10 challenges to innovation in publishing

That’s the title of an article by Sophie Rochester in The Literary Platform.  Here’s a sampling:

…

… While it’s the start-ups who appear to be more agile and bold when it comes to creating innovative digital publishing business models, our established publishers still hold the key to producing some of the best quality content.

We’ve listed ten things that we feel create the biggest challenges to publishers when it comes to digital innovation. This Thursday we’ll be holding the second annual FutureBook Innovation Workshop in association with The Literary Platform. Our Innovation Workshop speakers will demonstrate how they are currently dealing with some of these challenges.

1. Our audience is evolving

Some of the most innovative digital publishing projects launched in recent years have been deemed ‘ahead of the reader’. Our understanding of what a reader expects from ‘book’ now is changing all the time, and judging what a reader is ready to handle now, in a year’s time, in ten year’s time – can be hard to judge.

At the same time, the relationship between the reader and the writer is changing. Writers like Jeff Norton are experimenting with bold new narrative development processes that ask beta-readers to help inform the next stages of the story. Mike Jones’ Portal Entertainment (SXSW, Start-up Weekend London in September 2011 and Most Innovative Company) is already making immersive narratives where the audience takes part in the story. How do traditional publishers fit into this much more direct involvement between the writer and the audience and, importantly, how is a direct relationship between reader and writer monetised?

2. The convergence of media means our competitors are changing

Storytelling is everywhere – it’s a core component for television drama, film, videogames and advertising. These industries have been experimenting for a lot longer with taking storytelling across other digital platforms. Television programmes like Skins (Channel 4) have used writers to extend the life of the series into social media channels and beyond. Mindshapes’ Magic Town also takes readers into an exciting web environment engaging children with their favourite book characters on a different platform. There have also been some attempts from traditional publishers, such as Faber & Faber’s experimentation with John Lanchester’s Capital, which extended the life of the book into the email Inboxes of potential readers, drip-feeding gentle interactions on a daily basis with the themes of the book.