Sebastian Posth at O'Reilly's Tools of Change Conference, Frankfurt 2011 (TOC)

1. Current developments
in setting standards for
rights & licensing and
sales metadata
Sebastian Posth
@sposth
Tools of Change Frankfurt Conference
11 October 2011
© 2011 @sposth

2. Overview
▪ Ebook publishing
▪ Metadata &
▪ „Chain of title“ (information supply chain)
▪ Digital rights & licensing information
▪ Transfer of sales information
© 2011 @sposth
© 2011 @sposth

3. * Two directions of digital information „flow“
© 2011 @sposth

4. Chain of Title (Information Supply Chain)
Author/Agent Retailer/Customer
via → Publisher → Distributor/Aggregator → Wholesaler
© 2011 @sposth

5. Sales Reports (Information Supply Chain)
Author/Agent Retailer/Customer
via ← Publisher ← Distributor/Aggregator ← Wholesaler
© 2011 @sposth

6. Information Supply Chain
Author/Agent Retailer/Customer
Publisher ↔ Distributor/Aggregator ↔ Wholesaler
© 2011 @sposth

7. * Very complex!
© 2011 @sposth

8. Information Supply Chain
Author/Agent Retailer/Customer
Publisher Aggregator
Distributor Wholesaler
© 2011 @sposth

9. Complexity in Ebook Publishing
▪ New business
▪ New business relations
(market participants & companies)
▪ New, digital media
▪ New legal framework
© 2011 @sposth

10. Print – First sale doctrine
(Exhaustion principle/Erschöpfungsgrundsatz)
* Right holder's rights ends
once ownership of a physical copy
has passed to someone else.
(Selling, lending, giving away ...)
© 2011 @sposth

11. Ebook – Chain of Title
▪ Chain of successive ...
▪ And corresponding rights assignments
© 2011 @sposth

12. Chain of Title (Information supply chain)
Author/Agent Retailer/Customer
Publisher ↔ Distributor/Aggregator ↔ Wholesaler
© 2011 @sposth

13. Chain of Title (Information supply chain)
Author/Agent Retailer/Customer
Publisher Aggregator
Distributor Wholesaler
© 2011 @sposth

14. Needed
▪ Precise specification of rights information
▪ Professional rights & contract administration
© 2011 @sposth

15. Complexity
▪ Inappropriate software tools
▪ Inappropriate workflows
(optimized for print publishing)
▪ Publishers faced with new business
demands & challenges
© 2011 @sposth

16. * Standards .. help!
© 2011 @sposth

17. * In fact .. Standards pay off!
© 2011 @sposth

18. Standards
▪ Prevent mistakes
▪ Enhance efficiency and profitability
▪ Allow for machine-readable processing
© 2011 @sposth

19. * Unfortunately ..
© 2011 @sposth

20. * Standards cannot simply be prescribed
© 2011 @sposth

21. * A lot of work to get somewhere
when dealing with standardization ...
© 2011 @sposth

22. A lot of work
▪ Creating a structural framework
for organizing information (onthology)
▪ Defining a vocabulary/language
▪ Detailed specification of elements
© 2011 @sposth

23. * Two working groups
© 2011 @sposth

24. Two Working Groups
1. Rights Committee’s Communication
Working Group (BISG)
2. Working Group „AG PRO“ of the
German Publishers and Booksellers
Association (Börsenverein)
© 2011 @sposth

25. *
Rights Committee’s Communication
Working Group (BISG)
© 2011 @sposth

26. * Special thanks to Emily Williams!
© 2011 @sposth

27. BISG RC Communications Working Group
▪ „Rights Controlled Vocabulary“
▪ Primary project of the BISG
Rights Committee’s
Communications Working Group
© 2011 @sposth

28. BISG RC Communications Working Group
▪ Representatives from publishers, like
Pearson, Random House, Hachette, Wiley
▪ Agencies, like Curtis Brown, Sensible
Solutions
▪ Companies, like CCC, Newgen
© 2011 @sposth

29. BISG
Author/Agent Retailer/Customer
→ Publisher → Distributor/Aggregator → Wholesaler
Focus: Problem of communication
of rights & licensing information
© 2011 @sposth

30. Chain of Title (Information Supply Chain)
Author/Agent Retailer/Customer
Publisher Aggregator
Distributor Wholesaler
© 2011 @sposth

31. Focus: Rights Controlled Vocabulary
Author/Agent Retailer/Customer
Publisher Aggregator
Distributor Wholesaler
© 2011 @sposth

32. Focus: Rights Controlled Vocabulary
Author/Agent Retailer/Customer
Publisher Aggregator
Distributor Wholesaler
© 2011 @sposth

33. * Example
© 2011 @sposth

34. * If you have the following situation:
© 2011 @sposth

35. An author,
Who holds the rights to an ebook,
Sells these rights to a publisher,
That may offer it for sale,
In German Language,
In Europe.
© 2011 @sposth

