E-books for Everyone Else

(The following article first appeared in Publishing Perspectives.)

E-books for Everyone Else was the name of the Publishers Launch Conference, co-presented with NYU's Center of Publishing, that I attended on September 26th. You can check out the program at http://www.publisherslaunch.com/events/launch-new-york/program/.

I didn't know what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised. The room was crowded (and unfortunately freezing) and presentations ran the gamut from workflow to conversion to metadata to social media to distribution: something for everyone in the audience. They also tried a publishing version of "speed dating." Registrants were asked to pick the top 3 sponsors they wanted to learn more about and got about fifteen minutes with each. Mike Shatzkin would announce when it was time to move to your next speed date. I know that the sponsors I sat with had a blast and participants seemed to find it worthwhile as well.

So with an entire day of people speaking at me or with me, these are the things that stick out in my mind when I think back at the event:

• Thank the Lord quality control is being stressed. I'm embarrassed for our industry as a whole when I hear people complain about the crap e-book they bought. Not everything can be, or should be, automated and someone must look at the content--in each device to be used--before it's released to the public. 
• Metadata is more important than ever in the digital world. 
• Publishers still need to decide what to outsource and what to do themselves; the two big outsource options in the e-book world are conversion and distribution.
• With agents becoming publishers, and new digital and self-publishing options being introduced weekly, the traditional publishing lines are beyond blurred and it will be interesting to see what new relationships and business models evolve.
• Although we still don't have many answers regarding the future of publishing and e-books, we at least have more documented and thought-out options to better advise our decisions.
• With the new digital and self-publishing options, more books will be available than ever before.

Depending on your point of view, the above is either scary or exciting, but the one thing we can't argue is that publishing is far from dead. You can argue about the definition of publishing (or the what or who of publishing), but the industry is alive and kicking, bringing in fresh talent and being discussed by non-publishing people on a regular basis.

And more people reading and interested in publishing is definitely a good thing.

Senior Management: Misguided or just Disconnected?

With all the recent CEO terminations, I started thinking about my and my friend's experiences. And although one can argue that the CEO owns and drives the corporate culture and senior management team (aka, the Board), it's often a chicken-and-egg syndrome and all are partially to blame when things go wrong.

So are senior management teams misguided...or just disconnected?

In my opinion, it's a combination of the two.

1. The Board is inherently a bit too disconnected from the frontline--the people who actually run the business.
2. This is further exacerbated if they make poor hiring decisions and insert managers/directors who do not have the skills and experience to lead their staff and the business to success. 
3. The result is that not only is the Board not aware of what is important to its staff  (and therefore business), but they also have a false impression, as fed to them by their mishires in an attempt to protect their own self interests.

So what are some possible solutions?

First off, as I've mentioned before, value human resources as your most precious asset. You are nothing without your people and if you motivate them, they will gladly think of ideas to take your company to the next level. So why not combine the two? Reward good ideas and overachievers by taking them to lunch. Turn off all your electronics for the hour and really listen to your shining star. Ask him/her what works and what doesn't. What would they do differently. How could x product/process be improved. And try to take this feedback to heart and if you can't, let the employee know why. Either way, they'll feel vested and valued, share this with everyone else on the team, and before you know it, everyone will be trying to earn that hour of your time.

If the above sounds too optimistic, try it before you discount it. And if this method doesn't work in your company, find something that does. But remember that the purpose is to reconnect with your frontline staff and make them feel like their ideas matter; it's not to "pay them off" with a nominal fiscal reward (which does have its place and time, but this isn't it.)

Time Management and Focus

Content may be king, but its cousin Information has gone slumming and is now available to all.

Having too much to do has become the norm, so how do you contend with that in addition to the information overload? Constant e-mails, meetings, tweets, blog posts, etc.--all necessary for you to stay on top of your job/industry and all vying for the limited time you have. How is one to manage?

Contrary to common belief, multitasking is not the way to go; focusing on one task at a time is. If you try to do everything, you will invariably make mistakes and not do anything to the best of your ability. Instead, choose a system of prioritizing and devote x amount of time to a given task. For example, if you have to read a long report for a meeting the next day, spend an uninterrupted half an hour; or better yet, pick a natural stopping point. When you get to that point, take a break and quickly check e-mail then go back to the report until the next stopping point. This will allow you to be more efficient and thorough in your task since you will not be dealing with distractions.

