Fear of the Unknown: Digital Transitions

Once upon a time, thinking about educational publishing transitioning to digital offerings was quite intimidating to our business. Where do we start? How do we start? Then, by some possibly divine measure, a former colleague brought business to me from a company already in the throes of making this transition. They needed content for two educational supplemental products--one for the students and one for the instructor. It was an "ah-ha"
moment for me, full of as many clichés as this blog already has! It was even an epiphany! Content, content and more content--but only quality content. Never will the need for quality content go away--the trick for those in the industry who've grown up in the print world is to realize that two things will never change:

1. The need for quality content.
2. The need for an understanding of your markets so you can sell this quality content. 

Now you just need to add learning more about digital delivery. And what did you do when you first entered your markets? You talked to your customers--you visited them, surveyed them, got to know them, asked them what they need, expect and what their students need and expect; you asked about business models and you shared it with the sales representatives. And you make sure that everyone in management knew that you took the time to get this in-depth information for your markets. After that, digital transitions will be based on information, facts and projected numbers you will feel more confident about.

Finally, just like when you first started your career, spend time with those that know digital--we all spent time with production professionals; now we spend it with digital professionals.

Don't fear the unknown; take steps to make it known, because at the end of the day it's still quality content and market knowledge that leads to sales, no matter how slick the delivery. 

Susan

iD8-TripleSSS is Off and Running in 2013!

(image courtesy of Times Union, Albany, NY)

Our New Year started with a flurry--both literally and figuratively. iD8-TripleSSS Media Development is located in the beautiful upstate New York area, and  literally, our winters are full of flurries and less than balmy yet we are made of hearty stock. Figuratively, an exciting new client invited us to submit proposals for creating content and developing several substantial online courses that are due to start imminently. One has already been awarded to us.

These opportunities both surprised and thrilled us, as our journey into digital educational content and course development is now well established. This burst of unexpected new business was so encouraging that it raised our confidence about meeting and possibly exceeding our 2013 goals.  We invite you to talk to us about it!

A new business model, however, has emerged for us to add to our company. It is service as a product and with it increased ways for us to expand. Service may mean creating custom products for specific clients or it may mean providing “everything content” while also starting to offer our own courseware—blended class/online learning will be required in all markets within in two years. This is an exciting initiative for us that creates opportunity that does not compete with our current client base.

We invite you to share in our goals, which include:

1.  Continuing to provide development and content to all our clients in the digital space as well as the print/blended spaces.

2.  Breaking into new markets while acknowledging existing business has evolved almost wholly into digital opportunities.

3.  Meeting face to face with and listening to our clients’ needs, present and future.

4.  Talking with educators and administrators in the K-12 market-space as well as our postsecondary spaces, and trying to determine how best to meet those needs.

5. Relying on our staff, the very heart of our business, to grow and learn with us, as we create the content that will always serve as the fabric of educational publishing.

As the business climate of educational publishing has shifted, so have the opportunities for us to grow. Growth is never something we take lightly, especially in this still-struggling economy coupled with the excitement of digital transition in educational publishing. As an organization based on a service model, we pride ourselves on being  flexible, customer focused and devoted to quality. 

Thank you for trusting us on this educational journey. We are there and ready to take those next steps with you. 

Where Are You In Your Digital Journey?

I think of blogs as informative and contemplative, which brings me today to the ethereal and yet concrete future of educational publishing. It seems many of our clients are in the midst of gigantic internal shifts ranging from how they are organized to how they produce all types of print, digital, and blended products. While it has been going on for a while, the transitions are now going to shift hiring, roles, reporting structures, and the selling conventions of all products.

What has that meant for iD8-TripleSSS Media Development, LLC? We now have an Advisory Board comprised of some of the greatest minds in educational publishing from K-12 and higher education. We have added a Managing Editor, Allison Murray, effective November 1. Her job title, we decided, doesn't need "digital" in it because the shift now means that it's understood that we are ALL doing working in the digital space. We work with a wonderful company, Finder of Fabulous, who is directing our social media strategy, and we've increased our bandwidth for speed, storage, and transmission because we work almost solely in the cloud now. We totally revamped www.id8triplesss.com to be fully reflective of all that is noted above.

It's fascinating to us here at iD8-TripleSSS who started writing content for the digital space five years ago in small doses and then three years ago in large doses to now being a leader in providing digital content. Today, we are confident in not only writing the content but also building the product as needed—ranging from courseware to curriculum.

What does that mean for products and how students view them? We are working on two App products designed for the iPad-type tablets (the big iPads but I'm sure it'll be for the smaller one, too, now). Students are getting annoyed if their texts are not available online, even if they bought the print version. Students are getting annoyed by carrying large textbooks and would rather get them online--and will pay for them in an online version just to not carry them. This alone will drive what teachers and professors advocate for their students, along with price. This has led to our working on digital texts, acquiring authors to create digital textbooks, and developing content that fills these needs. And yet, we love our print products just as much!

Open source options are finding their way into our bag of tricks as well as this market continues to form actively and “disruptively.”  We don’t think open source options are disruptive; they are innovative and are changing the way we all view access to content and our expectation of how it’s built.

Join us on this educational digital journey; draw upon our knowledge and excitement; let us bring you forward with us!

Susan