Laser Focus: Or Don’t Get Too Distracted by That Shiny Object (or Ebook Feature) - Liisa McCloy-Kelley - ebookcraft 2018

Liisa McCloy-Kelley
VP, Director Ebook Product Development & Innovation
Laser Focus:  
Or, don’t get too distracted by that
shiny object (or ebook feature) 
 
ebookcraft 2018 
Thursday, March 22nd, 2018

Thursday, March 22nd, 2018 | ebookcraft in Toronto
By Day: This is How I Like to Think About My Work
2
I co-lead a 
large corporate team 
responsible for producing 
and distributing 
nearly 5000 new ebooks 
annually for our
core and client
and responsible for a 
back catalog of 80k+ titles
I work to
influence platform builders,  
ebook retailers
and standards orgs
to improve
ebook experiences 
and help translate 
the desires of authors 
in service to their stories
I am 
changing what
reading will be 
in a digital form
for generations
to come
For Penguin Random House, the largest trade publisher in the world:

By Night: I’m a Technology Advocate and Early Adopter… 
Who Uses Tech to Enhance a Rich Analog Life
3
3

At Lunchtime: I’m a Standards Geek
4
4
In order to expand:
The efforts
of these orgs 
combined:
&
To create:
International Digital 
Publishers Forum

There Are Many Commonalities in How We Read Across Publications
5
We Read: Newspapers, Magazines,
Books, Journals, Manuals, Websites,
Etc.
In print form or digitally—on a variety of devices, 
both online and ofﬂine

Let’s Start with Where We Have Been
genre speciﬁc experiences 
are becoming the norm 
—
standards for some 
are slow to settle in
6

For Nearly 20 Years (Since Fall of 1998) We’ve Been Making Ebooks
And S l o w l y Advancing the Tech We Use
7
7

The Last 10 Years of This Evolution Show Shifting Priorities
• OMG ebooks? Yeah, that might actually happen now! (Kindle)
• Backlist? Oh. Right. We need rights. And cheap conversion.
• These things looks terrible? What? Sure, sure, there are some typos. Whatever. (Nook)
• Books that aren’t just black & white? Color books? Cookbooks? Kids? (Apple, Google)
• What if we started adding Video and Audio? Read along? Hey- new EPUB!
• Wow. I thought those might have sold better. Hmmm. Interactive? (Libraries)
• Wait. Phones? People are really going to read on phones?
• We have got to figure out education. And accessibility. We need Standards.
• We’ve figured out a lot, let’s focus on enhancing where it helps the story.
• This year is all about getting back to basics. And quality. And image resolution.
• A massive juggling act: new retailer requirements, fixing up perennial backlist issues, shifting
standards work, collapsing proprietary formats, baby steps towards good accessibility.
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2009
2008
2015
2007
2017
2016

And In All Those Years, We’ve Had a Few Classic Titles…
9
9

We’ve Semantically Evolved as What We Do Becomes More Common…
10
10
e-book or E-book
eBook
ebook or Ebook
and btw-  
it’s EPUB 
or epub

Even the CEOs Have Evolved…
11
2007 20172011
from geek to powerhouse

Where We Are Now
—
12

Maintaining and Developing PBooks and Ebooks 
Is Not Always an Apples to Apples Prospect
13
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Ebooks are software
They will need to be updated
Experiences can and will continue to evolve
You cannot completely “future-proof”
Reality

Media Type Physical Pros/Cons Digital Pros/Cons Biz Split? Normalized? Workflow?
Music
- Pain to carry
- Hard to find
- Sound might be
better
- Easy to carry
- Easy to
navigate Mostly
digital
Yes Yes
Newspapers
- Easy to use and
quick to navigate
- Outdated the
minute it is
printed
- Always up to
date
- Handy to have
with you
Mix No Yes
TV/Movies
- Easy to lend/
borrow
- Storage and
swap out hard
- Easy to access
- Easy to rent or
own movies Mostly
digital
Yes Yes
Magazines
- Easy to read and
dispose of
- Easy to flip
through
- Competes with
web
- Harder to
navigate
- Hard to
manage Mix No Yes
Books
- Easy to read
- Easy to carry
- Easy to have
multiple books
- Easy to make
notes
Mix Yes No
Our Businesses Have Evolved Differently Than Other Types of Media
14

