Also read: Top Trends Higher Education Textbook Publishers Must Follow
Technology, while it enables amalgamation of all the aspects of digital publishing, it still misses out on many fronts. While large vendors like Hurix, Aptara, Manipal can enable trade publishers with anything from typesetting to XML tagging to book apps, most of the publishers use the services only for page conversions. For interactive and illustrated eBooks, current standards lack depth. While ePUB3 is still not fully evolved, most of the current standards are not fully suited for fixed layout illustrated eBooks.
Digital content forms an integral part of the eBook future, the evolving technology slows down the acceptance pace. The role of the vendor and platform such as KITABOO becomes crucial in this case, as they not only allow the creation of rich and interactive content but also keep the publisher future-safe, in terms of technological format changes.
Also read: 8 Trends in Education Technology That Will Have A Major Impact
2. Support for Maximum Devices:
Mobile device usage is literally exploding. According to Gartner, global sales of smartphones to end users totals to 408.4 million units in 2018. According to Edison Research, 74% of the 12-17 year olds own a smartphone.
They are the target audience who consume content on their devices. The change in technological landscape is also triggered by the rise of tablets. Apple dominates smartphone usage in the United States and Amazon leads the eReader’s race.
But these statistics create a curious problem for publishers. Which all devices to support? Some 24093 distinct Android devices and handful of iOS devices. Above that what versions of operating systems to support?
Publishers have a huge opportunity to leverage all the available mobile devices to deliver rich and interactive content to their user base. The users, on the other hand, are technology savvy and easily embrace digital content.
The challenge that the publisher faces is to deliver to a maximum range of devices. This can include omnichannel distribution of delivering on your own apps as well as utilizing the existing users of eReaders such as Kindle, Kobo, and Nook to drive sales.
Publishers must choose their distribution channels and devices that they intend to support and work with their technology partner to achieve their goals. KITABOO for instance, not only allows distribution through a publisher’s own app, it also allows the creation of Fixed Layout ePUB3 eBooks, which can be distributed on third-party marketplaces such as Google Play Books, iBooks and even Amazon Kindle.