Book Publishing Industry Research Articles

The Influence of Green Strategic Management, Strategic Flexibility, Entrepreneurial Orientation on Sustainable Competitive Advantage, and Moderation of Disruptive Technology in Book Publishers in Central Jawa

Purpose: This study investigates the influence of Green Strategic Management (GSM), Strategic Flexibility (SF), and Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) on Sustainable Competitive Advantage (SCA) in the book publishing industry of Central Java, with Disruptive Technology (DT) acting as a moderating factor. Theoretical Reference: The research is grounded in Resource-Based View (RBV), Dynamic Capabilities Theory, and Disruptive Innovation Theory. These frameworks explore how GSM, SF, and EO create a competitive advantage while disruptive technologies impact their relationships. Method: The study utilized survey data collected from 242 book publishers in Central Java, determined using Slovin's formula for sample size calculation. The data were analyzed using the Partial Least Squares (PLS) method to assess the studied variables' direct and moderating effects. Results and Discussion: The findings indicate that GSM, SF, and EO positively and significantly influence SCA. Furthermore, DT positively moderates the relationship between GSM and EO but does not moderate the relationship between SF and EO. This suggests combining green strategies and entrepreneurial actions can enhance competitive advantages due to technological disruptions. Research Implications: The study suggests that book publishers adopting GSM, SF, and EO will achieve better competitive performance, particularly when leveraging disruptive technologies. The practical implications include guiding publishers in developing adaptive strategies to meet sustainability and technological challenges. Originality/Value: This research provides novel insights into the role of GSM, SF, and EO in sustaining competitive advantage within the context of the rapidly evolving publishing industry and how disruptive technologies can further amplify or limit these effects.

Analysis of Editorial Planning and Insights from International Bestsellers in the Age of Intelligence

In the era of intelligence, the book publishing industry is experiencing new vitality but is also facing challenges such as severe homogenization and increasing competition. Taking the British bestseller The Thursday Murder Club as a case study, this paper conducts an in-depth analysis of the book series' publishing timing, editorial planning, and marketing strategies. Through this case study, the paper summarizes successful experiences and insights into creating professional bestsellers, offering references and suggestions for the publishing industry to address market challenges and launch bestsellers. The study points out that the publishing industry should pay attention to trends and changes, accurately grasp market demand, adjust marketing strategies promptly, and emphasize collaboration and joint promotion.

Challenges of Nigerian Book Publishing Industry in Post-Covid-19 Economy and Survival Strategies

Book publishing, like other sectors of the global economy, has experienced unprecedented challenges in the post-COVID-19 era, which include disrupted supply chains, reduced purchasing power on the part of students and teachers, and increased competition from digital media. The pandemic has also occasioned a change in business model and marketing strategy leading to transition from physical to virtual platforms. In addition, the book publishing industry has equally experienced paper shortages, printing delays, and heightened costs of production thus, encroaching on the publishers’ profit margin. The study, anchored on Free market theory and instinctive theory of motivation, attempted to put book publishing in perspective using qualitative research that relies on secondary data. The study also looked at the effect of Covid-19 on the global economy in general and the book publishing industry in particular. The study discovered the crucial role the advent of digitalization played in the interface of post-COVID-19 economy and book publishing sub-sector. Besides, it revealed the manifold challenges engendered by COVID-19 in the book publishing industry globally and specifically in Nigeria, which include lack of capital, inability to provide adequate numbers of high-quality books, book piracy, proliferation of unqualified author-publishers and poor reading culture, to the extent the sub-sector is struggling to survive. To endure this inclement economic era, the study suggested the following strategies: publishers need to adopt innovative strategies by investing in digital infrastructure so as to be able to publish printed and e-books as well as opening physical and online sales outlets to boost the revenue base, and different publishers can form a consortium to negotiate and minimize the cost of buying raw materials. Additionally, two or more publishing outfits can come together under merger and acquisition arrangements to bolster their capital base and stay competitive. In conclusion, the study made some recommendations that can help to support this industry to stay afloat in this trying time.

History-informed institutional change: Houghton Mifflin and the shifting dynamics of the US book publishing industry (1950–1970)

After World War II, the United States experienced a robust economy marked by growing demand for information and education, alongside the emergence of leisure activities. Quantitative data spanning from 1950 to 1970, along with the reconstruction of Houghton Mifflin’s business trajectory, indicate that economic and social factors laid the groundwork for a transformation in the publishing industry. Through a meticulously structured historical analysis, this article contributes to the field of business history by elucidating the evolution of the publishing industry during this period of observation. Furthermore, it offers valuable insights into institutional theory by demonstrating how historical contexts and environments shape new practices and stimulate organisational change.