So similar to my previous post where I advised, based on reading StandOut, that it's best to focus on your strengths and not try to be good at everything, I am now advising to focus on your present task and not try to do everything. What does the common theme mean? Although our world may be getting more technologically able and automated, we as humans are still programmed to focus and until someone can figure out how to reprogram our DNA, we may as well make the best of it instead of fighting it--and failing.

Playing to Your Strengths

I've mentioned Marcus Buckingham and his books in previous posts. The book he co-authored with Curt Coffman, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently is what first introduced me to the Strengths Revolution and what inspired me to stay true to myself and my strengths at a difficult time in my life.

This weekend I read his latest book, StandOut, after taking the latest strength assessment. After 25 minutes in which you respond to scenarios, you get your top two strengths and a full report on what this means to you. (If you're interested in taking the assessment without purchasing the book, it's available for $15 at http://standout.tmbc.com/gui/individualAssessment.)

The book was the usual combination of inspiring plus informative, but there were a few things that it either reiterated or introduced that I want to briefly mention here:

1. To succeed at a job, it has to play to your strengths and/or allow you to alter it so that it does so; otherwise the job will drain you while you try to excel at something you're not programmed to be good at.
2. Your strengths are where you can contribute the most so it's best to focus on them as opposed to trying to be good at everything.
3. Everyone will put their own spin on tasks based on their strengths and this is a good thing.

If you don't know what your strengths are, I recommend you take this or some other self-assessment test so that this knowledge can inform your decisions. If you do know what you're good at, then hold on to that even when things are difficult because only when you utilize your strengths can you really shine, excel--and be happy.

Quality

One of my recent bosses, who came to publishing via another industry, once commented that for a business that talks so much about quality, it's surprising how ill-defined and controlled it is. With the recent errors abounding in e-books, I hate to admit that I agree with her.

Yes, publishing is no longer an old boy’s club where the wealthy enter it for the prestige—or for something to do—and yes, whether for profit or non-profit, it is a business and needs to make money. But what is a publisher’s core value and what value do we provide our customers and authors if quality means so little to us?

Here’s what got me thinking about this:

• Just this week a romance author had to publicly apologize for a blatant and embarrassing typo in her e-book. You can read her post here, but basically “shifted” became “shitted.”
• PIA (Publishing Innovations Awards) have announced a new quality seal of approval for e-books: QED (quality, excellence, design).  Since when do we need an award to ensure quality and that we’re doing our jobs?

And here are just a sampling of posts/articles that I came up by typing “ebooks” and “errors” into my Google search:

• http://americaneditor.wordpress.com/2010/09/15/the-problem-is-publishers-dont-read-ebooks/
• http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2010/09/16/in-the-face-ebook-errors-4/
• http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/technology/shanerichmond/100005238/ebook-publishers-must-do-more-to-eliminate-annoying-errors/
• http://publishingperspectives.com/2011/08/error-free-ebooks/

I’ll stop now, but you get the picture.

So how can publishers keep costs down without it being at the expense of quality?

1. First and foremost, every manuscript needs both copyediting and proofreading, and this should be done professionally. Writing, editing, and proofreading are distinct skill sets and just because one can do one does not mean that one can do the other well.  And even if you are one of the rare few who can, it’s a good rule of thumb to have a second fresh set of eyes to review anything you’ve written. Even professional copyeditors and proofreaders know to put things aside and go back to it with a fresh perspective.
2. Every time you change formats, a quick proofread is necessary: whether you go from hardcover to paperback or from paperback to e-book, errors are bound to happen when words reflow. It's far better for your future sales and reputation if you, the publisher--and not the author or customer--catch the mistakes. Think how quickly mistakes can be publicized today? Between tweeting, blogs, and even social media now built into e-books, the word will be out before you know it.
3. Build copyediting and proofreading into every P&L. Consider these required, non-negotiable costs of doing quality business and protecting your core values and brand.
4. Reevaluate other costs to streamline workflows, eliminate redundancies, and remove activities which do not add to your core value or business.

Maybe the QED award is necessary to remind publishers that they are meant to be gatekeepers of a higher-standard.

Repetition

Although repetition is a good thing when it comes to education and positive feedback, it is a bad thing when it come to work and productivity.

So let's do an exercise together. Is there something you find yourself doing over and over again at work? If not, keep reading so that you can help your neighbor or spouse; if yes, answer these questions with that task in mind.

