BookCamp Vancouver, remixed
October 19, 2009
Last Friday I attended BookCamp Vancouver, an “unconference” to explore new ideas emerging in the publishing industry as reading is becoming ever more digital. The day was packed with presentations from a variety of publishing perspectives, including the session I led, along with Rob Ellis and Brock Whitten of Nitobi Software, on BookRiff as a new model for publishers, authors and readers. The dialogue during the BookRiff session began with an array of questions, mostly about copyright, mostly originating from the same fears of piracy that emerge whenever anyone poses an idea to place copyrighted works online, in any form. One important thing to remember is that BookRiff is a tool for copyright holders to profit from their works. So, while we’re not going to run around shutting down user accounts without clear evidence of piracy, we will take every reasonable means to make sure copyright is protected. That’s a no-brainer for us. And, though the discussion began with a hint of skepticism, the clear response by the end of our 45 minutes was that BookRiff takes advantage of the digital landscape to provide a complement to traditional publishing and authoring. (So encouraging to hear this message.)
There were more than a few voices contributing to the dialogue throughout the day, as authors and readers drilled publishers on everything from DRM to e-book pricing; newspaper editors defended the continual need for print circulation in an industry full of free online news; new publishing models were presented; and marketing folks hashed out best practices for web marketing and social networking tools to help sell more books. Each session concluded with a group-think on key takeaway points. Looking back at the day as a whole, here are mine:
- Publishing is in a process of evolution. As new tools are emerging for readers, traditional ideas of books and reading are changing, influenced by a variety of players both inside and outside of the traditional publishing industry. Book publishers must find ways to adapt their current business models to accommodate for shifting audience demands, while still holding on to their distinguishing value: curated books.
- Bookselling and marketing is undergoing a similar shift, as communities of readers are shifting from geographic to interest-based, and social networking tools are allowing global interest-based communities to develop. The key is to interact with these communities on a personal level. As Emiko Morita said, “every copy of Margaret Atwood’s new book is sold individually, whether by a book marketer, bookseller, or twitter user.”
- Amidst all of the change, there are a lot of myths that need debunking. Most importantly, there is the myth that publishers are behind the times, unwilling and afraid to change, clutching on to traditional models, charging exorbitant prices for books and grappling for all the royalties we can pocket. This couldn’t be less true: innovation is happening in every corner of publishing. BookRiff is just one example; there’s Vooks, podcasts, Enhanced Editions and all sorts of other enhanced e-books, not to mention more free online sampling than one could hope for. Publishers, please give yourselves a pat on the back…and let’s keep moving.
I didn’t make it to all of the sessions, so I’d encourage others who attended to comment with their own key points to add to this list. You may also want to check out the ongoing BookCamp Twitter buzz (courtesy of Raul Pacheco @hummingbird604 ), and a nice post-BookCamp blog post by Darren Barefoot.
I’d like to thank the organizing team of BookCamp Vancouver, including Sean Cranbury, Books on the Radio; Monique Trottier, Boxcar Marketing; Crissy Campbell, Boxcar Marketing; Morgan Cowie, BookNet Canada; Nick Bouton, Taunt Media, Protagonize.com; John Maxwell, SFU Masters of Publishing Program; and Suzanne Norman, SFU Summer Publishing Workshops for putting together this event, as well as all of the other moderators for the ideas presented.
Michael Turner Riffs at Word on the Street
September 25, 2009
If you’re at the Word on the Street in Vancouver on Sunday, September 27, be sure to stop by the author’s tent at 1:00 p.m., where author Michael Turner will be reading from a Riff of his new book, 8×10 (Doubleday Canada). As described in Michael’s blog, the Riff is a artistic, mathematical randomization of the author’s 64 loosely ordered sections in the original book. Michael inserted his own introduction to this “collage version” of 8×10, explaining the concept behind his playful use of the BookRiff technology to create a new book from existing content, simply by rearranging the narrative.
Soon, public users will be able to purchase a copy of the 8×10 (collage version) on BookRiff’s Buy Riffs section, or create their own mix of the 64 chapters Doubleday Canada has put up for sale. Until then, you might be able to grab one of the 5 sample copies Michael will be carting to WOTS this Sunday.
ACP members get a sneak peek, share ideas for BookRiff
September 18, 2009
In a group web conference this morning, members of the Association of Canadian Publishers were taken behind the scenes to view a site demonstration of BookRiff-in-construction. In its last few days of private beta development, the software is now a bare-bones framework of a site with the potential to be an essential tool in every publisher’s belt. For now, it raises a lot of questions, and it’s our job to answer them. Here are a few of the points discussed today:
1. Pricing: How should publishers price their books and chapters on BookRiff?
BookRiff is an entirely new model for publishing, but that doesn’t mean it introduces a complex new formula of costs, revenues, and profit share for publishers to digest. In fact, that’s precisely what we’ve tried to avoid. The BookRiff business model lets publishers (and other content creators) determine their own revenues, because they set the price and receive 100% of that price each time a Riff of their content is printed. The rest of the model is just as transparent, making it easy for publishers to predict the final cost of a Riff, and then set their content costs accordingly.
Let’s take an example: A publisher wants to create a BookRiff version of a 250 pg. frontlist book with 5 pages of extra materials from the author. The book is listed at $28.95. In this case:
- The Riff base fee, including print costs (paid by Riff purchaser) = $7.73
- Book content price = publisher’s desired price of BookRiff version, minus $7.73
- Publisher’s revenues = publisher’s book content price
So, if the publisher wanted to sell the Riff at the book list price, the content cost (and also revenue) would be $28.95 − $7.73 = $21.22
And, if that book were divided into 12 chapters, each chapter might be priced at $21.22 ÷ 12 = $1.77
The next, more complex, underlying question here is: What is the value of a Riff? The way I see it, it’s up to you: the publishers, and you: the Riff composers, and you: the buyers to decide. It’s an open market, after all: your content will speak for itself.
2. Publisher channels vs. Author channels vs. Other Creator channels: whose work is whose and how do you know?
Like the first question, there’s a simple answer and a more annoying, you-decide one. The simple response is that only copyright owners can upload their content to BookRiff, or license others to do so. Each time a BookRiff Creator, be it a publisher, an author, or another individual, makes content publicly available through their creator channel, they must claim ownership of that work. They can only do that if they have an account, set up with a credit card and a TOS agreement.
Now that copyright infringement is put aside, there’s still a question of interaction between users on BookRiff. Who creates Riffs: authors, publishers, or fans? The answer: yes, perhaps, if they’re keen, and who knows who else? It will be important for publishers to communicate with their authors to gauge interest and build plans for selling books on BookRiff. We can’t wait to see who will take the lead from there.
3. Can BookRiff users sell their Riffs of publisher’s short stories (or other chapters/ chunked content)?
Yes, anyone can sell their Riff, but no, they won’t profit from anyone else’s work. (This means fans double as enthusiastic not-for-profit booksellers: can you imagine such a thing?)
4. Will Riffs have color? Will Public Domain books be available? What about sizes? Electronic books?
BookRiff is made to evolve, and we’ve got all kinds of plans. Custom covers, full color interiors, multiple sizes and formats are just a few ways we want to make BookRiff more robust. We’d love to hear your ideas, too!
5. When can publishers have access?
Soon, very soon. (Let us know if you’re eager!)
Rochelle Grayson
