The publishing industry is never predictable and always in a state of change. Educational publishing is undergoing a significant transformation process. A deep learning practice begins with a clear definition of what constitutes a good result. Ten years ago, traditional publishers controlled the means of book production, distribution and sales.  It was a print-centric world where print books accounted for 99.8% of book sales.  The biggest challenge faced by publishers and aspiring authors alike was access to readers at retail.

Education publishing has embraced digital transformation with open arms. This has led to the rise of e-books, which contribute significantly to the overall revenue. Publishers enjoy greater sell-through rate while maintaining lower production cost and delivery. In addition to a richer digital user experience and improved competence for personalized e-learning solutions and content retention, these benefits have bound publishers to venture into mobile publishing, which offers more interactive content, real time analytics and personalized e-learning.

Some companies are already using digital subscription models and are even experimenting with digital rentals in higher education. Higher Education institutions need to realize that their future lies in reimagining themselves as content companies rather than organizations driven by a single product. According to reports, some students looking to avoid the high cost of new traditional textbooks are turning to digital editions as a cost-saving option. Some educational critics insist that electronic publishing products will make substantial inroads into the K-12 school publishers market.

Publishers with an eLearning assessment platform leverage content and turn it into eLearning experiences. One of the more recent developments in the publishing industry is the advent of e-content. Licensed e-content is proliferating through library catalogues and web portals. If one looks at the usage and production side of e-content, it isn’t only of technological importance but also has implications for both, on a quantitative and qualitative level. A crucial change for the e-content industry also lies in the direction of paying for content.

One concern about the e-books of the future was the matter of standardization. There needs to be a sizable amount of standardization across device platforms. Interest in e-books continues to spread as more institutions and potential users of digital information attempt to put these technologies to good use. The future of e-books will depend on moving away from the concept that an e-book is just a copy of a book in electronic form.

Print books and digital books are almost two distinct businesses with totally different operating models. This should be reassuring for publishers, and, while a book publishing company will never grow at the exponential speeds of Facebook or a traditional technology company, it is still what sets them apart. It’s an industry about deep engagement and not quick growth.

Digital education opens up a whole new world of possibilities for better learning.  As e-books become increasingly popular, selling physical books on Amazon might make less sense. What we now require are academic books designed so as to be “findable, citable and readable in the long term. The result is educational content that works best for the student, accessible at any time in any place.

Sources:-

1. https://elearningindustry.com/an-e-learning-success-story-within-the-media-and-publishing-market
2. https://www.inc.com/drew-hendricks/why-digital-publishing-is-the-future-of-education.html
3. http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/news/future-of-publishing/
4. https://www.bcg.com/publications/2014/media-entertainment-digital-disruption-of-education-publishing.aspx
5.  Image Credit: Freepik/Pexels