For decades we grew up with paperbacks and hardbacks but with the quick escalation of technology we are now becoming accustomed to the idea of e-books and e-readers, ever since Amazon launched the Kindle in 2007. It seems to be more apparent now that e-readers are slowly replacing paper books as, ‘the traditional business model is broken,’ (Davies, 2014). This is because the publishing industry is now meeting the digitalised needs of the tech savvy generation.
So what is it that publishers need to do to keep their audience interested in buying their titles? Since ‘digital products have been posing huge pricing challenges for publishers,’ (Hall, 2013). A way of getting around this is to view business models to see where the gaps are in the digital market to keep up with already established companies and cater for their target audience.
In recent years new trends such as apps are proving to be outstandingly popular within the digital sector. Apps could possibly be viewed as, ‘flat replicas,’ (Newman, 2014). This may prove challenging because as Hall (2013), explains consumers assume that because they are not paying for the extra production costs of the book such as the printing, paper, binding and the official product at the end then it should be cheaper.
Publishers are also finding it hard to find a balance between pricing the product at a suitable rate. However, the positives with this new platform are that, ‘apps stand alone,’ (Hall, 2013). Meaning that apps will sell through, ‘marketing and profile raising,’ (Hall, 2013). Word of mouth through different consumer generations meant that apps, for instance ‘Flappy Bird’ became such a popular phenomenon as many as 50 million people had downloaded it. Due to it being so popular, Dong Nguyen the creator of the app had it removed from both the Apple iStore and Google Play for it was becoming too addictive to some users.
The reaction that it caused saw, ‘many fans take to social media to petition for its return,’ (BBC, 2014). Publishers can gain inspiration from this by overseeing how to gain publicity through social media and learn from the success of other app products to distinguish where the competition lies and what target markets they are trying to sell to.
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Bibliography
BBC, (Feb, 2014). ‘Flappy Bird Creator Removes Game from App Stores.’ Available: [online] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-26114364 (Accessed: 29th October 2014).
Davies, A. (2014). ‘New Publishing Business Model’ Available: [online] http://www.idioplatform.com/the-new-publishing-business-model/ (Accessed: 20th October 2014).
Hall, F. (2013). ‘The Business of Digital Publishing: An Introduction to the Digital Book and Journal Industries.’ (p.164-165) Routledge.
Newman, R. (April, 2014) ‘Are Magazine Apps Dead? A State of the Art Roundtable.’ Available: [online] http://www.robertnewman.com/are-magazine-apps-dead-a-state-of-the-art-roundtable/ (Accessed: 29th October 2014).
Sturdivant, J. (Jan, 2013). ‘New Business (to Business) Models’ Available: [online] http://www.pubexec.com/article/innovative-b2b-publishing-business-models/1 (Accessed: 26th October 2014).