The View From ForeWord Magazine

Participants in the 2005 Book Summit: Industry Leaders Discussing the Future of Publishing in a Flat World are being asked for their views. Book Summit checked in with the editors of ForeWord Magazine.

1. What characteristics must a digitally printed book have to entice a reviewer to review it?
The digital book must have the same characteristics as the print galley submitted: top-notch writing, a good story or nonfiction topic that is timely and not overdone, and an author who has some credentials and can speak well to the subject matter.

2. What impact does distribution of a digitally produced book have in the decision to review it?
Our mission at ForeWord Magazine and ForeWordreviews.com is to help great books that might be overlooked get the recognition they deserve with a review
--print or digital form. Typically, in the magazine, we try to help our readership of booksellers and librarians by giving them access to books through review that have ease of access or distribution setup. As more and more libraries get involved in digital lending, these obstacles will diminish.

We see the trade community still having issues with e-book/POD distribution because it does not fit with the current distribution flow (returnable). This only fits with our goal to help small presses and self-publishers overcome those challenges with tools that can help them sell. We also feel POD publishers need to spend more time in the editing and design of exterior and interiors. Books are selected for review independently of distribution channels.

3. With more content being produced, what factors will reviewers look for in a book to review?
"Good books, independently published" is the motto for the magazine. The quality standards remain the same for digital or print books. ForeWord Magazine makes category choices based on the output of the small press community: 85 percent nonfiction and 15 percent fiction/poetry. With regard to the fee-for-reviews service, the five-star rating system gives users a chance to gauge our judgment based on excellence from one to five, one being the lowest recommendation. Factors of distinctiveness in content and treatment do not change.

4. Are online reviewers complementing or replacing traditional magazine reviewers?
Complementing, not replacing. A review has to resonate with the reader whether it is from the New York Times Book Review, blog, or recognized trade journal like ForeWord. Amazon.com reviewers and other online reviewers are not held to qualification standards that print journals like ForeWord are recognized for, but they do provide the buyer with information that appears useful in a consumer purchasing decision. Our reviews are licensed to the three largest online distribution companies in the trade market space--where most ordering for the library market takes place. We hope to expand on this coverage with future partnerships with Google, Amazon, and other broad-reach book sales organizations that need content to help sell books.

Andrew Roskill's View

Participants in the 2005 Book Summit: Industry Leaders Discussing the Future of Publishing in a Flat World are being asked for their views. Book Summit checked in with Andrew Roskill, director of BookSurge, the print-on-demand company acquired by Amazon.com in April 2005.

What would it take to get digitally printed books into the mainstream distribution channels?
If by mainstream distribution channels you mean brick-and-mortar bookstores, we make them available through both traditional distributors such as Baker & Taylor and our own wholesale ordering system BookSurgeDirect.com. However, with more and more consumers using online channels such as Amazon.com to purchase books and with new, user-friendly features such as Search Inside the Book (SITB), we believe the future of book buying is online.

What do you see as the future direction for print-on-demand publishing companies?
Print-on-demand is the future. It has leveled the playing field for publishers and authors, reduced risk associated with distributing high volume print runs, and is driving industry disintermediation. As digital technology continues to improve and costs continue to be driven down, POD will become more widely accepted and the preferred method of book order fulfillment, particularly for lower velocity titles that have demand across multiple geographies.

With more books from which to choose to sell, what factors will drive the decision to stock and sell a digitally printed book?
Bookstore shelf space is obviously limited. One goal of Amazon is to improve the customer experience by broadening the tail of selection. We want to use POD “virtual inventory” to accomplish this. It’s one of the many beauties of POD--you don’t need to stock books because all of our Amazon.com orders are produced and shipped within 24 hours.

How do publishers find and target micro-niches of readers?
The Internet has truly revolutionized the way publishers find and target these groups. There are so many forums and communities for people with all types of interests out there; it takes patience to find them and sometimes creativity to reach them effectively, but they are there and the internet makes reaching them possible. We are also evaluating a number of services where publishers could get empirical data (sell through, page views, etc.) that could help them make good business decisions on where to invest their value-added services: identifying, refining and marketing great books.

Dan Poynter's View

Participants in the 2005 Book Summit: Industry Leaders Discussing the Future of Publishing in a Flat World are being asked for their views. Dan Poynter, the country's leading expert on independent and self-publishing, is one of the summit organizers. Dan's thoughts on the future of book publishing follow.

Black and white printing is moving offshore; mostly to China. Offshoring will appeal to the large publishers who are trying to cut costs and have the luxury of an 18-month production cycle. Local digital printing will be used for smaller runs and where quicker turnaround is required. To better understand what is happening, read The World Is Flat by Thomas
L. Friedman.

One-third of the world's books are sold in the United States. Last year, 195,000 titles were published, an increase of about 10% over 2003. The increase in title output will continue. See parapub.com/statistics/.

Another interesting trend is the number of editions books are appearing in: hardcover, softcover, large PRINT, eBooks, audiobooks, etc. For example, see Stephen King's book Dreamcatcher at Amazon.com. It is available in nine editions. King wrote it once and it is being sold/consumed nine different ways.

Since 1998, I have promoted The New Book Model or Simultaneous Publishing. It advocates a digitally printed initial run of about 500. See parapub.com/getpage.cfm?file=newbook.html.

The greatest challenge for print-on-demand publishers and digitally printed books is packaging. All books need good design, professional editing and jazzy covers to attract attention and to describe the contents. If you want your book to sell like a book, it has to look like a book. Authors and publishers must invest in the wrapper if they want people to consume the contents.