Coding For Ebooks Is Still Like Being a Mime In an Invisible Box
15

We are Finally Approaching the Nirvana of
Distributing (Not Delivering!) One Format to Rule them All
16
MANY, MANY 
Others
Kids Picturebook-ish, Manga, Comics
Manga, Comics
3
this is not entirely easy, but you too can do this!

“Reading Devices” Now… Have Come a Long Way
And Can Be With Us at ALL Times Giving Us More Access
17
Other
3%
e-Ink
15%
Phone
23%
Tablet
59%

Writing Has Changed Over the Last 20 Years
18

• Basic library
organization* **
• Basic navigation
• Basic page framing
• Changes in font size* **
• Changes in font* **
• More readable fonts
• Changes in background
color* **
• Bookmarking within
book*
• Searching across book*
**
• Highlighting of
passages* **
• Note taking*
• Definitions* **
• Sharing of passages via
social media ** 
* is not a standard browser
feature
** is not a standard pbook
feature
User Experiences For “Basic” Ebooks Have Become Pretty Standard
(but a bit different than print. or the web.)
ebookprint
19
19
browser
The experience for linear, 1-color ebooks is improved, but not significantly different than the print equivalent

And “Reading” Is Not Just About Reading… 
It Is Also About Collecting and Organizing
20
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Organized content are better than piles

But Haven’t We Heard That the Ebook is Dying?
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I’ve heard the hype.
I don’t agree.
I think we are in bit of a lull. 
And a mixed world of  
print and digital makes 
our challenges different.
We’re maybe here

The Shiny Objects We Fixate On
—
22

We All Get Distracted By Shiny Objects…
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What Is Your Personal Shiny Object?
24
More automation?
footnotes, endnotes, blindnotes?
Accessibility features?
Image quality?
the constant cycle of updates?
Fixed vs. Reﬂow?
support for interactivity?
the one format/multi issue?
embedded font support and when to use it?
e-reading platform vs. browser?
what partners are pushing for?
optimizing offshore vendors?

Examining Your “Shiny Objects” 
and Figuring Out How to Focus 
on What Needs Prioritization NOW
—
25

How Is the Pendulum Swinging In Your Organization?
26

Develop an Overall Vision & Mission For What You Do 
(Adjust as Needed)
27
“We change the world of digital reading one ebook at a time.”
Our corporate ebook team is the central hub of ebook reading
expertise for the entire company. Our mandate is to translate our
print products to their digital “best selves”, while balancing the
needs of our publishers and our retailers. Our production and
technical teams are empowered to make the right decisions for
their books and our processes. We are committed to excellence
and upholding the core values of Penguin Random House as we
ensure that our ebooks are available to all readers everywhere.

Develop “Shared Values” For Your Work and Your Team
28
Cheap
FastPretty
• We want every ebook to be 
it’s “Best Self” 
• We always do the right thing for the book and
the marketplace at the time of publication 
• We are constantly innovating at every level
• We are the best, smartest team 
of ebook experts in the industry
• We are the best advocates for 
our authors on “what is possible” 
digitally in the ebook space
• We respond quickly to and anticipate
marketplace and business needs 
• We are inﬂuencing digital reading 
for the future of books
Shared Values for Our 
Ebook Dev Ops Team

Personal Shiny Objects…
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More automation?
footnotes, endnotes, blindnotes?
Accessibility features?
Image quality?
the constant cycle of updates?
Fixed vs. Reﬂow?
support for interactivity?
the one format/multi issue?
embedded font support and when to use it?
e-reading platform vs. browser?
what partners are pushing for?
offshore vendors?