Warhol’s Lessons for the Publishing Industry

What, if anything, can the publishing industry learn from Andy Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith? In this Article, I will focus on three key areas that the Warhol Court touched on in its decision—transformativeness, commerciality, and market harm—to see what questions were answered and what questions were left for another day Publishing is, of course, the original copyright industry. The world’s first general copyright law, Great Britain’s Statute of Anne, exclusively protected “books.” The primary focus of the first copyright law in the United States was also books, though the law also covered maps and charts. Today, the U.S. publishing industry is diverse, ranging from major commercial book and journal publishers to small, non-profit, university, and scholarly presses, as well as leading publishers of educational materials and digital learning platforms. Further, it remains vital to society. In 2022, the U.S. book publishing industry generated $28.1 billion in revenue. Beyond its economic contributions, a healthy and independent publishing industry supports the nation’s political, intellectual, and cultural systems. Indeed, the free operation of the publishing industry in a nation cannot be separated from the free exercise of democracy. Copyright continues to serve as a critical legal foundation for the work of publishers. This includes both an appropriately balanced fair use doctrine, which publishers rely on regularly in the course of their work, and a meaningful derivative works right. Helping courts correctly distinguish between the two is what motivated the Association of American Publishers (AAP), the national trade association for U.S. publishers, to file an amicus brief in support of Lynn Goldsmith. AAP’s concern was not that courts were generally not getting it right, at least in cases involving books and other publications. The concern, rather, was that there was a lot of room for the Supreme Court to get things wrong and undermine the derivative works right through an unbalanced conception of the transformativeness doctrine. The amicus brief observed that “[p]ublishers rely on the derivative works right daily, including to justify the use of a license for a film adaptation of a novel, translation of a novel into another language, or recasting of a novel into an ebook or audiobook—all of which are quintessential examples of derivative works.” Publishers in the educational space also rely on the derivative works right to protect supplementary materials, instructor solution manuals, and other adjuncts to the textbooks and course materials they create and distribute. From the perspective of book publishers, then, the Court got it right. It recognized the tension between transformativeness and the derivative works right, explaining that “an overbroad concept of transformative use, one that includes any further purpose, or any different character, would narrow the copyright owner’s exclusive right to create derivative works." If the Court did nothing beyond shining a light on this tension, it would be considered a good outcome for publishers.

Capital, labour and currency: book love in the economy of young adult publishing

ABSTRACT This article examines the relationship between emotion, production and sales in the book publishing industry, specifically how ‘book love’ operates in the publication and promotion of Young Adult (YA) titles. Through interviews conducted in 2020–2023, the article examines how commissioning editors, booksellers and associated professionals in Australia experience and use emotion in their production and sale of YA titles. It argues that emotion plays three economic roles in the intersubjective transferral of ‘book love’ through the chain of production, distribution and sales. Australian industry professionals mobilize book love as capital, as labour and as currency in fulfilling the expectations of their roles. This deployment of book love helps titles find their way into the hands of target readers.

Militarization of the Ukrainian Publishing Market During the Russo-Ukrainian War since 2014

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the article is to analyse the impact of the Russo-Ukrainian war, which has been ongoing since 2014, on the Ukrainian publishing industry and to characterize the transformations that the book market has undergone as a result of the full-scale invasion in 2022. THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: The article examines the transformations that have taken place in book media as a result of the military conflict. The research used bibliographic searches, statistical research, the comparative method, desktop research, as well as the methods of typology, observation, generalization and analogy. THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: The events of Russia’s war against Ukraine have become a serious challenge for the Ukrainian media system and have impacted the book publishing industry in particular. Therefore, changes in the publishing landscape and in publishing houses’ business models are analysed. RESEARCH RESULTS: The article describes the main changes that the publishing market in Ukraine has undergone as a result of Russian aggression. On the basis of statistical data, the authors analyse the dynamics of changes in the number of publishers and the increase in the number of military books. The authors focus on the emergence of a new literary phenomenon, namely veteran literature, and the emergence of a significant number of veteran publishers. Changes in the business models of publishers are analysed. CONCLUSIONS, INNOVATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS: The war has had a significant impact on the organizational structure of the Ukrainian publishing industry. This includes the moving of publishing facilities to other territories, changes in infrastructure, transition to other publication formats, entering new markets, etc. This experience could be useful for developing problem-solving strategies in this segment of the media industry.

Generative AI changes the book publishing industry: reengineering of business processes

Generative AI changes the book publishing industry: reengineering of business processes

Designing the Future Scenarios of Book Publishing Industry in Iran

Designing the Future Scenarios of Book Publishing Industry in Iran

Book Culture Ecology: Looking for a Concept

The authors have attempted to comprehend the ecological component of book culture, its importance for social development and evolution of human needs. This problem updating is closely connected with the modern state of book culture, characterized by minimization of state management, absolutist commercial approach, appearance of the great amount of players on the book market, multiformity of book products and modes of their advancement, transformation and re-estimation of activities of institutes of reading infrastructure, etc. It demands, according to our viewpoint, re-comprehension of the book culture state, inclusion of ecological criteria into its functioning, which presupposes, most of all, social attention to its various manifestations due to their correspondence to humanist values and national interests. The aim of the article is to reveal and justify the “book culture ecology” concept.The formation of ideas about this concept was ­carried out in the context of the paradigm of cultural ecology through clarification of its content and main vector directions. The article justifies the importance of book culture and considers different approaches to its treatment. It is shown that the eco-cultural aspects of book culture are an organic embodiment of its static and dynamic characteristics. In the progress of the study, the authors used terminological and operational analysis as well as structuralfunctional approach. Eco-cultural approach to different phenomena of book culture defines ethical norms of functioning of book-publishing industry different actors, determines their most important for the society principles of activity. Moreover, the study has defined difficulties of developing book culture ecological compatibility criteria. The result of the analysis has manifested itself in the generalized definition of the concept under study.