36. The ebook is a full text,
With images and tables,
Aiming at a professionals market,
And sales via educational institutions.
The rights do not expire.
The author is paid,
When units are sold.
© 2011 @sposth

37. * You have to define the following:
© 2011 @sposth

38. Rights Holder,
Rights Status,
Rights Buyer,
Language,
Territory,
© 2011 @sposth

39. Content,
Format,
Market,
Sales Channel,
Duration &
Payment terms.
© 2011 @sposth

40. BISG
▪ Identification of basic components
of rights deals
▪ Offer description of these components
© 2011 @sposth

41. Rights Controlled Vocabulary
▪ Vocabulary, based on existing standards
(where possible)
▪ ISO Standards used for Language & Territory
▪ ONIX for Books Product Form List 150 mapped
to format category
© 2011 @sposth

42. * „Rights Controlled Vocabulary“ Standard?
© 2011 @sposth

43. BISG
▪ „Controlled Vocabulary“ not yet a standard
▪ But might develop to a standard
© 2011 @sposth

44. Next steps BISG?
▪ Pilot projects:
▪ Domestic Rights & Royalty Reporting
▪ International Rights & Royalty Reporting
* Further Information on www.bisg.org
© 2011 @sposth

45. * Working Group „AG PRO“ of the German
Publishers and Booksellers Association
(Börsenverein)
© 2011 @sposth

46. Working Group AG PRO
Author/Agent Retailer/Customer
← Publisher ← Distributor/Aggregator ← Wholesaler
Focus: Reporting and accounting
of sales information
© 2011 @sposth

47. Sales Reports (Information Supply Chain)
Author/Agent Retailer/Customer
Publisher Aggregator
Distributor Wholesaler
© 2011 @sposth

48. Sales Reports (Information Supply Chain)
Author/Agent Retailer/Customer
Publisher Aggregator
Distributor Wholesaler
© 2011 @sposth

49. Working Group AG PRO
▪ Initial Meetings Early 2010
▪ Group of representatives of publishers,
wholesalers and booksellers
© 2011 @sposth

50. Working Group AG PRO
▪ Publishers, like Random House,
Holtzbrinck/MacMillan
▪ Distributors, like KNO-VA, VVA/BIC-
Media, HGV, A2 Electronic Publishing
▪ Wholesalers & Shops, like Libri, Ciando
© 2011 @sposth

51. Issues of Current Sales Reporting
▪ Individual, proprietary XLS, CSV-files
from every retailer (even PDF)
▪ Reports sent via email, downloadable
via HTTP, transferred via FTP
© 2011 @sposth

52. Issues of Current Sales Reporting
▪ Manual accounting
▪ Related issues: Royalty settlement
© 2011 @sposth

53. * At a certain point – Standards get inevitable!
© 2011 @sposth

54. * Example
© 2011 @sposth
© 2011 @sposth

55. * If you have the following situation:
© 2011 @sposth

56. A retailer,
Is reporting sales,
For a certain month,
To a publisher,
With whom he has an agency agreement.
© 2011 @sposth

57. The title with the ISBN 4711,
Has been sold in EPUB format,
Via a certain ebook-shop,
47 times.
© 2011 @sposth

58. The ebook was purchased for download,
By German customers,
For a fixed retail price of 9,99 EUR,
Incl. 19% VAT.
2 Cancellations.
© 2011 @sposth

59. Calculating the agreed discount,
The amount due to publisher (Net.)
Remains 5,88 EUR.
+ Info whether sales shall be credited
or the retailer will be invoiced?
© 2011 @sposth

60. * You have to define the following:
© 2011 @sposth

61. Sales period & dates,
Seller, shop & publisher parties,
Product ID's,
Product formats,
Pricing details,
© 2011 @sposth

62. Discounts,
Amounts Due To Publishers,
Monetary Amount,
Currency/Country,
Tax, VAT.
© 2011 @sposth

63. Working Group AG PRO
▪ Identification of basic components
of sales reports
▪ Offer specification & description
of these components
© 2011 @sposth

64. Working Group AG PRO
▪ Based on existing standards
▪ EDItX XML Sales Report Version 1.1 (EDItEUR)
© 2011 @sposth

65. Results Working Group AG PRO
▪ EDItX already in use (Holtzbrinck/HGV)
▪ EDItX further being introduced to market
(Bertelsmann/VVA & others)
© 2011 @sposth

66. Next Steps
▪ Recommendation by the AG PRO of the
German Publishers and Booksellers
Association (Börsenverein):
„AG PRO strongly recommends the use of
EDItX-XML for sales reporting for ebooks
between all market participants“
© 2011 @sposth

67. Next Steps
▪ Further talks with standardizing
organizations (EDItEUR, GS1)
▪ Provide technical details
„EDItX-XML Best Practice Guide“
© 2011 @sposth

68. Summery
* Machine-readable standards for the
communication of rights and sales
information are indispensable for the
professionalization of the ebook market!
© 2011 @sposth

69. Thanks!
Sebastian Posth
@sposth
sebastian.posth@a2ep.de
+49 170 201 7001
© 2011 @sposth