What is Driving the Publishing Business this Year – 2016 Technology Trends in Publishing!

If 2016 is nominating a jargon entry to be set into formal usage in dictionaries it is bound to be ‘disruptive tech’. Needless to say that the flood of articles talking about disruptive technology has got to each one of us in some way or the other and the prospects just keep getting interesting by the minute. From ready-to-use technology platforms that do everything, you could possibly imagine, to mobile applications that tackle problem we have and even the ones we don’t, the wave of technological advancement seems to be creating a very upbeat ripple indeed.

As technology enters more areas previously dominated by traditional processes it brings about a positive disruption in the way businesses function. But the flip side, at least for those businesses that couldn’t cope with the change, looks quite grave. However, looking at one of the oldest extant industries from the pre-technology era – publishing, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

The publishing industry has known to have dramatically evolved in keeping with the brisk advancements in technology, in fact being hailed as one of the industries shaping up the evolution of technology. But what is it that matters when it comes to technology in the publishing domain?

Here are some of the technology trends that are currently en vogue in the publishing industry!

#1 The rise of social publishing
While the trend of social publishing has been around for a while now, Facebook’s recent announcement of Instant Articles took this to a whole new level. Picking up from individual publishers looking to monetize their content, avenues like Facebook’s Instant Articles have brought the social publishing trend to the big names of the industry. And the likes of Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Times, Mic, and even Springer Business Media are keenly eyeing the social publishing space.

#2 Static to dynamic, text to video – The evolution of scholarly content and scientific journals
Five years ago, if we spoke about accessing scholarly content, especially the more scientific type, we’d expect to see static textual content that was the handiwork of a researcher who had clocked in the extra hours in churning out journal worthy material that added value to readers. But as the consumers of content evolve, static content and boring text simply don’t cut it anymore. Publishers in the most unassuming fields of publishing such as mathematics and technology are bringing dynamic and ever-evolving content to their online platforms and are taking to video content like fish to water. Not only is this a fast catching trend in the publishing business, but it is also one that is here to stay.

#3 Collaborative Content -Incorporating published STM content into MOOCs
For years, publishers in the STM domain have kept access to published content controlled, but that is changing in the online world these days. As the popularity and demand for MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) increases, many publishers in the STM publishing space are integrating their publishing content with open course providers like Coursera.

#4 Mobile-only publishing – The continuing rise of ‘anywhere everywhere access to content’
Led by B2C brands pushing out content to their end-users, the wave of mobile-only publishing or publishing content especially for viewing on mobile devices has picked up pace across the publishing spectrum. Augmented by the rise of in-app purchases in comparison to browser purchases, many publishers are looking at advertising revenues as a secondary source of income and jumping onto the mobile-only or app-based publishing trend.

Seeing the rise of content aggregators that cater specifically to exclusive mobile content, this trend looks like it is here for the long haul!

#5 Crowdsourced and iterative publishing – Write publish edit repeat!
In an age of consumer dictated market dynamics, the publishing industry has finally picked pace with giving the consumers of published content what they really want. While the trend hasn’t yet caught up with STM publishing, the industry, in general, has been seeing a lot of publishers involving readers in the process of deciding what kind of content gets published in books and even journals. This so-called model of crowdsourcing content helps publishers guarantee revenues on content, which is always a great thing to do. Additionally, some publishers, more so individuals, are leveraging collaborative online platforms to iteratively develop content, pretty much like software. Why this trend is catching up, is because the readers have a say in the content creation process from the start to the end and publishers are able to engage them in a much better way since they are more involved in shaping up the final product.

As these technology trends evolve over time and shape how things work in the publishing industry, we are sitting on the cusp of highly exciting times where publishers and users will both be able to achieve a lot more through research and engaging content. To know more about these and more technology trends that are currently relevant to the publishing context, join us at NEC Software Solutions India’s Annual Publishing Conference – Publishing in a Fragmented World.

Publishing in a Fragmented World – NEC Software Solutions India’s Annual Publishing Conference

NEC Software Solutions India’s Annual Publishing Conference is the only one of its kind platform for technology experts in the publishing space to come together in order to discuss how technology is shaping the world of publishing. In line with the theme of disruptive technology, the 4th Annual Publishing Conference to be held in London on the 8th of November is titled ‘Publishing in a Fragmented World’.

The Annual Conference will bring together publishing technology leaders from major publishing companies across the globe and is an excellent opportunity to learn about how the technology landscape in the publishing industry has evolved. Speakers at the conference will touch upon the most common technical issues that publishers face and will provide attendees with an insight as to how these issues can be overcome.

More information about the event is available on the event website.