According to Pressman for Yahoo Finance (2014), U.S bookstores total sales have fallen 22% over the past five years. When you compare that to e-book sales rising from 68 million dollars to 3 billion in 2012, it seems logical that publishers start preparing – if they haven’t already – for the shift to selling in the digital age. With that shift comes a need for new business models adapted for the complicated world of publishing e-books, including new ways of distributing content and more sophisticated services and products, but should publishers stick to just one?
I believe that to successfully meet all functions as a publisher and the needs of the reader such as creating new relationships with customers and the way the receive content as well as making a profit as a business, publishers need to implement more than one model at a time. Using just one model unnecessarily screens a provider out, eliminating it from participating in many of these functions (Richard, 2007, p:6), for example meeting the need of customers who expect free access to content through the pay wall model, while supplementing their income through advertising.
The Economist offers a digital subscription including full access to the website, apps (for iproducts, Androids and Kindle Fire) and an audio edition alongside a subscription to their print edition (The Economist, 2014b). Interestingly, these subscriptions are the same price, suggesting they believe they are of equal worth. They also offer a bundled subscription of both print and digital, covering every format their readers can access content on. In addition to this, The Economist also offers 3 articles for free each week on their website by simply registering with them (The Economist, 2014a). This is an example of the Pay Wall model, showing the Economist implements a variety of models for different areas of their digital presence. Another example of publishers successfully combining models is ZoomInfo. They offer valuable information at no charge on pages that also carry advertisements. At the same time, they use sophisticated upselling tactics to promote the value of moving up to the additional features offered in the paid version(s) of the service. (Richard, 2007, p: 6)
However, publishers do take a risk when adopting a new model. It can be hard to know what will take off and be a great success online, and what will fail wasting publishers’ time, money, and resources. A perfect example of this is crowd funding website Spot.us; it has had to close temporarily while they review their business model ‘as certain components of the platform were not working as well as they should be’ (Spot.us, 2014). I believe that publishers working with more than one digital format need more than one model to maximise their sales and eliminate risk of a digital business model not working as well as they would like. In an age where most publishers are selling printed content alongside digital formats across platforms it makes sense they need multiple business models to meet different functions. The Economist is a perfect example of combining Pay Wall and a bundled Subscription service to target more than one type of consumer. As seen with Spot.us, sometimes committing to just one model could backfire.
Words: 532
Bibliography
The Economist. (2014a) Welcome to The Economist. The Economist. [online] Available at: http://www.economist.com/digital (Accessed 19.10.14)
The Economist (2014b). Choose Your Subscription. The Economist. [online] Available at: https://subscriptions.economist.com (Accessed 19.10.14)
Fiegerman, S. (2012). 8 Kickstarter Alternatives You Should Know About. Mashable.com. [online] Available at: http://mashable.com/2012/12/06/kickstarter-alternatives/ (Accessed 18.10.14)
Hall, F. (2013). The Business of Digital Publishing: An introduction to the digital book and journal industries. Routledge: London & New York
Jcham (2014) Bricks vs. Clicks: How Publishers Are Affected By The Loss Of Traditional Booksellers. [online] Available at: http://tkbr.ccsp.sfu.ca/pub802/2014/02/bricks-vs-clicks-how-publishers-are-affected-by-the-loss-of-traditional-booksellers/ (Accessed 20.10.14)
Pressman, A. (2014) The book industry isn’t dying, it’s thriving with an ebook assist. Yahoo Finance. [online] Available at: http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-exchange/the-book-industry-isn-t-dying--it-s-thriving-with-an-ebook-assist-191025547.html (Accessed 19.10.14)
Spot.us (2014). Frequently Asked Questions. Spot.us. [online] Available at: http://spot.us/pages/faq(Accessed 18.10.14)
Unbound (2014) How Does it Work? [online] Available at: http://unbound.co.uk/about (Accessed 19.10.14)
I believe that to successfully meet all functions as a publisher and the needs of the reader such as creating new relationships with customers and the way the receive content as well as making a profit as a business, publishers need to implement more than one model at a time. Using just one model unnecessarily screens a provider out, eliminating it from participating in many of these functions (Richard, 2007, p:6), for example meeting the need of customers who expect free access to content through the pay wall model, while supplementing their income through advertising.
The Economist offers a digital subscription including full access to the website, apps (for iproducts, Androids and Kindle Fire) and an audio edition alongside a subscription to their print edition (The Economist, 2014b). Interestingly, these subscriptions are the same price, suggesting they believe they are of equal worth. They also offer a bundled subscription of both print and digital, covering every format their readers can access content on. In addition to this, The Economist also offers 3 articles for free each week on their website by simply registering with them (The Economist, 2014a). This is an example of the Pay Wall model, showing the Economist implements a variety of models for different areas of their digital presence. Another example of publishers successfully combining models is ZoomInfo. They offer valuable information at no charge on pages that also carry advertisements. At the same time, they use sophisticated upselling tactics to promote the value of moving up to the additional features offered in the paid version(s) of the service. (Richard, 2007, p: 6)
However, publishers do take a risk when adopting a new model. It can be hard to know what will take off and be a great success online, and what will fail wasting publishers’ time, money, and resources. A perfect example of this is crowd funding website Spot.us; it has had to close temporarily while they review their business model ‘as certain components of the platform were not working as well as they should be’ (Spot.us, 2014). I believe that publishers working with more than one digital format need more than one model to maximise their sales and eliminate risk of a digital business model not working as well as they would like. In an age where most publishers are selling printed content alongside digital formats across platforms it makes sense they need multiple business models to meet different functions. The Economist is a perfect example of combining Pay Wall and a bundled Subscription service to target more than one type of consumer. As seen with Spot.us, sometimes committing to just one model could backfire.
Words: 532
Bibliography
The Economist. (2014a) Welcome to The Economist. The Economist. [online] Available at: http://www.economist.com/digital (Accessed 19.10.14)
The Economist (2014b). Choose Your Subscription. The Economist. [online] Available at: https://subscriptions.economist.com (Accessed 19.10.14)
Fiegerman, S. (2012). 8 Kickstarter Alternatives You Should Know About. Mashable.com. [online] Available at: http://mashable.com/2012/12/06/kickstarter-alternatives/ (Accessed 18.10.14)
Hall, F. (2013). The Business of Digital Publishing: An introduction to the digital book and journal industries. Routledge: London & New York
Jcham (2014) Bricks vs. Clicks: How Publishers Are Affected By The Loss Of Traditional Booksellers. [online] Available at: http://tkbr.ccsp.sfu.ca/pub802/2014/02/bricks-vs-clicks-how-publishers-are-affected-by-the-loss-of-traditional-booksellers/ (Accessed 20.10.14)
Pressman, A. (2014) The book industry isn’t dying, it’s thriving with an ebook assist. Yahoo Finance. [online] Available at: http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-exchange/the-book-industry-isn-t-dying--it-s-thriving-with-an-ebook-assist-191025547.html (Accessed 19.10.14)
Spot.us (2014). Frequently Asked Questions. Spot.us. [online] Available at: http://spot.us/pages/faq(Accessed 18.10.14)
Unbound (2014) How Does it Work? [online] Available at: http://unbound.co.uk/about (Accessed 19.10.14)