Innovations in Book Publishing: Two Models for Using the Web to Increase Quality and Sales

Publishing has long been a key function of many associations. From magazines to pamphlets to books, these printed resources have often been a key value provided to members and society at large. Association websites have an even broader reach, although traditional print publishing is still a strong sector for many organizations.

Rather than replacing print publishing, which has been threatened for years but never seems to quite materialize, a more interesting question is how the online world can be leveraged to enhance, extend, and support traditional publishing.

This article analyzes two cases of how for-profit publishers of technical information have leveraged the web to improve and expand their printbased publishing efforts. After identifying the key characteristics for how they changed their printing processes, the article will assess how suitable they are for association publishing efforts.

Association Book Publishing Today

Traditional book publishing remains an important association activity today. Fifty-five percent of associations sell books.¹ In fact, a median 95 percent of book sales are from books published by the association rather than reselling books from other publishers.² The publishing of books— from identifying a need, developing a topic, recruiting an author, and shepherding a manuscript to final publication—are common tasks for association publishing professionals. According to Debra Stratton, president of Stratton Publishing & Marketing, Inc., “most professional societies and trade organizations promote their publications as the major benefit of membership,” since members often state that they are of primary value for joining.³

Despite its potential value, book publishing can often be challenging. Considerable market research should be conducted before even embarking upon finding an author, since printing and storing books is so expensive and the time to publish is so long. Stratton recommends that association executives assess the need for a book on a particular topic, define the potential market, and examine the financial considerations before getting started.⁴

The financial dynamics of book publishing are such that topics with only a narrow audience will rarely have a book-length treatment developed for them—even if that format is the most appropriate for serving it. Significant—yet relatively small—segments of an association’s market and members are ultimately underserved with books due to this dynamic.

Likewise, the long lead time for books creates disadvantages for rapidly evolving or new areas. The book may arrive already out of date or, at best, the target market has to make do for a long time without a proper reference or other resource that is book length. Publications that trail new trends make it difficult to establish and maintain topical relevancy with members on the cutting edge of a particular topic or field.

Every flaw presents an opportunity, however. The web has enabled two technical publishers to adapt their publishing processes, format, and delivery to reduce the flaws discussed above while better serving the market. The remainder of this article will examine how they did it and what lessons associations should adapt.

Case One: Beta Publishing

Pragmatic Programmers, a publisher of programming books, wanted to tap into a very hot and very new framework for creating websites: Ruby on Rails⁵ (RoR). RoR provides a framework for creating database-driven websites using the Ruby programming language. RoR had generated very high interest in the web- programming community because of how simple it made executing common functions for dynamic websites. Yet, despite rapid growth over a period of a couple years, there were no books on the platform available. Pragmatic Programmers recruited authors to write a book on developing websites using RoR.

Because of the high demand for anything on the topic, Pragmatic Programmers decided to publish an early draft of the book as a PDF for purchase and download on its website. Releasing the book in this fashion allowed the publisher to get the content to its readers months before the final paper version was ready.⁶ This advance PDF acknowledged that there were likely errors in the text and even solicited readers to submit them to the publisher, along with any other suggestions they may have had to improve the book. Each time a new version was released, everyone who had already purchased the PDF could download the new version at no additional cost. Pragmatic Programmers charged extra for a copy of the final paper version, which was available for purchase at the same time as the PDF. The company has since extended this model to several subsequent book projects.

This kind of early release of a product is often called a beta test in the software world. It is not the finished product but is close enough for select customers to try out and provide feedback. Pragmatic Programmers applied this concept to its book publishing. In fact, the publisher calls this line of PDF products “Beta Books.”⁷ The first book that Pragmatic Programmers published with this method, Agile Web Development with Rails, almost sold out before the first printing was shipped.⁸ It also had very few errata for the print version, since so many of the errors were caught during the beta period.

