According to the research, coronavirus has exacerbated existing industry challenges, including transitioning to digital and removing supply chain barriers. Most publishers said they will have to “evolve” their digital roadmaps beyond offering e-books, an area where academic and educational publishers’ progress was more advanced than trade houses. The report said Covid had been a “substantive realit check”, exposing areas where publishing has been slow to evolve, stating: “What the pandemic highlights is that existing barriers to progres- sion need to be broken down and quickly; streaming services have boomed during the pandemic and consumers are forever looking for discoverable and accessible content.” It also found that “50% of publishers have found their models and product plans to be standing up well, while others have found that a move to digital is a strategy they need to define beter and quickly move towards. Customers have more choice... than ever before, much of it from Open Access resources and other free sources. As the market becomes more saturated, compe- tition for publishers increases. In addition, the purchasing power of customers is stronger than before the pandemic, and this really does become a pivot point where publishers need to define and execute their strategies far more effectively in order to meet the changing demands of their customers.” Publishers told Maverick vital changes include having more robust IT infrastructures and a swiſter adoption of their digital


SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITY TEXTBOOK SPEND IS EXPECTED TO DROP POST-COVID


strategies. As one person told the consultancy: “We need to be quicker to get digital products to market. Our production and marketing processes require a lot of change in order for us to be nimbler and respond more quickly to customer demands. Publishing cycles are long and difficult to pivot—that has to change.” The report suggests a culture change might see publishers cast themselves more as “creators of content and firms should use the current period to engage more closely with their customers to obtain data that might help them transition and evolve their digital strategies.... Now is the time to innovate and diversify,” it says. “Those publishers who do adapt could well use this period of time as an opportunit to grow and strengthen their business.” On other issues, the majorit of publishers said there was a need to re-think office space as the move to home working had worked well for the most part, though there were reports of decreased productivit and declines in staff wellbeing. Brinton said the idea of


repurposing office space, much of which was currently lying empt, had been a common theme. He said: “The wonderful thing about the publishing industry is its resilience. A lot of [its] freelances work from home, a lot of publish- ers have already put in place some measure of flexible working. I think it’s very well positioned as an industry to benefit from that.” Publishers told Maverick they saw an initial drop-off in sales at the start of lockdown, partly due to supply chain challenges. But things improved as time went on, particularly for trade publishers, who saw sales spikes and year-on- year increases. Publishers with a largely digital product range saw an increase in sales, though for almost all firms, digital sales did not make up the shortfall from lost print revenues.


Some firms could see revenue gaps of up to 35% this year, leading to tightening of


TheBookseller.com


89%


Of respondents said they would find working groups chaired by trade associations useful


45%


Of publishers are concerned by an increase in Open Access


budgets and potentially impact- ing staffing. Companies spoke of concerns that they may have to make redundancies once the government’s furlough scheme comes to an end, although the report noted it was “not a certaint by any means”. More pessimistically, some viewed furloughed positions as “redun- dancy in waiting”. Brinton said trade publishers appeared more optimistic about turning things around and keeping staff than their academic peers.


“Working together” The report’s main recommenda- tion is for trade associations to form working groups where publishers can share experi- ences and challenges that they are facing, and present action plans. That would include: reviewing and responding to the impact of changes in universit models; looking at supply chain constraints and Amazon deprior- itising books during the peak of lockdown; ways to support staff; and raising awareness of how to accelerate digital transformation. Brinton said: “Trade associa- tions can come together in vari- ous sectors. They can get involved with issues around pricing models, disaster recovery plan- ning, learning and development, returning to work, and building a business communit around the issues that emerged in this report. So I think they have a role to play. I think that’s why ALPSP and the PA were so supportive. They wanted to know how the


pandemic had impacted their members, and I think they’re in a very great place within the industry to help.”


Now is the time to innovate and diversify. Those publishers who do adapt could well use this period of time as an opportunity to grow and strengthen Report finding


Also suggested are


support for business recovery planning, plans to ensure staff have the right skills for digital transition, a review of supply chains and logistics, and systems architecture reviews to ensure publishers move away from ageing systems and possess the right tools to do their jobs. The report concludes: “What is clear (during the course of the research) is that the UK publish- ing industry uniting and working together can only be a good thing. If the one thing to result from this research is that trade associations in the UK join forces to manage working groups, bringing publishers together to collectively solve industry problems, then it will have been worth the time and effort. Any other recom- mendations and actions that are progressed will be a bonus.” Wayne Sime, c.e.o. of ALPSP said: “ALPSP was pleased to support this research from its inception. The impact of Covid-19 has been unprecedented, and the need for our members to respond both rapidly and effectively to the pandemic required them to quickly adapt their business models to continue delivering qualit content. This report captures the UK publishing industry’s initial reactions to the impact of the virus, and is intended to assist individual publishers by refining their short to medium-term strategies.”


09


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40