The State of Sourcing

In the recent months, we have been studying the effect of the digital market on the publishing industry. Across segments and geographies, publishers are experiencing challenges centered on costs, resources and technology that have made it necessary for them to re-invent their business models.

Of the 200+ publishing professionals we interviewed, we found that close to 4 in 5 publishers are either outsourcing or considering outsourcing publishing services. So, if the whole industry is pretty much outsourcing technology, back office processes and industry specific publishing services, why is it still taboo? Perhaps some context would help.

Continue reading ‘Why is the outsourcing of publishing services still taboo?’ »

A question that has been playing on my mind for sometime. Authors and writers have depended on publishers for production, printing, distribution, marketing and promotion of their content. However, the rise of the digital market is challenging the traditional author-publisher relationship.

The traditional relationship between authors and publishers centered on the capital outlay required to create, print and sell books. Publishers would provide authors with advances, bear the expenses of producing, printing, distributing, marketing and promoting the books. Proceeds from the sales of the book were largely the publisher’s and a portion of it goes to the author as royalty. The value of the publisher, thus, centered on printing and selling the books.

Continue reading ‘Survey: Is self-publishing increasing?’ »

A few days ago, I came across an interesting write-up on the top 50 publishers across the world. The list, compiled by Rudiger Wischenbart, provides great insight on how the world’s biggest publishers performed in FY09.

All charts are based on aforementioned list.

Continue reading ‘The top 50 publishers: How they fared in 2009’ »

Some recent news on the Indian publishing scene inspired me to explore how the market is emerging in the trade category, especially in the English language.

• The Tata Group is aggressively focusing on their book publishing business. The company aims to be amongst the top five in India within the next three years.
• Penguin India has chosen one of the most popular Indian writers, Shobhaa Dé, to acquire a new line of books for the publishing house. The imprint – Shobhaa Dé Books – to be released in 2011 will cater to an urban English speaking audience.
• Penguin-India has been recording approx. 25% growth in sales. Random House, Harper Collins, Rupa and some others have been increasing their titles each year.

Outsourcing destination! That’s the foremost identity while referring to ‘India’ and ‘publishing’ together. India has emerged as a key destination for sourcing publishing services for US and UK based publishers for over two decades. But publishers viewing India as a potential market ? – It’s a different ballgame!

Continue reading ‘India: From a service hub to a potential market?’ »

For an industry that has been questioning the way it has been functioning for the past decade, the publishing industry seems to be rejuvenated with the potential of the digital market. While publishers look to overcome the decline of print by developing digital market as a revenue source, it becomes even more important to have the right vision while addressing it.  Venturing into potentially unchartered waters, require the publishers to adopt a steep learning curve that means not only operating like a Net company but also creating a strong value proposition.

A significant section of publishers addressing the digital market have relied on partners. Right from producing books, adapting them to various devices or distributing them to readers, publishers have seen the merits of depending on partners. Take for example the Apple iPad. Publishers look at this piece of gadgetry with the same glee that the music industry did when the iPod was released. Some have gone to the extent of proclaiming the iPad as the backlit beacon of hope for the publishing industry. I do not think so!

Continue reading ‘Will the iPad help the publishing industry?’ »

For paper manufactures like Norske Skog, AbitibiBowater and Stora Enso the past few months have been critical. The newspaper industry, one of their largest market, has been witnessing significant upheavals in operations. Newspaper publishers are in the midst of many challenges, and the rise in cost of print is just going to trouble them more. According to RISI (a consultancy firm for paper and pulp products), global rates has increased by 25%.  This has led to many publishers in growing markets shelving launch/expansions and those in developed markets feeling an additional pinch.

While cost pressures have always existed, revenue pressures hit newspaper publishers hard – an aftermath of the economic collapse.  Publishers lost advertisers, consumers were cutting back on expenses and moving online to gain access to news – prompting many to migrate to and address the digital market. As the prices of raw materials increase at the paper manufacturer’s end and consequently at the publisher’s, the ability to align rising costs with prices of newspapers will get tougher. Affording news in print will be a luxury, and this in turn will prompt a significant portion of newspaper readers to move online.

Continue reading ‘How will paper manufacturers cope?’ »

The newspaper and magazine segments are the largest contributors in revenues to the global publishing industry – contributing close to 52% of global publishing revenues. It would therefore be safe to assume that of all the challenges faced by the industry, none would be as altering (in terms of revenues) as the challenges faced by these two segments. The newspaper and magazine segments have already lost considerable revenues on account of dip in ad revenues. This is directly attributable to the global economic slowdown, which has led to decrease in consumer and corporate spending.

Continue reading ‘Magazines: Ad-ing up the losses’ »

With the publishing industry facing cost pressures, change in consumption patterns and struggling to sustain its revenues, it only seemed logical that the industry as a whole would outsource more. To truly understand how the industry value chain perceived outsourcing, we at ValueNotes Sourcing Practice decided to conduct a publishing survey.

To gain clarity on where the industry is heading, we needed to understand: Continue reading ‘Publishing Survey: Disparity in cost savings continues’ »

The newspaper and magazine segments are the largest contributors in revenues to the global publishing industry – contributing close to 52% of global publishing revenues. It would therefore be safe to assume that of all the challenges faced by the industry, none would be as altering (in terms of revenues) as the challenges faced by these two segments. The newspaper and magazine segments have already lost considerable revenues on account of dip in ad revenues. This is directly attributable to the global economic slowdown, which has led to decrease in consumer and corporate spending.

Does a drop in revenues merit a need to re-invent the business model? How are publishers coping with the dip in revenues? Will the digital market provide a strong revenue source? Will this mean more outsourcing/offshoring?  Over two posts, I will answer these questions, starting with the newspaper segment.

Continue reading ‘Newspapers: Stop the presses?’ »

In one of my previous posts, I had written about the rise of Google in the ebook market and its implications. But are ebooks as important an offering as the publishing industry is making out to be? Will ebooks be a one fit solution for publishers? Can a publisher ultimately sustain on revenues from ebooks?

So will ebooks address the  challenges faced by the industry today?
Continue reading ‘Can ebooks sustain publishers?’ »