1. What is the purpose of this task? (This is to ensure it's not just busy work and must be done.)
2. Are you the best person to do this task? (This assumes you are in the position to either delegate this to others and/or discuss a reassignment with your boss.)
3. Can any steps be automated? Can any steps be batched? 
4. Can parts of this task be shared or even left out, without decreasing its value?

Let me share two examples with you, to better illustrate what I'm getting at. Please note that for both these examples, they were determined to be of value and could not be reassigned.

Two jobs back, there was a report I had to run for my boss every two weeks, and she was a stickler for formatting. Since our database outputted ugly Excel reports, I would spend a lot of time centering, bolding, etc. After a few weeks, this drove me so crazy that I took the time to record a macro. Thereafter, Alt-A would do four formatting steps in one simple stroke. It took me a few tries to get the macro nice and tight, but it was well worth it.

Another example, at that same job, were the forms my staff had to fill out for each project. Ideally these forms would have been outputted from our database, with all the project data already there, but this unfortunately was not possible at that point. I therefore suggested a master Excel grid, with the shared project data on the first tab and carried over to the remaining tabs where new information was to be filled in. (Although many thought this was a great idea, they felt it would be too complicated and another approach was taken).

Neither of these examples require a degree in rocket science, nor is my approach the only solution to removing the inefficiency inherent in these repetitions.

So next time you find yourself repeating steps, stop and think it through--or even talk it through with your boss or peers--and then put that extra "found" time to good use.

Migrating to Digital Publishing? The Six Key Questions to Ask

(The following article first appeared in Publishing Perspectives.)

The publishing industry is not generally known for being agile or quick to change, yet it is facing one of its biggest times of change probably since the invention of the printing press. At the heart of this is the migration to digital.

Prior to this migration, a time-tested process and structure existed for getting books printed: from acquisition, to copyedit, to typesetting, to author review and proofreading, to print. Although hiccups occurred and no two companies had the exact same workflow, the foundations were the same and ensured quality products got released in expected timeframes.

With digital—whether it’s online or e-book, digital only or both print and digital—publishers are now faced with more questions than answers as to how to incorporate the new with the old. Below I provide a framework for those questions, using the traditional 6 Ws: why, who, what, when, which, and where.

Why?

Of the six questions, this is the easiest to answer. No publisher can afford to ignore the digital any longer:  the tipping point has come and gone; more and more e-books and e-readers are being sold weekly; and authors will begin demanding this, if they haven’t already. And traditional publishers need to offer all things digital to compete with the emerging “digital publishers.”

Who?

Even prior to the migration to digital, publishers would do one of two things to keep costs down: outsource as much as possible, keeping headcount down, or the reverse, which is hire talent to keep all services and costs internal. With digital, publishers have to make this decision anew. Should they invest in new talent from other industries (e.g., technology) or educating existing talent, those who are eager to learn and have a background in publishing and in their culture? Or should they turn to one of the many conversion and content solutions providers that exist in the market?

What?

What exactly is a digital product, or more specifically an e-book? Is it a replica of the print product or something that only starts from there and then adds interactive media? How much new content should be added to the digital product for consumers to choose that over the print product? Are they competing against each other and is there a way to bundle them? And what is actually a value-ad as opposed to bells-and-whistles that are more of a distracter and deterrent? Also, should publishers focus on frontlist alone or backlist too? How much of either or both?

And what should the price be for this digital product? If it’s a replica of the print, should it be cheaper given that there are no PPB (paper, printing, and binding) costs? Is this a reason to add new and/or interactive content to justify increased price points?

When?

Whatever the ultimate digital product, when should it be prepared and released? Should the publisher work in an xml-first environment and then from there publish across platforms, either simultaneously or at whatever schedule decided on? Is there a reason to do print first and then digital next? How long can a publisher hold off on releasing an e-book so as not to affect print sales?

Part of this question, and also continuation of the “who” and “what” question, is quality control. In the current process, we have production editors, copyeditors, and proofreaders, all with defined skills and quality checks they are responsible for. In this new digital workflow, publishers need to decide who is responsible for digital QC (internal vs external staff), what are they responsible for (proofreading the entire text to ensure conversion didn’t introduce errors or just flipping through pages on e-readers to ensure no major formatting problems were introduced), and when is this to be done (hopefully prior to release and not after complaints come in).

