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Book It!

Book It! . Maximize Your Association’s Book Publishing Program Teresa Brinati Society of American Archivists Shaun Halloran American Society of Civil Engineers Joe Vallina American Nurses Association.

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Book It!

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  1. Book It! Maximize Your Association’s Book Publishing Program Teresa BrinatiSociety of American Archivists Shaun HalloranAmerican Society of Civil Engineers Joe Vallina American Nurses Association

  2. Content Is KingTeresa Brinati | Director of Publishing Society of American Archivists | tbrinati@archivists.org Background • Society of American Archivists • Founded in 1936 • Office in Chicago • 6,100 members • Budget of $2.5 million (book sales contribute 15%) • 11 FTEs (including 2 in Publications) & 1 PTE • 3 paid member appointments (PT offsite) —Publications Editor (books), Journal Editor, Listserv Moderator

  3. What’s an Archivist? • Archivists are professionals who acquire, manage, and preserve permanently valuable records — e.g., correspondence, reports, minutes, photographs, films, sound recordings, email, websites, digital images — of people, businesses, and government. These records are kept in archives because they have continuing value to the creating agency and to other potential users, like researchers and the public.

  4. Audience / Customer Profile • Members • Individual practitioners • Educators • Students and new professionals • Seasoned pros • Allied pros • Nonmembers • University bookstores • “Accidental” archivists • Master’s degree or PhD • Library & Info Science • Archives Administration • History • Other Humanities • IT

  5. Scope of Publishing Program • Books (3 to 5 per year) • Modules, Case Studies, Samplers (5 to 10 per year) • Semi-annual Journal (76 years old) • Bimonthly Magazine (45 years old) • Biweekly e-Newsletter • Content-rich Website • Social Media (Blog, FB, Twitter, LinkedIn)

  6. Guiding Principle: Foster a Culture of Publishing • Cultivateinfrastructure, content, authors • Integrate content across publishing outlets and organizational departments • Perpetuate the program • Celebrate authorship and service • SELLabrate products

  7. Cultivate Qualityin your infrastructure, process, output, and volunteers • Publications Board • Proposal Review & Acceptance/Rejection • Editorial Process • Design & Production • Marketing & Sales • Overall Publishing Experience

  8. Cultivate Contributions Origins: • Members • Component groups • Annual Meeting sessions • Requests for proposals • Over-the-transom Types: • Theoretical writings about the field • Research • Standards and best practice • Practical, how-to manuals • Perspectives • Case studies • Other . . .

  9. “Holistic” Approach • Books (40,000‒70,000 words) • Modules (10,000‒20,000 words) • Journal article (5,000 words) • Book Reviews(length varies) • Magazine article (750‒1,500 words) • Case Study(2,500 words) • Multiplatform publishing • Print • eBooks • Web

  10. Integrate Across Departments • Publishing • Education • Annual Meeting

  11. Perpetuate the Species! • Hold a forum for prospective authors during Annual Meeting or host a webinar • Layout “steps” for contributing content so new voices are welcomed and repeat contributors nurtured • Post guidelines for publishing assorted content

  12. Fostering the Culture Authors as Evangelists . . . • Testimonials • Blog posts and magazine articles • Board service • External Reviewer

  13. Celebrate! • Send handwritten thank you notes and involve executive director and president • Invite all authors from preceding year to tribute during Annual Meeting • Awards for writing

  14. Book Signings &Signed Books • Host a book signing event during your Annual Meeting • Showcase a variety of authors in a convivial atmosphere • Make sure to have “decoys” • Signed books are a way to connect authors with program and readership • Market books beyond launch

  15. Engage Members • Organize an exclusive reading group event featuring an advance copy of a forthcoming book chapter (or journal article or magazine piece). • Hold a contest around a book’s topic. Give the book as the prize. • Be whimsical. Sponsor a haiku contest! Give “book bucks” or book coupons as the prize. Haiku Winner Hey, handsome stranger Saw your pic in the archives Too bad you’re dead now –Rebecca Goldman

  16. Teresa Brinati Director of Publishing | Society of American Archivists tbrinati@archivists.org | 312.606.0722 LinkedIn: Teresa Brinati Thank You!

  17. Demystifying XML Production Shaun Halloran Senior Manager, Production American Society of Civil Engineers

  18. About ASCE • Founded in 1852 • 140,000 members • 2 offices in Washington, DC metro area • 250 employees; 30 in Publications Dept. • ASCE Library online contains: • 300 E-books • 370 Proceedings (42,000 articles) • 65,000 Journal articles

  19. What is XML? • XML = eXtensible Markup Language • Set of tags used to identify content within a document • Allows users to enforce rules within a document (order of sections, number of elements, etc.) • Brings order to chaos (in theory)

  20. What does XML do? • Captures the content of a document and identifies it • Separates content from style • Ensures all necessary content is present • Allows outside parsers to validate the integrity of the document

  21. Human Readable vs. Machine Readable Word XML

  22. Benefits of XML Production • Source content can be reused for multiple outputs (print, online, etc.) • Built-in metadata • Consistent output • Files are portable – all major vendors are capable of working with XML • Easy conversion to other formats (epub, HTML, etc.)

