Publishers Launch - Andrea Fleck-Nisbet - Workman Publishing

These are my continuing notes from the Publishers Launch conference held on 7/26.

Changed the title management system. It was previously in FileMaker which had its issues (slow and buggy) which were partly because it was used in seven different offices across the country.

Strongly considered switching to FireBrand but settled on Thomas Allen & Sons which had a web based system. Because of Thomas' small size they were very attentive and willing to customize.

The implementation took one year for the Book Connect & Book One systems.

There was complexity because they have 7 to 8 ISBNs for every title (they need these to support the various eBook formats).

Workman supports a custom ONIX files for each retailer with pertinent ISBNs. The reps love this.

Started the implementation with a best practices manual for editorial to handle title management (data management) better.

Web based offered:
* mobile access
* no cost per user
* ease of training new people
* easy management of remote access for freelancers

Workman also uses Collection Point and DropBox for flexibility.

Publishers Launch - Alfredo Santana - Wiley

These are my continuing notes from the Publishers Launch conference held on 7/26.

Permissions are the original micro-transaction.

Challenges with old permission systems:

mystery of ownership

time consuming process

small per-transaction profit

lots of freebies offered 

The last two above make you question if it is worth it.

Repurposing of content has driven permissions demands from ad-hoc to systematic, from low accountability to high accountability, from low profit to high profit. 

There was a dedicated and trained staff with an internal system connected to subsidiary rights, but they were detached from the customer. 

Goals for RightsLink:

improve customer service

be trusted (which the CCC (Copyright Clearance Center) offers automatically)

integrate seamlessly with existing DB and eCommerce site

tailored to Wiley's business rules and licensing terms

customizable messages, redirect, STM rules

retains publisher/publication branding throughout 

They set priority for journals as first product because of the volume of the requests; next was online books, and finally print books. Different product lines had different sets of rules. 

The entire process was 10 months, largely because of the number of products, rules and guidelines. 

Worked closely with editorial and marketing to choose which titles were included. IT provided metadata feeds and cover images. Legal group drafter terms and conditions documents for the site. Coordinated world wide.

Offered customer self service. RightsLink had the following benefits:

• immediate clearance (within a few minutes)
• directly from point of content or title
• quick and intuitive made it very easy to use
• available 24/7
• secure online payment (no worries for Wiley about someone having bad credit -- that is handled by RightsLink)
• user can purchase across multiple publishers in one transaction (more appealing for a customer to have wide selection rather than just Wiley)
• the site is transparent to the user -- looks just like it is part of the Wiley site
• a transaction used to take 4 to 6 weeks, now it is instant

CCC handles:

• technical issues
• invoicing
• payment
• debt chasing
• visually impaired access (coming soon)

There is robust reporting for the business

200-400% revenue increase in the first year and year-to-year increase of 65%

Not only has it improved the process, but the number of requests for permissions has increased -- it grew the market.

The permissions department now has real revenue which has given in clout within the business.

Smaller amount of staff doing more.

Publishers Launch - Book Publishing in the Cloud (various speakers)

Here are my notes from the conference held on 7/26. For some of the speakers I took lengthier notes and have broken those out into other entries.

A couple themes I noticed at the conference:

• price scrapping and analysis
• social listening
• moving from FileMaker to a SaaS tool

Michael Cader (Publishers Lunch)

Workflow: RSS content -> bit.ly -> publn.ch
Tracks click this way and builds brands

Uses: widget box (widgets that can run on multiple sites), WordPress, SocialCast (internal communication), Peer1Hosting, Virtual Merchant, MobileStorm


Ken Michaels (Hachette Book Group)

Hachette has 18 months in the cloud

Uses SaaS for email, piracy monitoring, eProcessing, RoyaltyShare, SalesForce.com

BookRadar offers price & on sale date compliance checking, correct errors & omissions in supply chain, scorecard for vendor performance, manually track titles on vendors sites. Price monitoring offers a view of discrepancies. On sale monitoring finds titles not on sale at the right time. Merchandise placement monitoring shows if the title is on the homepage, a banner, etc and the on/off date along with a screen shot of the actual site with the title.

Publicity tool: PIP (publicity intelligence platform) - offers easy export of tour feeds for use by third parties (such as the author). The site is divided into Contact Management, List Management, and Campaign Management.

ChapterShare offers Facebook integration is offered for easy sharing. It gathers data on readers when they read an excerpt or purchase a title.


Russ Stanton & John Wicker (TATA Consultancy Services TCS)

The most likely issues a company will have with the cloud:
  1. fear of security
  2. skepticism of ROI

By 2015 there will be 1 billion tablet users and 3 billion smart phone users. This is half the world population. Are you equipped to handle 4 billion customers?

You need your content to be product and presentation agnostic, you need to aggregate, and you need big data (velocity, etc.).


