Presentation to the Society of Authors 25 April 2007 Medical publishing in the future

1. Presentation to the Society of Authors25 April 2007Medical publishing in the future Alison Langton Books Publishing Director, Medicine Wiley�Blackwell Thankyou for inviting me to talk to you today and it�s a pleasure to talk to so many distinguished authors and editors. I�ve been asked to talk about �Medical publishing in the future� � or �How is medical publishing affected by the global dominance of the internet?� � and of course How this will all affect authors. I�m going to cover. . . Thankyou for inviting me to talk to you today and it�s a pleasure to talk to so many distinguished authors and editors. I�ve been asked to talk about �Medical publishing in the future� � or �How is medical publishing affected by the global dominance of the internet?� � and of course How this will all affect authors. I�m going to cover. . .

2. What am I going to talk about? Background - about my career, and medical publishing up to now Are publishers� terms deteriorating? What is happening to sales of medical books? Books online How will sales of printed books be affected? Is it still good use of authors� time to write books in �the internet age�? Publishing in the internet age � multi-purpose content The future Take the bull by the horns; Kate;s flyer said � publishers� terms are deteriorating�; challengeTake the bull by the horns; Kate;s flyer said � publishers� terms are deteriorating�; challenge

3. Who am I to talk? Worked at OUP Published Oxford Textbook of Medicine, Oxford Handbook of Medicine etc. Moved to Blackwell in 2005 Now work for Wiley�Blackwell with global team of 9 commissioning editors Now to start with some historyNow to start with some history

4. The history of medical book publishing - from �gentlemen�s agreements� to business reality The halcyon days of medical publishing 20 years ago Since then. . . Sales (number of copies) have generally reduced More books; ?competition Publishing has become more commercial Profits are watched closely Acquisitions have become more focused Fewer shorter lunches! Royalties have been reduced Production values ? for textbooks; + colour More market research More professional marketing Development of books online

5. Are publishers� terms deteriorating? 10% of net receipts is standard author royalty Editors may receive lower royalty Higher royalties or rising royalty on established successful books Lower royalties on �trade� books

6. What has happened to book sales? Sales of most classic clinical reference titles have declined from one edition to the next Yamada: Gastroenterology Oxford Textbooks Dewhurst�s Textbook of OB/GYN Some books steady Bain: Blood Cells; Bone Marrow Pathology Medicine At A Glance Some books have continued to flourish and grow sales Oxford Handbooks Practical books for clinicians Postgraduate texts e.g. health economics; CBT

7. What sort of books� sales have declined and why? �Medical reference works� and specialised monographs Users perceive online info available and more current Journal review articles ? (IF) Only a small part of the book is consulted Library budgets cut More competition, e.g. to British �classics� from US competitors Consequences harder to make these books financially successful Print runs cut Revenue lower, so costs inc royalties must be managed

8. What sort of books have survived and thrived? Where print and not online is the best format �How To. . . � books (e.g. Greenhalgh: How to read a paper) Student textbooks & other books for study Distillates of clinical wisdom Course manuals Books for pharma industry Libraries� �core collections� Practical clinical manuals and pocket books (material not covered in journals) When information must be portable On a more positive note. . . Just give TWO examplesOn a more positive note. . . Just give TWO examples

9. Advent of books online Academic e-books commercially available since 1990s 15% of ebook content is now medical/health care Key STM publishers expanding ebook offering Increasing ebook adoption by libraries Digital collections predicted to grow to 35% of book collections in 2007

10. What would your book look like online?

11. Our ESC textbook has an accompanying e-version in both PDF and HTML formats

12. If you go to the contents list, you can click on �View PDF� to see a PDF version

13. Here is a chapter in the PDF version � it looks the same as the printed book

14. The HTML version In the HTML version allows quick navigation through the text by clicking on headings in the right-hand margin HTML also makes it possible to do advanced text searching

16. Blackwell Reference Online. The HTML format allows the user to search across the text of all the books at once � and also present the books in a single format

