The Bookseller has an illustrious history and is one of the UK’s longest-standing magazines. Jaya Jha’s manifesto was featured here as part of the series “Five-Minute Manifestos” for The Future of the Book Business . She believes that publishers need to create business models based on the reality of the ‘unbundling of publishing’. Now publishers are no longer the gateway for all things publishing.
“Once upon a time, a publisher needed to own a printing press, employ editors, designers and all the other experts needed to bring out a book; invest in a decent print run for each book and maintain access to distribution. It was a tall order. Few had access to all these resources and therefore publishers were the ultimate gatekeepers of the industry.
Things have changed. Printing had been unbundled long ago. Now it turns out that other “services” that publishers provide are being unbundled too.
- Print on Demand (POD) has made printing even more accessible.
- eBooks and e-commerce have brought distribution within everyone’s reach.
- Access to good editors or designers is also not limited to publishing houses.
Publishing, therefore, will have to discover new business models that work in this unbundled world.”
She also talks about the value of curation- with surplus titles, curation is one way that a publisher can capture a reader’s interest. She is already experimenting with curation at Worth a Read. For more about the Unbundling of Publishing and the necessity of Curation, read the story here.