Re: Apple publishing news

**D* G* <g*@gmail.com>**

Graham - points below...

>
> Very interesting, but your thoughts throw up a couple of points and I'd
> appreciate the benefits of your wisdom:
>
> 1. Has Apple released any guidance for small independent publishers (I
> can't
> find any)? How, for example, will publishers like Betty Mackey get their
> content on to the iPad?
>

I'm not aware of any guidelines (I'd love to see them if they're out
there).  Having said that - it depends whether we're going to sell them
though the ibook store or through the app store (you can turn any document
into an app) like the Vook.com people already do.   My understanding is
they've exclusively focused on the "big guys" and cutting deals before the
release. TV and gaming are far more important than books are to this tablet.
  Small publishers are ... well... small. :-)  This is one of the reasons
I've put the ebook releases on hold for the moment - not quite sure how
rich, how ?? anything they're going to roll on - and whether we'll have to
do it through apps or through ??.  Way too many questions indeed.

> 2. I take your point about video and rich interactivity, but do you really
> think that plant monographs, for example, need that sort of content? Or do
> you think they would best be published as online databases and not as books
> of any kind? Would people pay ?$20 for permanent access a comprehensive
> online database on, say, phlox?
>

Ah niche publishing.  Now here's where there is money to be made imho.  You
get to charge for real content and "some" people will pay for it.  It's a
smaller market to be sure than the big beginner market but the money is
real.   The question is not whether there are people who will pay (there
are) but whether there are enough of them  to make it worth your while other
than as a hobby.  Or whether a serious plantsman such as  yourself can do
enough of them to aggregate into a good income (my best guess would be
aggregation)   Individual authors on individual monographs have never made
much if any money so that wouldn't change.

Content for niche publishing is equally interesting.  You'll have the option
to add as many pics as you want and increasingly readers will want a pic for
every species or plant.  If you're doing the hiking to get the plant pics -
my guess is there's a video in there somewhere.  Having sat through far too
many slide shows at rock garden society meetings - a video might be a
welcome diversion. :-)

The question about niche publishing has and will continue to be (as I'm sure
Betty will agree) in the topic selection that's big enough to be profitable
but small enough so the majors don't want it.

And the content there (again my best guess) is that you'll get away with
text and images for now.  But as the younger visual generation comes along
through school - they will both change and demand change in the way all
information is presented.  So the answer is about your timing - right now,
text/images are going to work.  In a few years, all bets are off as the bar
/ standard is raised.

In some ways it's like video.  At the beginning, any video was good.  You
had one - people would watch.  Now - if that video is over 1.5 minutes,
isn't professionally done or on-target and people abandon ship in droves
around the 30 second mark.  So that bar got raised.   The bar on books will
change in the same way.

That's my best guess on books for the moment.  Small publisher and regional
publishers may not have the market to compete on the level of tech of the
big sellers - they'll have to take reduced sales prices as the market
develops.

Or they'll have to have their own sales channel as well as using the big
guys.  And having your own sales channel is one really good option for
serious plantsmen - through the various plant organizations or listservs
etc. (but yeah, some of those organizations might have to adapt/change to
help serious plant authors)

But thanks for the kind words about "benefits of wisdom" :-)  I just happen
to read all this stuff because I now work almost exclusively online.  I
don't know how "wise" it is - but it's my best guess.  Right now - who knows
- in the near future, get used to multi-media "books" for general
circulation.   Specialist material - well, the rarer it is, the less tech
you'll need but the smaller the audience.

Best I can do this week. :-)

Doug
-- 
Doug Green
Editor-in-Chief,
SGF Publishing
http://www.simplegiftsfarm.com
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