As You Think About Your “Shiny Object”, Ask Yourself One Question
30
Credit: Courtesy Humanity Star
why?
Is someone asking
for this?
Is it something you
understand and have a
unique solution for?
Do you just think 
it is cool?
Is it an annoying
thing?

Other Questions to Consider About Potential Shiny Objects
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1. Will this help our business (and our books)?
2. Does this have to be done now?
3. Is it better if my organization leads or follows on this?
4. Is there someone else/somewhere else I can look to for leadership on this?
5. How can we best use our resources?
6. How many books does this affect?
7. Can it wait until later?
Credit: Courtesy Humanity Star

The Shiny Objects We ALL 
Need to Address
—
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• Stop making proprietary formats 
• If others have solved this 
issue, there are answers 
and best practices out there 
• Every hour you save by not 
making 4 versions of  
something you can use 
toward another priority 
• And making EPUB3 is  
a low effort way to 
future proof your 
processes and content
EPUB3 and One File to Rule Them All
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MANY, MANY 
Others
Kids Picturebook-ish, Manga, Comics
Manga, Comics
3

Accessibility: As Laws Change, We Need to Be Ready
34
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• Start with some baby steps 
• Don’t let the massive, overwhelming
nature of workflow changes keep you
from doing anything 
• Much of what is needed can be
accomplished with good practices and
HTML5 
• Don’t focus on solving EVERYTHING for  
EVERY BOOK today!

Image Quality: As Devices Improve, Our Files Need to Improve
35
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• Screen quality has significantly improved
over the last few years 
• Ability to deliver larger files has improved 
• Reader expectations are higher 
• But changing out every image and
improving the coding in every book
we’ve ever published is going to be
HARD 
• And some images are historical and
can’t be improved upon
e
p

Not One Ebook Formatting Process Works For EVERY Book 
Pick a few so you have options and continue to refine
36
Is it a kids picture book?
Y
N
Kids Fixed Page EPUB3
@InHouse InDesign FXL Scripts 
or Vendor
Is it comics/manga/graphic novel 
or humor that has art to the 
edge of the pages ?
Fixed Page Minimal Text 
EPUB3
@InHouse FXL Scripts 
or Vendor
Is it a book that has 
been tagged lightly?
Reflow EPUB3
@InHouse InDesign Scripts 
or Vendor
Is it a book that has 
extensive tagging?
Reflow EPUB3
@ThirdParty/InHouse Tool 
or Vendor
Reflow EPUB3
@InHouse HTML Scripts 
or Vendor
Is it a heavily illustrated/ 
designed book that needs 
extensive redesign?
N
N
N
Y
Y
Y
Y
Our processes
break down into
basically 5
different types
of production
for different 
types of books
and use a mix
of InHouse handwork,
scripts/tools we 
have developed
and uses vendors
where that is
more cost 
effective

The Shiny Objects We 
Need to Keep an Eye On
—
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What Do We Think About Externally “Added Context”?
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Is Voice the Next Big Thing or the Last?
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How Do AR and VR Play Into All This?
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One Last Piece of Advice…
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be patient 
& persevere

Questions?
? ? ? ?
? ? ? ? ?
? ? ? ?

Thank You! (and go read a great ebook! ) 
(or send me requirements for what you think EPUB can/should do!)
Liisa McCloy-Kelley 
 
VP, Director 
Ebook Product Development & Innovation 
Penguin Random House 
lmccloy-kelley@penguinrandomhouse.com
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Laser Focus: Or Don’t Get Too Distracted by That Shiny Object (or Ebook Feature) - Liisa McCloy-Kelley - ebookcraft 2018

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Laser Focus: Or Don’t Get Too Distracted by That Shiny Object (or Ebook Feature) - Liisa McCloy-Kelley - ebookcraft 2018