However, creating a publishing process for supporting a beta book was not as simple as just saving a PDF of a draft Word document. They developed a customized process and a supporting set of technology to make it feasible and sustainable:

“Behind the stuff that you see us doing, there’s an underlying philosophy and set of practices. They all reinforce each other. For example, the fact we have continuous builds and author-typesetting means we can create beta books that are living documents. The fact we have an errata system hyperlinked from these beta book pages means we can put feedback in the hands of our authors, and hence we can get updated revisions out faster. Each of these aspects of what we do is a small thing in isolation, but we have hundreds of them, and they all add up to a cohesive, and we feel revolutionary, whole. Copying just the visible aspects misses this depth.”⁹

As the quote above shows, they developed specific processes and technology to make publishing new versions of the beta possible:

Authors write the book in a format that can be automatically processed by the publishers for laying out the beta book.
Drafts use a hyperlinked errata system for reporting errors on each page, allowing authors to easily identify where they need to make revisions.
Unstated, but important, is that the author must be willing and prepared to analyze and consider public feedback on an early draft of the book and turn around updates relatively quickly.

The Pragmatic Programmers took a very hot topic and married it an optimized authoring, editing, and publishing process in order to deliver book-length content to an audience who was hungry for content months before a traditional book would have been available. The key lessons for beta publishing books are two fold:

The topic must be of high interest in an area where there are few current resources available.
The publisher must optimize its processes to support rapid updates to the manuscript and automated production of the beta document for release to those who have purchased the advance copy.

Without those key elements, any beta-publishing effort is likely to fail from lack of interest or inability to release updates on a rapid schedule.

Since their successful pioneering of this publishing model, other technical publishers have adopted it as well, including the subject of our next case, O’Reilly Media.¹⁰ O’Reilly has developed short-form e-books as a new offering. The next section exams its efforts in this area.

Case Two: Short-Form Electronic Book Publishing

Another publisher of programming and technical books has used the web in a different way in order to better serve its customers. For decades, O’Reilly Media has published very popular how-to and reference books for the computer technology field. O’Reilly has been a leader in the online world as well, particularly through the writing and speaking of its founder, Tim O’Reilly.

In May 2006, O’Reilly Media launched a new line of PDF books available for sale and immediate download on its website.¹¹ These electronic books cover subjects that are narrower in scope than those that receive traditional book treatment and also are written about cutting-edge technologies for which there is great interest and few existing resources.

Tim O’Reilly describes the value of short-form content such as these books:

“The web has put a premium on short-form content, both because it’s easier to read in the ADD style that today’s interrupt-driven technology is driving us towards, and because it’s easier to build collaboratively. This is why some of O’Reilly’s most successful new publishing projects … are all built around short-form content.” ¹²

He makes a clear connection between the influence of the web upon people’s reading habits and the value O’Reilly Media can provide via online sales of short-form electronic books. Based on O’Reilly’s experience, these shortform electronic books are best suited for topics that are new and fast developing, as well as those with a narrower scope that prevents them from being economically feasible in hardcopy.

Similar to the experience of the Pragmatic Programmers, O’Reilly cites the adjustments to his company’s publishing processes as a key element in its new programs. The publisher developed automated tools for taking content from authors in a standard format and then using that to drive content into the various potential end products it offers—from traditional books to articles to short-form e-books.¹³ The lesson on relevant topics is the same with O’Reilly as it was with Pragmatic Programmers: Your topic must be of high interest for this approach. However, in this case, the short-form e-book may be targeted at a smaller audience with high interest and still be profitable or break even. You do not have to worry about the overhead of producing, storing, and delivering hardcopy books.

This case also emphasizes the importance of the editorial and publishing process. Topics must be developed rapidly in order to take advantage of the immediate need for content. This requires rapid writing, editing, and publishing processes to be done effectively. Increased automation will increase the ability of the publisher to create more e-books on a greater variety of topics as well.

Potential for Associations

The potential of these models for association publishing is obvious. Both approaches—beta books and short-form e-books—rely on being in close touch with the hot topics of your market. Most associations, if their staff is paying attention, are up to speed on what’s hot in their field. They also are in close contact with experts in the field who can write and contribute to these works.

The participatory model of the beta book, where readers of the early version submit corrections and comments, also fits well with the tradition of volunteerism in associations. Members should be used to interacting more with an association publisher than they are with traditional publishers, due to the diverse array of programs and services they may already contribute to within the association.

The beta-book approach is also similar to the concept of formal peer review, in that it opens up the potential for feedback to the entire group of purchasers who have already invested in the work before it is finalized. However, it will not carry the scholarly weight of formal peer review, since it is not an appointed panel and is not required for publication.

The sale of PDF-based short-form books should also be a good fit for association publishing. Selling these smaller “chunks” of content allow valuable knowledge to be available long before they could be offered as part of a larger work. Delivery of a download also provides greater immediacy to the product, since purchasers can immediately access the content of the document. There is no need to wait for a hardcopy to be shipped. The same benefit accrues to beta books as well, as long as there is a PDF preview available.

