for multiple items of content

31. 31 Design and Digital Content XML helps us to extract the design Enables multiple designs for a single item of content Enables a single design for multiple items of content

32. 32 Additional Revenue

33. 33 Discoverability Amazon recommendations Finding eBooks Metadata Dublin Core The semantic web RDF

34. 34 Content Reuse Different types of content have different potentials for reuse One of the ROI drivers for XML is reuse

35. 35 Improved ROI Simpler processes Revenue opportunities New formats Reuse

36. 36 Words Digital only features Print only features Accessibility

37. 37 What if? XML may be superseded by something better This happens in technology XML could help you handle its own obsolescence

38. 38 Summary What challenges can XML help us with? What does that change in the publishing process?

39. 39 XML helps us become content focused Licensing Multi-format publishing New revenue opportunities

40. 40 We need to be more flexible We have to change the way we think The technology is here Digital publishing is here Let’s put them together and do something clever

41. 41 Thank YouQuestions?