Subscription services for digital media are here to stay. What are the current business models? How will they disrupt existing sales channels? What are the key issues for book publishers as they wrestle with the opportunities and drawbacks of these new services? Presented at the 2014 Making Information Pay conference on May 29th in New York City.

1. Digital Books & the New
Subscription Economy
Ted Hill, THA Consulting
May 2014 - NYC
1

2. Introduction

3. Introduction
Will we see a
subscription economy
for digital books?

4. Introduction
 Focus on:
 Consumer fiction & non-fiction
 Scholarly monographs
 Professional & technical reference
 Higher Ed textbooks

5. Introduction
 Extensive research
 Broad review of current models for digital media
 50+ interviews with industry stakeholders
 Survey of BISG and PCG members
 Ongoing coverage in the press

6. Introduction
Our findings…

7. Introduction
They’re here

8. Introduction
Or, they’re near

9. Introduction
Get used to it!

10. Survey Highlights

11. Survey Highlights
80% see subscriptions
as inevitable

12. Survey Highlights
84% see a positive
impact in next 5 years

13. Survey Highlights
86% of scholarly
presses work with
aggregators

14. Survey Highlights
65% of professional
publishers sell direct

15. Survey Highlights
33% of textbook
publishers see
very significant revenue
today

16. Survey Highlights
(Only 7% of trade
publishers do)

17. Dominant Models

18. Dominant Subscription Models
Purchase for
Perpetual Use

19. Dominant Subscription Models
Rentals, Pay-per-Use
& Short Term Loan

20. Dominant Subscription Models
Paywall Access

21. Dominant Subscription Models
Freemium &
Open Access

22. Dominant Subscription Models
“The market drives the
model”

23. Dominant Subscription Models
Selection
Purchase
Use
Market drivers:

24. Dominant Subscription Models
 Selection
 Who chooses?
 How important is the breadth and depth of the
collection?
 Purchase
 Is the money spent by the reader or someone else?
 Is there competition from lower-priced alternatives?
 Use:
 Does the reader need whole works, or just parts?
 Is it important to “own” the digital works or have long
term access?

25. Dominant Subscription Models
Access vs Ownership
Price Sensitivity
Breadth vs Depth
Additional factors:

26. Dominant Subscription Models

27. Dominant Subscription Models
“The market drives the
model”

28. Four Markets

29. Consumer Publishers
 Amazon Prime/KOLL, Audible have been with us
for a long time
 Some publishers already in the game
 All publishers know they must reach digital
readers who subscribe to other forms of digital
media
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30. Consumer Publishers
Impact of “Netflix” model

31. Scholarly Presses
 Slower adoption of ebooks
 Bigger players already selling direct access to
collections
 Established and newer aggregators are offering
more choices to librarians

32. Scholarly Presses
Library budget process

33. Professional Publishers
 Early migration of database reference titles
 Many have tradition of DTC marketing
 How to meet the changing needs of information
workers?

34. Professional Publishers
Integration into workflow

35. Higher Ed Textbooks
 Student preferences for print over digital are at a
tipping point
 Rentals (digital & print) are a major part of the
business today
 For many product lines, publishers see
Integrated Learning Systems as the future of
their business

36. Higher Ed Publishers
Migration to learning
platforms

37. Open Issues

38. Open Issues
Customer & publisher
acceptance

39. Open Issues
Degradation of high
value markets

40. Open Issues
Will emerging channels
increase revenues?

41. Open Issues
Direct-to-consumer
vs
3rd party aggregators

43. For more information…
On Sale June 2014
Buy your copy today at:
BISG.org

44. Thanks!
ted@THAconsulting.com