Which?

Which formats will e-books be made available in and which e-readers will they be targeting? Currently you can probably focus on a few (Kindle, Nook, and Sony) but many more are emerging.  Which will you continue to focus on or will you try to be accessible to all?

Where?

First off, where should digital and other content be stored? Hopefully a CMS (content management system) of some sort exists and can act as both an archive and an enabler of updates and reprints. If one does not exist, an archive of some sort—whether on a network drive, in the cloud, or via a third-party provider—is vital.

And where are these digital products sold through? Does the publisher have an e-commerce branch of their website with the technical support needed to sell their own e-books? Do they not want to bother and instead use distributors? Someone will need to ensure that the proper formats, metadata, and uploads are prepared for each of these distributors and updated as necessary.

As the above demonstrates, there is a lot for the publisher to consider before it can migrate to digital but to be done right, these questions and others need to be thought through before investments are made.

Motivation and Corporate Culture

Have you ever had to rank attributes in the order they're most important to you? This may have been for self-assessment purposes or to prepare for an annual review, and each company's version is probably almost interchangeable.

Do you remember what was most important for you? Is that still the case? I'm a big proponent of any activity that helps you know yourself better, since succeeding at work and life will depend on this.

As many have heard me say, and as I know has come up in previous blog posts, to succeed and be happy at work, the job has to play to your strengths. But that is unfortunately not enough. Imagine a brilliant innovator that needs collaboration and mistakenly finds himself at a company where the culture is to work independently and quietly, and where bouncing ideas off each other is frowned upon. Do you think he'll be able to succeed even if the job itself plays to his strengths? How about the manager who is good at motivating staff and making things happen, but needs authority and autonomy to work at her best. Will she succeed with a micromanager?

How do you make sure you end up with a good corporate/team fit in addition to a job that plays to your strengths? I actually think that companies, as part of pre-screening potential employees, should give them a self-assessment. It is in the company's best interest to ensure employees will be happy and productive. I just read yesterday that Zappos, after putting all new hires through a four-week training program, offers them a $3000 bonus to quit. A small percentage actually take them up on this offer and they consider the ROI well worth it since they only want employees who really want to be there.

If HR won't pre-screen for good fit, it's up to the hiring manager and employee. For the manager, I would give the employee the self-assessment quiz as soon as they walk in your door and explain that it's to see if the two of you would make a good team. If you think this is too harsh, then ask leading questions; for example:

1. What three adjectives best describe you?
2. What type of manager have you worked best with? Worst with? Why?
3. What kind of environment brings out the best in you? Worst in you?
4. Would previous managers or peers disagree with any of this? Why?

Consider these examples, but cater the questions to the level you're hiring for, what matters most to you, and to what you need most in a direct report.

For the potential employee, Scott Ginsberg wrote a great article called "7 Interview Questions to Uncover Corporate Culture" for theLadders.com. Since that link won't work if you don't have a Ladders account, I've copied and pasted the questions below:

1. If you could describe your corporate culture in three words, what would you say?
2. If you were going to give public tours of this company, what stops would the guide make?
3. If the local paper were going to run a four-page article about your company's culture, what would be impossible not to include?
4. What's the best part about working in this environment that I won't be able to see from just a walk around the office?
5. What are the most common complaints employees make about your company culture?
6. May I speak with a few of your veteran employees or new hires?
7. What do you love best about the culture here?

 As they say, it takes a village, so make sure it's the right village for you so that you're motivated to do your best--for yourself and the village.

Know Thyself

Growing up and beyond, we've all gotten conflicting career advise. The two extreme camps seem to be to make a career out of what you love or to make a career out of what makes money or sense, regardless of whether you hate it or not. My preference is somewhere in between.

Making a living doing what you love sounds great, but what if--

1. you're not good at what you love?
2. there's no way of making a living doing it?
3. you grow to hate what you previously loved since it's now your work?

Since we do spend a lot of time at work, I think it's important not to hate your job, and if possible, actually derive happiness or enjoyment from it. The best way to do this is by getting a job that plays to your strengths. By actually doing something you're good at, you're able to do a good job; get recognized and/or promoted; and have a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction at the end of the day. To me that translates into happiness.

And chances are, your strengths can be applied to various jobs and industries, so find one that you either believe in, are interested in, or that appeals to you for whatever reason.

Then recharge after hours by doing what you love.