Ted Hill (THA Consulting)

It's not just SaaS (software as a service), it's also: PaaS - platform as a service IaaS - Infrastructure as a service

When should IT be involved?
* more than a few users
* noticeable amount of money
* need to push or pull data from another system
* when IT is helpful

Don't inhibit things like DropBox, but do use the rules above.

Check list for using cloud services
* are IT and management aligned in the build vs. buy decision?
* ready to contribute to best practices and evolve with your peers?
* willing to continually train and learn?
* do you know your content & data?
* are you thinking strategically rather than tactically?
* are you willing to simplify?
* how will the cloud interface with the enterprise?
* do you have content standards and repositories for both content and metadata?
* do you know what SLA you need?


Rick Joyce (Perseus Books Group)

Perseus has an HTML first workflow and a large North Plains DAM running on Constellation with title status and sales reports on a web portal. They use Crimson Hexagon for social listening.

Questions to ask when considering cloud:
* What do we want to be good at?
* What do we need to own?
* How stable is the supplier?
* What is the suppliers development track record and engineering plan for the future?
* What training, support, trouble shooting does the supplier offer?
* Does the supplier show ongoing excellence?
* What data integrity is offered (backups, track record)?
* What privacy and security is offered?
* What data integration/interoperability (in/out of data) is offered?
* What third party needs are there?

Could is:
* easy to pilot
* easy to scale
* initially a low cost


Michael Covington (David C Cook)

Legacy systems bread pockets of "tribal knowledge"

A service oriented architecture -- where cost and productivity live in harmony

Created www.christianmanuscriptsubmissions.com
* a virtual slush pile
* $99 submission fee
* offers editorial seal of approval
* can be mined for "digital first editions"
* Bowker took it and created their own separate process


Benefits of SaaS

• lower upfront
• scaleable
• less need for IT
• better support
• less "tribal knowledge"

Problems with SaaS

• can be rigid (not customizable)
• can lack security
• doesn't always play well with others
• may have bad customer service
• might not have an SLA

David C Cook uses

   ERP   JD Edwards

   DAD   FireBrand CS

               Eloquence

               NetGalley

               Ingram

  Sales    SalesForce.com

               bombBomb

               MailChimp

               Cushy CMS

  Production

               FireBrand

  

PANEL

Potential issues with cloud

* legacy or in house systems can't communicate with cloud system

* certain customizations can't be done

* IT frustration with lack of business to IT communication

* No oversight of who is doing what with SaaS

Yuvi Kochar (The Washington Post Company)

Does not offer SLA (a contract of uptime, etc), but instead a guarantee that your data will be transitioned to the next system if the partnership ends. Allowing the customer to move to another supplier so easily is something everyone easily understands and keeps the level of quality better since the supplier knows how easily the customer could leave. A provider is then a commodity not a customer and you treat it as such.

How a Cloud Forms

A knot of dew mounts
her blade, plants a clammy kiss.
The jerk cuts her off.
-- Beth Bentley, Don't (Haiku 1)

Why do you do what you dew?
Sweet life to flowers
the misty gateway of morning

In our joints, our veins, our hearts
what cycles in the seasons
in all things that flow

"water of life"
"is" not "of"

So it is to you dear water
I write now and warn you
that I'm telling every poet I know:
when the words do not flow
it is you that is to blame.

the invisible worm (oh rose)

left alone on the platform
terrified the words will not arrive
I know what I've always known
it's not like that
... wait ... patiently
for the train that keeps no schedule

Weird NJ #34

Weird NJ #34

Blue Cliff

Blue Cliff

Ikea Table and Wacko Cat

Ikea Table

Wacko Cat

interpretation perspective

As I turn the corner, I find a woman is blocking my path. "Bad dog," she berates her sweet eyed black lab. His disheveled fur seems in conflict with his seeing eye dog sign that is strapped to the handle bar that is strapped to him. But despite his appearance, this is not a day off for him. I hear her say "that's a bad seeing eye dog that eats lettuce off the floor."

I flash back to my dad repeating the command "drop it" to our family dog as he ate something accidentally dropped on the kitchen floor. The repetition continued until the unintended snack was finished.

The hallway is narrow in the restaurant, so I wait for her to move and then I follow her as she heads to the restrooms. The woman and the dog push by a man who tries to give her distance though she is unaware of him. In so doing he gives up his place in line. She is speaking to another woman who's explaining that there are only two bathrooms, one men, one women. The men's room door opens and a man exits. The man who was waiting in line squeezes by and goes in. The blind woman asks what happened and when she hears she opines that both rooms are the same, why didn't they use the available rest room. Her companion explains that the man had been waiting there before them but otherwise she agrees the rooms are the same.

