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Continuing my notes from Emma Dryden’s 2011 SCBWI LA talk on publishing and the digital landscape, this post will cover the challenges publishers and authors are faced with as the marketplace keeps changing. Be sure to read PART 1 on the development of digital technology and how it affects the way we read.

Who Gets What Percentage?

• Currently publishers take in 50% of profits from e-books.
• Self-published authors get 60%  to 80% of their royalties.
• Barnes and Noble currently has 25% of the e-book market.  Apple has been interested in purchasing Barnes and Noble so they can compete head to head with Amazon.

Google is No Giggling Matter:

• Pay attention to Google! They are trying to put out-of-print books into digital devices.

Do Agents become Publishers?

• There is a new trend of agents and agencies doing editing, cover design, and even some publishing.
• Andrea Brown Agency and Dystel & Goderich are becoming agency consultants.
• This is a controversial concept. Is an agent really the perfect publishing partner? The jury is still out on this topic.

New Publishing Outlets:

• Retailer Publishing
• Author Publishing
• Children’s Publishing by: tik-a-tok, inkpop, and figment.
• UTales is a new platform for illustrators and picture book writers.
• Indies on Demand
• Great places to share content include: youtube, itunes, flicker, blogTV, Glogs, Skype.

How does a Publisher Stay Competitive and Fashionable?

• What keeps a publisher making money?
• They need to consider Google editions and Google affiliates. How do you control what is on Google? What is fair to the copyrights?
• How do we deal with piracy? How do we determine what’s free and what is not?
• “Don’t pirate this book because your friend needs the money vs. Buy this book so you can read it.”
• Publisher’s Competition = Online Vendors. How does a publisher make themselves a better outlet for authors than these other outlets?
• Publisher’s Competition = Self-Publishing
• Publisher’s Competition = Print on Demand (POD) (Such as: Lulu, iUniverse, or Amazon.)
• The relevancy of the publisher will be diminished if they are not involved in the digital market.
• Publishers are asking: Who are our customers and why are they our customers? The answer used to be the bookstores, but that is changing.

Changes in Customer Choice:

• Consumers are now starting to demand some choice in what they consume.
• There is a growing trend in creating objects that a customer can purchase and customize.
• We’ve moved from average mass media to the individual.

Author Interaction with His/Her Audience:

• Lots of interaction is happening online now in “The Cloud”
• Are authors ready to socialize? Do they want to create a dialog with their audience?
• Do authors want to create a shared experience online with their audience?
• What’s your web-utation (play on the word reputation).
• As an author do you provide your audience with a website that includes: backstory (yours or your
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Emma Dryden spoke at the 2011 LA SCBWI Conference and gave a very in depth talk about how the digital marketplace is changing the business of books. I took so many notes I’ve had to break this into two posts. Part one will cover how kids interact with technology and fiction, how this is influencing the business, and some of the key factors that have changed the landscape. Part two will look into how the book business is adapting and the challenges it’s facing to stay competitive, as well as some of the new models that are surfacing due to self publishing. This is a big hot topic and Dryden was very thorough! Enjoy.

Dryden pre-empted this talk with a reminder that we should never forget that story matters most!

Kids and Technology:

• The landscape of technology is a place kids know intrinsically.
• Paper is not something kids are used to interacting with.
• Most children are media consumers by the time they are one year old.
• Kids are not linear.
• Kids brains have adapted to a digital dialect.

How Interaction with Digital Technology is Changing the Way We Read and Acquire Information:

• In the absence of bursts of stimulation we now get bored faster.
• The way we read is different and changing. How we interact with an object is changing.
• The internet creates a whole new area of narrative. One people can explore and drive.
• It’s become more important for one to know how to search for a fact, rather than to know the fact itself.
• Does heavy technology use diminish empathy, whereas fiction creates empathy?

Our Connection to Fiction:

• Our experience of fiction is based on: literacy, imagination, and human connection.
• Fiction allows us to think for the sake of thinking.

How is the Book Business Changing?

• The digital world is changing the book business and we had better adapt!
• Print is not going away for the sake of digital, but we are moving to a model that uses both.
• It pays to be flexible and on time when it comes to this new digital landscape.
• Some smaller publishers are taking the e-only option and no longer printing books.
• Libraries need to become more like Lady Ga Ga and less like Lady Bird Johnson.
• Technology should not or need not drive a story.
• Storytellers and illustrators are our best guides as to how the landscape is changing and how it should change.

Things that Changed the Game:

• Apple created the iPhone in 2007
• Amazon came out with the Kindle in 2007. Currently there are 15 million kindles in the hands of consumers.
• The recession hit us hard and created more start-ups.
• The e-book battles began.

Things that Continue to Change the Game and Influence the Market:

• In 2010 the Sony Walkman was retired.
• Apple baked the iPie and wants to eat it too.
• The expanding book market changed to create less cost book production through digital sources. (Less cost not NO cost).
• E-Books are everywhere! It is estimated that 50% of book sales will be E-Books by 2014.
• What’s your app-titude? Apps are changing the market as well.
• Pottermore is influencing and changing business models.
• We are easily distracted by new devices.

What about Picture Books and the Digital Market?

• Picture books do still matter! And they still are selling. Electronic media should not be a thread to picture books, it should be a supplement!