The Futures (plural) of

Publishing
Joseph J. Esposito
ISMTE Conference
August 12, 2016

The business of publishing is not only about doing the job right but
also about doing the right job. Every aspect of every task in
publishing (or any other activity, for that matter) must be regularly
measured against an organizations overarching strategy.

Topics
The span of publishing
The granularity of publishing
Strategy as a component of the business of publishing
Different segments, different strategies
Strategies are specific to organizationsor they bring
no competitive benefit
Hard-nosed introspection: are our operations strategic?
Scenario-planning as the essential business task

The Span of Publishing

Publishing is among the most diverse industries
Touches every aspect of human activity
Lagging in terms of population diversity

Ceaselessly innovative
Every book, every article is an innovation
But innovation is largely editorial

Independent of format or media type

Print
Digital
Audio

Granularity
Each segment has multiple sub-segments
E.g., trade: fiction, nonfiction, childrens, etc.
E.g., textbooks: hard (science and math) and soft (HSS)

Academic and professional publishing can be

segmented in various ways

HSS vs. STM

Books vs. journals
Medical research vs. clinical medicine
Toll access (subscription) vs. open access

The organization represents the granular level of

strategy

Brilliant execution can often waste time and money

and distract an organization from new
developments in the marketplace. Too often
publishers let other companies (e.g., tech
companies) set their agenda. Publishing is not a
subsidiary of Google, Amazon, or Apple.

Example: Tagging Books

Metadata leads to discoverya good thing
Tagging on the chapter level leads to chapter-level
discovery
Chapter tags naturally lead to single-chapter sales
But why would you want to sell books by the chapter?

Difficult to price
Cannibalization of sales for complete book
Challenge for marketing
Adds value (diminished cost) to end-users, but not to
publishers

Some Issues Facing STM Publishers

Flat library budgets
Role of library consortia
Industry consolidation
Growing governmental role (e.g., OA mandates)
Increasing number of stipulations from funders
Copyright leakage
Growth of alternate services and new metrics

How You Play Depends on Who You

Are
Very large publishers may seek to dominate library
consortia
Independent publishers may seek embrace of larger
publishers (Katheys thesis)
Libraries may seek more clout by organizing into
consortia
Some publishers are copyright hawks, but others are
more liberal in policies concerning sharing
Large publishers now reenvisioning themselves as data
companies
Upstarts typically dont seek to compete head-on with

In This Environment . . .
Should Elsevier have the same strategy as The New
England Journal of Medicine?
Should Science have the same strategy as Nature?
Should Physical Review Letters have the same strategy
as Journal of the American Medical Association?
Obviously, the answer to these questions is no
But most of these companies are doing similar things
Examples: additive OA programs, use of social media,
developing databases on end-user activity, seeking clout with
library consortia, etc.

Creating Scenarios, Crafting

Strategy
What will your industry segment look like in 5 years?
(This is the company vision.)
What role should your company play in that scenario.
(This is the company mission.)
How do we get there from here? (This is strategy.)

An Unconventional Approach
Eschew lofty and platitudinous mission statements (change the
world, let knowledge flourish, save the whales)
Anchor goals in specific, well-defined scenarios (Publish onethird in all papers in our field; increase market share by 8%;
increase operating margin by 1%; achieve a JIF of ____)
Goals are not necessarily financial or quantitative (Develop new
publication to address growing subfield)
Assign responsibility for each projected outcome
Revisit goals and progress quarterly
Manage for accountability

The business of publishing today involves

projecting a set of goals for an
organization tomorrow.

Thank you!
Joseph J. Esposito
espositoj@gmail.com
@josephjesposito