Turning newspapers into ebooks: Part 1

ebook 저널리즘이 본격적으로 사업화되고 있음을 알 수 있다. 

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Turning newspapers into ebooks: Part 1

by Simon Collinson on January 30, 2013

Embracing the latest digital strategy in news

Even with the transition to digital, newspapers still offer the world the first draft of history. But with the digital revolution, many news organizations are struggling to find ways to extract the most value from what they do. One solution many organizations are embracing is creating ebooks out of their archives. If you’re a news organization, how and why should you pursue this strategy? Today, we’ll look at the benefits of turning your archives into ebooks, and tomorrow, we’ll outline the process involved.

Rescue content from obscurity

Despite the quality of the reporting, it’s easy for older articles to become trapped in the archives and end up being inaccessible, or too scattered for readers to experience longer narratives coherently. Ebooks offer a flexible way to package your content into a comprehensible format that easily accessible by readers.

Ship with speed and ease

Ebooks allow you to respond to events as they happen and offer your readers deep analysis from a source they trust, often before traditional book publishers have even commissioned related titles. Ease of production also means that scaling issues are minimal: with Vook’s help, The New York Times was able to launch its ebook publishing program with 25 completed titles, just in time for the busy Christmas sales period.

Create deeper connections with subscribers

You already have a readership; ebooks can help shore up their loyalty. Subscribers with interests in particular areas will love having your articles on that topic in one place. You can even give ebooks away for free as a “thank you.”

Expand your reach

It’s not all about your existing readership, though—ebooks allow you to expand your reach globally. This scope can be particularly useful for city or local newspapers and trade journals. Ebooks offer entirely new, lucrative distribution channels, which newspapers with global reputations are well placed to enter.

Trace overarching stories

Papers become known for their great staff reporters, and chances are they’ve explored some topics with great depth and skill over time. Ebooks are your chance to show off this heritage, and introduce your best reporters to new readers.

Enhance your content

Ebooks offer almost limitless options for savvy newspapers seeking to enhance their content. Modern ereaders and tablets often support colour images, video, audio, internal bookmarks, and external hyperlinks. Interactive technologies like WeJIT allow you to engage your readers in new ways.

We hope this gives you an idea of the many possibilities ebooks offer for news organizations. Tomorrow, we’ll look at the process of creating ebooks in more detail. If you want to know more about the potential benefits for your organization, sign up on Vook.com to talk to an ebook professional today.