Reflections on new workflows from a publishing startup, working with Publishers.

1. 8 Reflections
on
New Book Production
Workflows
from a
Startup
working with
Traditional Publishers.
--
hugh mcguire
--
pressbooks.com
@hughmcguire

2. ~Prelude~

4. For every book,
easily templated ebook & PDF output:
ibooks kindle print (pdf)

8. All
PressBooks outputs:
-- EPUB, MOBI, PDF, web --
are based on:
HTML+CSS
the styling technologies that drive the web.

9. PDF
(for print)

13. EPUB
(for Nook, iBooks, Kobo, etc)

14. Apple
iBooks

15. Kobo

16. MOBI
(for Kindle Fire, Kindle Paperwhite, Kindle eink)

17. Kindle
Fire

18. Kindle
Paperwhite

19. WEB
(for computers, smartphones, and tablets)

20. Tablets &
Smartphones

21. 8 Thoughts
on
New Book Production Workflows
from a
Startup
working with
Traditional Publishers.

22. 1.
Moving to a digital/XML workflow is a
huge cultural shift.

23. 2.
You need support from the whole org:
- management
- production
- (editorial)

24. 3.
The primary driver is (and must be)
economic.

25. 4.
There is no such thing as a free lunch.

26. “Businesses have to put resources into the things that
matter.
“For us the cultural shift was realizing that we no longer
control many aspects of [book] presentation. PressBooks
doesn’t control them either. The consumer does. The
consumer chooses font, size, format, device – almost
everything. This includes print output.
“You can take that as a loss, or you can take it as a chance
to get back to putting more resources into what really
matters – creating outstanding content that is deeply
meaningful and important to your audience.”
Will Bergkamp,
Publisher & General Manager,
Fortress Press

27. 5.
You need to test on REAL projects.

28. 6.
Think of technology providers as
PARTNERS
not
VENDORS.

29. 7.
Make a real budget.
Internal resources.
External suppliers.

30. 8.
Give the people in your org testing
out new things a real mandate.

31. 9.
Make your decisions based on what
is best for your business
(which hinges on making your
readers and authors happy)

32. “Moving to PressBooks is a matter of being able to put
time into the parts of the business that really matter.
When you do the math and calculate how much time an
average publishing person (editor, etc) puts into thinking
and making decisions about things that add no concrete
value to the business it is shocking.
“A tool like PressBooks, that efficiently and consistently
outputs the files you need when you need them takes a
major part of that waste off the table and allows it to be
refocused on the things that really matter.”
Will Bergkamp,
Publisher & General Manager,
Fortress Press