The woman's room door opens and a toddler toddles forward before raising his arms in alarm his body rigid. He lets out a little yelp as he locks his eyes on the dog who is panting, surveying the room, and uninterested in the boy. The stalemate ends as the companion pulls the dogs snout towards her. Happy, expectant eyes from the dog look upward to the companion who's holding him still. The mother pushes her son forward and he keeps his distance from the dog as he passes, the dog still unaware. The mother's voice faintly reaches me from the other end of the hall. She is complaining that pets are not allowed in the restaurant. The companion enters the women's room and announces there is only room for one.

The men's room door opens. Out walks the man and I wonder: Will the blind woman go in? Is it insulting if I suggest to her that the men's room is available?

A man behind me in line taps my shoulder, "Hey, uh, you going in?"

There's too much to explain I think. I answer yes. As the door clicks behind me I hear the blind woman say, "what a rude boy" which given my approaching fortieth birthday I decide to take the compliment in the age of my voice. There are so many perspectives I think as I relieve myself.

Irene

Shadows relate choreography on the window shade as trees dance in the wind
I'm reminded of the muppets when I was five
on a black screen long dancing yellow and orange creatures sang
they were just part of the show but despite knowing they were good
(and I should not be scared)
something in the shape of it
something in their long rope thin bodies
something in their movement foretold
of a reason to worry

Iowa Waters

There were floods the summer I went to Iowa
though the worst was over, the street lakes had not receded
but there was a path not yet chosen to the University
a detour sign here and there and
I had arrived
at the admission office

I was sat down and I heard, but could not listen
details of the creative writing program said to be the best
this next path was not marked
I just saw a road I could have gone down:

a downward grade to the river's water
waves danced in the lanes -- almost tidal
it seemed obviously not the way to go
but I thought: how I love the water

maybe I needed to learn to swim
or maybe they told me to wait
the waters will recede in time
but I knew then with certainty
I had no fear of drowning.


11 nov 2009
21 aug 2011

email enhancement

It'd be useful if you could flag emails with a setting for how soon you want a response, like 1 day, 1 week, or 1 month. People would be less likely to be abuse the "important" flag and it would give people an instant gauge on whether they need to read the email now or later.

The Last Sabbath

The day the entire world observed the Sabbath was like a normal day. For years it had been known that the time was at hand. Everyone was of the same faith and on some level we all knew the truth of it. Many organized events were held but there was always an obstinate teen, an emergency, or a bitter mourner who pushed the time off for another day. And truly what a small thing it was weighed against the full history of humanity. What was one more week weighed against the centuries?

But on the day that time ended there was no organized event -- it lacked pomp and circumstance -- any more than is typical in the observance. We had no special plans, no motive in the day other than rest, reflection, and reverence. As night fell so too did time and history.

And the peace that befell us was in our hearts and we slowly realized without any fear or surprise that this was the moment. We saw that peace was born into us when we were born into the world and when we let go of the world and held to that, the world slipped away like smoke.

architecture

There are the corners of the cornice
(the buildings ornamental edge)
reaching up and bending
to hold the sky up

There's the fermented wheat of rye in the glass
Chemistry in a cup, spirits to bend my spirits

There's me, there's you, and the smile when I say so
and despite the noise, a melody comes through

And I wish I could stand like the building
but I know I would crumble for my heart

I am responsible
for what I've said I would do
what I've not
pictures taken
cornice creation
on the fringe
to hold up the sky

cycles

Thus when the moon circles you, you shall call it a month
and when you circle the sun, you shall call it a year
Night will cycle often, but around light it is rare
this you shall remember:
you will see much little-evil in the short cycle
and you shall see some little-good
but the great-good is a grand cycle
You will not have perspective
until the circumference is known.

Dragonfly Wings

The dragonfly's wings
are like feathers of ink
bleeding across the paper.
The body a single stroke
ending in a drop.
But most amazing is this:
flight is possible
on wings so delicate

in the medium

The pigeons swirl
They are summer's autumn leaves
rising and falling in arcs
They bank to a building
grab little footholds
then fly off singing
where to? where to?
each following more than leading
Their rise and fall is a marvel
a stream on the tide
that unknowingly we walk through every day

Reptiles in the Mind

This is the short line that grows.
Remember when you met her? Good. Such memories we call nostalgic because with time we can polish them like brass handrails. What was once corroded green, shimmers in bright flame. With time it is always so. The truth is in the instruction not the execution. The truth is in the verb, the action, the movement. How can the evasive live in stasis? Trust that which does not lie still. Push pen across paper until truth will out on it.

Rabbi Pinchas

Here are my two favorite quotes attributed to Rabbi Pinchas:

If someone finds it necessary to honor me, that means he is more humble than I. Which means he is better than and saintlier than I. Which means that I should honor him. But then, why is he honoring me?

Please, Please, never raise your voice at a human being; a human being is precious, so precious

this evening's post

I've posted three poems tonight as I have missed three Monday postings in a row. For the past few years I've managed no consistency in my writing. Or perhaps I write exactly as I used to but only my awareness has changed. What remains constant is my lack of satisfaction and desire to do better.