Since books based on collections are often the easiest to publish¹⁴, shorter e-books may later be bundled into a traditional print product if the market seems likely to support it. This creates the potential for additional value by aggregating the shorter works while not preventing reader access to the information in the meantime.

Challenges for associations adopting these models are likely to arise from the process of publishing than from identifying topics and authors— or even marketing. In both of the cases cited, the publishers worked very hard to streamline their publishing processes from both a people and technology standpoint. Authors were expected to turn around revisions relatively quickly and to use standard formats in writing. The publishers developed technology that rapidly processes the standard-format manuscripts and converts them into documents suitable for publishing as a beta document or e-book.

These challenges will require a concerted evaluation of an association’s publishing process and work to speed them up, so that the value of these approaches is retained. For example, publishing a new version of a beta book every six months would largely negate the value of the entire approach. Likewise, taking a year to publish a short-form e-book on a hot topic risks it being lukewarm at best when it’s finally released.

The human element in creating books along these lines will need to focus on increased speed and more willingness to incorporate reader feedback. A publishing committee that meets twice a year to evaluate new topics is not going to be able to help an association rapidly address highvalue topics. Associations will need to assess how they can work faster at identifying topics. They will also need to teach their authors to use standardized manuscript formats and encourage them to have more interaction with the ultimate audience for their works.

On the technology side, associations must assess how technology can be applied to their publishing operations in order to automate as much as possible. This includes developing standardized authoring formats and software that can work with them. They will also need to invest in the automatic import of manuscripts into formats suitable for sale as beta books or for final layout as e-books. Speed in this area gives associations more time to invest in the idea, the author, and the writing of the text.

Suggestions for Future Research and Analysis

There are several opportunities for further research on this topic for associations. The current version of ASAE & The Center’s Policies and Procedures in Association Management does not include the web as a method of promotion for books.¹⁵ Tracking online promotion and sales of books in general, as well as e-books in particular, will help executives to better understand how this method performs for associations. It would be valuable to cross tabulate this data with profit per sale to gauge performance.

Specific case studies of associations using these models, including how they identify topics and measure success and overall sales performance, would be of value to other associations considering adding these approaches to their publishing mix.

C. David Gammel, CAE, is an online media consultant who helps his clients to unleash the strategic potential of the web. David created one of the earliest web-based, global, membership organizations, which had members in 24 countries. You may reach David at david@highcontext.com or +1 (410) 742-9088.

Notes

1 ASAE & the Center for Association Leadership. Policies and Procedures in Association Management, Volume 6: Publications, p. 49.

2 Ibid.

3Stratton, Debra. “Publishing Professional Magazines, Books and Other Media” in Professional Practices in Association Management. ASAE & the Center for Association Leadership. Washington, DC: 2007. Page 313.

4 Ibid. p. 326.

5 Ruby on Rails. www.rubyonrails.org.

6 Pragmatic Programmers, Frequently Asked Questions, www.pragmaticprogrammer.com/starter_kit/faqs/beta_faq.html on July 30, 2007.

7 Ibid.

8 Dave Thomas. “Rails Books Are All Shipped,” PragDave Weblog. August 9, 2005. http://pragdave.pragprog.com/pragdave/2005/08/rails_books_are.html.

9 Dave Thomas. “Imitation is the Saddest Form of Flattery,” PragDave Weblog. January 18, 2006. http://pragdave.pragprog.com/pragdave/2006/01/imitation_is_th.html.

10 O’Reilly Media Press Release. “Safari Books Online Launches New Rough Cuts Service,” January 23, 2006.

11 O’Reilly Media Press Release, “No More Waiting for the Information You Need: O’Reilly Offers PDF Guides on Cutting Edge Technologies.” May 24, 2006.

12 O’Reilly, Tim. “The Connection Between Short, Modular and Open,” O’Reilly Radar Weblog, January 22, 2007. http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2007/01/the_connection.html.

13 Ibid.

14 Stratton, Debra. “Publishing Professional Magazines, Books and Other Media” in Professional Practices in Association Management. ASAE & the Center for Association Leadership. Washington, DC: 2007. Page 326.

15 ASAE & the Center for Association Leadership. Policies and Procedures in Association Management, Volume 6: Publications, p. 50.

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