  23. Types of XML Production • XML First: • Manuscript is converted to XML early in production, typically just before or just after copyediting • All composition work performed on one master file • XML Out: • XML is derived from the final product • Users continue to work with the tools they are already familiar with

  24. XML First vs. XML Out • XML First requires more training and commitment, but is more efficient given the right tools • XML Out is a lower barrier to entry, but forces users to maintain multiple master files (which could lead to problems)

  25. Which is Right for You? • I have a highly regimented workflow and good vendor support: • I have highly stylized content and limited support options: XML First XML Out

  26. Additional Considerations • Journals and traditional books respond well to an XML First workflow • Highly stylized books may work better in an XML Out workflow • Because XML separates content from style, certain books may be difficult to work with in an XML First scenario

  27. Terminology • DTD = Document Type Definition • Defines what can and cannot exist within a document • CSS = Cascading Style Sheets • Transforms the XML into stylized, human-readable output • Schematron • Performs external XML validation

  28. Select a DTD • Numerous DTDs available: • JATS/BITS/NLM/NCBI • DocBook • And lots more… • Ensure that your compositor has experience with your selection • Your online vendor may not support the DTD you prefer (and may require the use of a specific DTD)

  29. Tools You’ll Need • XML Editor • Oxygen, XMLSpy (individual) • PTC Arbortext (corporate) • Composition software • InDesign (individual, poor math support) • 3B2 (corporate, steep learning curve) • Optional: • MathML Editor (MathType, MathFlow) • Content Management System

  30. Learn From the Past… • Many organizations moved journals to an electronic/XML workflow first • There are more similarities between journal and book production than you might expect • Similar tagging model when using related DTDs (e.g., JATS and BITS) • Copyediting/composition is universal

  31. …But Don’t Live in It • Do not replicate your existing workflow verbatim • Take advantage of electronic efficiencies (you can save some serious money!) • Converting to an XML production workflow is an excellent excuse to streamline multiple processes

  32. Don’t Get Nervous • You don’t need to be a tagging expert to manage an XML production workflow (but knowledge is power) • Rely on colleagues and the community for initial support • Don’t believe everything your vendors tell you

  33. Small Organizations: Start Small • Develop an archive of XML content using an XML-Out workflow • Convert existing titles first to test procedures without delaying content • Use parsing tools to validate the XML content and provide feedback to editors and vendors • Experiment with new style sheets to transform your archive into new products

  34. Larger Organizations: Proceed with Caution • Test your new workflow on a single live title • Plan for twice as much time as you think you’ll need • Establish a transition schedule to move all production to an XML workflow, and stick to it • Devote time to participate in the larger XML community

  35. Resources • Journal Article Tag Suite: http://jats.nlm.nih.gov/index.html • Book Interchange Tag Suite:http://jats.nlm.nih.gov/extensions/bits/ • JATS List: http://www.mulberrytech.com/JATS/JATS-List/index.html • Validation Tools: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/pub/validation/

  36. Contact Information Shaun Halloran Senior Manager, Production ASCE P: 703-295-6215 E: shalloran@asce.org LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/shaun-halloran/7a/209/243/

  37. The Business of Association Books Let’s make some money! Joe Vallina, MSM Publisher, American Nurses Assn.

  38. About the American Nurses Assn. • ANA advances the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Congress and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the general public. • 120,000 members • Publishing is the #3 revenue driver for the organization • Pubs staff comprises • Publisher • Editor/Project Mgr. • Sales Specialist • Fulfillment/CSR specialist

  39. The golden rule: Just because you’re a nonprofit doesn’t mean you can lose money. • Serve the mission! If you cost your organization $$$ you are not serving the mission, you’re hurting it! • Remember that an association publishing house should not be a board member vanity press • Use analysis to make sound business decisions on which books to publish

  40. You are not there to publish pet projects, you’re there to earn revenue to support the mission. Many times, publishers are pressured to produce books that are never going to make money, because an important donor or board member or CEO has a pet project. RESIST THIS! But how?

  41. The Business Case: Analysis is your friend • The business case should outline • Business concept/executive summary • Environmental trends/competitor analysis • Marketing analysis • Cost/profit analysis • Timing/schedule • Potential obstacles to implementation

  42. The Business Concept/Executive Summary • This component should be your “elevator pitch” for the book • If you can’t describe the book in a couple of paragraphs, you may have a subject that is too broad to appeal to a targeted audience

  43. Environmental trends/competitor analysis • How many books on the subject are out there? Ideally, you want a few, but not too many as to have a saturated market • Search for and list all competing titles, and outline at least the following: • Title • Publisher (could you partner?) • Authors (better known than yours?) • Date published (this tells you where in the book’s life cycle it sits) • Price (this helps you determine the price point for your own book)

  44. Marketing analysis • Outline all of your avenues to market the book here • What unique ways can you use to market? • Book signings • Author speaking engagements • Ads (online/print/other) • Blasts • Social Media

  45. Cost/profit Analysis • This is the most important consideration: Will the book be reasonably expected to make money? • Project your total expenses and determine a break-even point (use excel or another program) • Given the size of your target audience, what is a reasonable penetration target? Does this meet your goal? Be brutally honest here.

  46. Timing • Outline a rough timeline for the project • This doesn’t have to be down to the day, you are just looking for a rough guide at this point

  47. Potential obstacles to implementation • Make a list of all the things you could reasonably expect to go wrong and delay or derail the project • Note that if this list becomes too long it is a red flag that the project might not be ready for prime time

  48. Tailor your recommendations using the business case tool • Explore all the different production options to reduce expenses and make the project work financially • Not all projects will succeed, but you will cover your bases and increase your success rate dramatically if you do critical business analysis for EVERY project • Never forget that publishing, even nonprofit publishing, is a business

  49. The big takeaway Remember: You don’t have to make a lot of money on every project* if you are supporting the mission; but losing money on any project hurts the mission! *You should make a lot of money on every project!

  50. Good luck and thank you! Joe Vallina, MSM 301-628-5118 JoeVallina@gmail.com Joseph.Vallina@ana.org Twitter: @JoeVallina Linkedin: Joe Vallina, MSM

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