17. The market for books online Very small - but increasing Global medical print book market estimated at $585m Medical and health care e-book revenue estimated to be ca $5m � i.e. less than 1% of total book market 6% of library budgets spent on e-books � but ? More medical reference content online is databases: Market size of non-journal STM e-databases (including medical reference) = $1.7bn Source: Electronic Publishing Services Ltd Market still in early stages Many unknowns High potential

18. What�s available now? Publishers� own collections Wiley InterScience (3000 titles) Elsevier - Science Direct (4000 titles of which 200 med/neurosci) Taylor & Francis (16,500 titles) Springer - e-Reference (15,000 titles) Aggregator platforms (licensed content) Ovid NetLibrary E-brary Google, Amazon DoctorsNet Books for PDAs/mobile devices e.g. SkyScape One question posed on flyer for this evening was �Are traditional publishers rising to the challenge?� Librarians acquire e-books primarily from aggregators but also from publishersOne question posed on flyer for this evening was �Are traditional publishers rising to the challenge?� Librarians acquire e-books primarily from aggregators but also from publishers

19. Publishing online vs e-licensing Publishing Invest in development, online transactions etc. Control of �look and feel�; branding Royalty usually same % as book Licensing Publisher has less control, but no financial risk Content from many publishers, may be linked Increases exposure; new markets (e.g. consortia) Same author royalty % (but publisher�s receipts lower) Publishers may publish and license Maximises exposure of book and return to publisher and author Test the market; learn about the market Like print books available from publishers� web sites, book stores, Amazon All �feeling the way� Publishers� net receipts lower in licensing deal � say 60% of the licensee�s receiptsAll �feeling the way� Publishers� net receipts lower in licensing deal � say 60% of the licensee�s receipts

20. How much & why are medical e-books used? Blackwell market research significant proportion of libraries worldwide stock some e-books Mixture of publisher and aggregator providers CIBER �SuperBook� market research (UCL, 2007) showed �significant level of interest in and use of e-books� 44% of the community used e-books (all subjects) Textbooks, research monographs, and reference books most popular Perceived advantages of e-books They �add value� (i.e. search and manipulate content) (74% of respondents in Outsell research 2007) 50% say e-books �valuable� or �very valuable� Ease of making copies/printing out selection of pages Perceived as more �up-to-date� than printed edition Round-the-clock availability; remote availability Research looked at students, academics and teachersResearch looked at students, academics and teachers

21. How will sales of our printed books be affected? Intuition says that print sales will be reduced E-books are not seen as mere substitutes for print Addition to print book collection Fewer than one-third buy e-books only as replacements Source: Outsell Inc 2007 Potential �tipping point� for some categories of books Print runs reduce further until print becomes uneconomic ? complete migration to print-to-order and/or online?

22. Is this in fact bad news for authors? New lease of life for content Potential for additional sales/royalties New markets (e.g. hospital libraries; new geographical areas) Usage stats will give completely new information Number of readings ? (as with journals) Refer to given title of talkRefer to given title of talk

23. Is writing books still a good use of your time / expertise? Why do medics write books? Profile/reputation �hidden� benefits To summarise life�s work or clinical experience Course textbooks Royalties Working with editor/publishing company These reasons still valid Always write with the market in mind Consider which books will be useful as e-content or Hard to substitute with e-books/e-sources of information Author and publisher share �vision� to ensure maximum exposure of content I�ve done research which came up with several reasons why medics write books:I�ve done research which came up with several reasons why medics write books:

24. Concept of content management, or multi-purpose content Commission/write �content� rather than books New production processes from print only to digital first from bound tome to database of content Single workflow to generate multiple formats Publish online early cf journal articles Chapters can be (r)e-used, e.g. �spin-offs�, image bank Add abstracts and key words � content �found� more easily Book chapters and journal articles merge Actually name of WB deptActually name of WB dept

25. Online medical content in the future Part of online resource alongside journal content and databases Easy searching; content linked New sales models Buy chapters Rent content for a short time Subscribe to books inc. new editions and updates

26. Web 2.0 Content can be created by community, e.g. wikipedia Could use to create a medical textbook Get comments, contributions and feedback pre-publication Mention IT peopleMention IT people

27. In summary The world of medical-book publishing is changing fast Many benefits of publishing in the internet age And many unknowns Print books will still play an important part