Today, we see the digital world of publishing evolving and changing before every publishers eyes. The biggest change being digital whether its reading on our iPads, Kindles or Samsung galaxy tablet, with more people further moving away from picking up a hardcopy we begin to ask ourselves and most importantly the publishers, is all this new technology really helping to increase digital popularity?
Equally with all this new technology I'm going to be looking at, what steps do publishers need to be taking before reaching that final ebook creation? Technology enables publishers to work more efficiently on the production of their digital file with various new output developments such as ebook files. Using these recent developments they can then further enhance their ebook into an app or a PDF file which can be searched for in many Amazon and Google tablets. As publishers follow the various stages such as 'tagging, editing and correcting their design layout it enables them to work at a faster pace before imposing a format such as an XML file and reaching its end result as a digital format' (Hall, F, 2013).
Firstly, imposing a format would be the most important part for any publishers wanting to publish on a digital product. An easily accessible format and most popular option would be XML. This format helps the publisher search for any information needed fast, it also provides a structure so is very user friendly. As Hall states (2013, p.15) 'XML will transfer all the publishers content and data to the digital format, then at any time it can easily be edited and when using the right style sheet such as XSL'. This is another style sheet language that can be converted to any format needed by the publisher. An ebook that comes in five different languages for us to read, better scrub up on our French then.
Metadata is also very useful to publishers when it comes to working with XML - on 'a basic level it can be explained by Hall as 'data about data' (2013, p.16). Basic but confusing? Well, not really, it really is as simple as defining parts of the XML format that are not actually part of the data. It may mean 'arranging the publishers data in a certain way or a label to information, this all makes it more manageable for the publisher' (Hall, F, 2013).
Dealing with all these different terms and types of data must be overwhelming for any publisher. Most importantly the digital world is still advancing today, which means this could just be the start to any more emerging formats or technology. What does this mean for the future? Each of these digital developments are enabling publishers to move quicker and more efficiently. As said on the Bookseller, 'embracing digital options will provide companies with competitive advantage, the ability to enhance reach, and increase profit margins' (The Bookseller, 2010). In turn, this further opens new publishing intelligence into the digital environment that is taking over todays publishing world.
Bibliography:
Anon. (2010). The Digital Crossroads. Available: http://www.thebookseller.com/futurebook/digital-crossroads. [online] Last accessed 9th Oct 2014.
Hall, F (2013). The Business of Digital Publishing. Oxford: Routledge. pp. 14-17.
[Image] McGlaun, S. (2012). Digital Book Settlement. Available online: http://technabob.com/blog/2012/09/07/digital-book-settlement/. Last accessed 29 Sep 2014.