Before Starting an Online Publishing Project

1. If your audience is online now, how are you reaching them with your content?
2. Are you making money yet?
3. What’s your “content imperative”—for example, do you publish time-sensitive, reference, interactive, or customizeable material that could better serve its audience as non-print media?
4. Now that virtually anyone can become a publisher overnight at a vanity press, what is your “value add” as a professional publisher?
5. What is the ideal synergy between your print and online content? (Hint: Think in terms of “new revenue streams” rather than “cannibalization.”)
6. How can you accurately predict expenses for an intangible project that’s never categorically finished; what’s it really going to cost, from initial build to ongoing hosting?
7. Do you have the technology and expertise in-house to bring your project online successfully?
8. How do you maintain control if you don't fully understand the technology?
9. How do you balance the risks and benefits of training individual employees in-house vs. relying on outside contractors?
10. What are your metrics for success? ROI? Knowledge transferral? Maintaining a reputation for accuracy? More competitive content?
11. How can you make sure your online strategy is built to change rapidly and resist obsolescence?
12. To take advantage of the global marketplace now open to you, are you prepared to handle such matters as international contracts, financial transactions, and copyright and security concerns?

With comprehensive working experience in both traditional and online publishing, Open Book Systems has been asking—and answering—questions like these since 1982, helping make our clients’ transition to e-publishing more informed and more profitable. Seeking to remove the surprises, unforeseen costs, and risks that too often accompany any new technology, we adopt transparent and agile strategies to keep our clients informed and in control. We identify and coordinate internal resources, contractors, and OBS staff to fit each unique project. For that’s the beauty of publishing; each project is unique.

For us, one of the benchmarks for success is sharing our knowledge about managing online projects with your staff. We benefit from having well-informed and experienced clients who are ready to build on their successes and turn to the next online project. We can help take the guesswork out of the “here-today-gone-tomorrow” nature of business in the high-tech world, so you can focus on what you do best—identifying, acquiring, nurturing, editing, producing, and bringing to market valuable information and ideas.

ShareThis