More than Just a Business: Recasting Literary Publishing in Postwar Germany, 1945–1949

Like other creative industries emerging in mid-1945 from 12 years of Nazi rule, including six years of war, German publishing was ideologically suspect, internationally isolated, and insular. By the 1950s, however, the book trade in the two German successor states was once again varied and vibrant. And it was also tightly integrated into the international publishing business, within which it had become an increasingly active and important presence. This article analyzes the development of the German book publishing industry during the Allied occupation, 1945-1949, through the lens of knowledge transfer. It was a time during which capital-starved German publishers harnessed the political and ideological objectives of the occupiers and their prewar contacts to achieve their own commercial and cultural ambitions, including taking initial steps toward internationalization. The focus is on literary fiction, a genre that constituted a minority of all published output in the postwar period, but which also included all top bestsellers. Literature in translation, moreover, accounted for a substantial proportion of those bestselling books, and at the same time represented a key vehicle for internationalization. Two case studies, one drawn from the Soviet zone of occupation, the later East Germany, and one from the western zones that came to be dominated by the Americans, the later West Germany, illustrate two different, yet remarkably similar paths through which this interplay of ideological alignment and commerce played out among a range of actors and laid the basis for the subsequent development of the industry.

Macao's academic book publishing industry: A SWOT and PEST analysis

AbstractMacao's academic book publishing industry has a rich history and has grown significantly over the past two decades. This study employs a semi‐structured in‐depth interview to evaluate the current and prospective state of Macao's academic book publishing industry. The SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis and the PEST (Political, Economic, Social, and Technological) analysis are used in this study. The strengths of Macao's academic book publishing industry include that requesting an ISBN in Macao is easy and quick under the principle of ‘One Country, Two Systems’ and financial support from the Macao SAR government. However, the industry faces several weaknesses, including an underdeveloped cultural industry, a small seller market and a talent shortage, and less copyright output. Opportunities for the industry exist through constructing a Culture‐based Bay Area in the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area and developing an international hub for digital trade in the Guangdong–Macao In‐Depth Cooperation Zone–Hengqin. However, Macao's academic book publishing industry is threatened by emerging Internet technologies, such as augmented reality, the metaverse, and ChatGPT. This paper also proposes strategies for future practice, such as taking the initiative to encourage a group of top‐tier publishers to establish branches in Macao and improve publications’ cultural elements. The findings of this study provide valuable insights into the strategic management of Macao's academic book publishing industry and will be of interest to publishers, academic researchers, and policymakers.

Product digitization and differentiation strategy change: Evidence from the book publishing industry

AbstractResearch SummaryWe study product digitization as an impetus for firm strategy change. Product digitization can erode a firm's ability to differentiate through physical product attributes and prompts them to increase emphasis on nonphysical product attributes to sustain their competitive advantage. We expect this effect is pronounced among firms that have pursued a physical differentiation strategy prior to the digital age. However, we expect that countervailing forces exist such that the internal supply cost of and the external market demand for the nonphysical differentiator mitigate this effect. Evidence from publishers in the Amazon Kindle e‐book ecosystem supports our hypotheses. This study bridges the growing digital strategy literature and the classical competitive strategy literature. We discuss how our findings are relevant to a range of industries.Managerial SummaryMany companies invest in superior physical product attributes to increase a customer's willingness‐to‐pay and entice purchase. However, when products become digitized—such as music streaming displacing CDs or e‐books replacing printed books—the effectiveness of physical product differentiation is diminished. We examine how book publishers manage this challenge at the advent of Amazon's Kindle e‐book technology. We find that publishers that have emphasized physical product attributes turn to emphasizing nonphysical product differentiation, namely, through offering more content. Yet, the extent of the strategy change is limited by the internal development cost of and the external demand for the nonphysical differentiator. We discuss how our findings are relevant to a range of settings, including both product and service companies.

Unraveling the Impact of Digital Transformation on Book Publishing: Organizational Performance and Content Quality Insights

This study investigates the influence of digital transformation (DT) on the performance of book publishing enterprises, focusing on the intricate dynamics among internal resources, management practices, external policy environments, and content quality. Through empirical analysis and theoretical insights, the research elucidates the synergistic effects of these factors on organizational outcomes. The findings emphasize the critical role of resource allocation, management optimization, and government policies in facilitating successful DT adoption. Moreover, the mediating role of content quality in enhancing consumer engagement and market competitiveness is underscored. Overall, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of the complexities of DT within the book publishing industry and offers practical implications for stakeholders seeking to navigate digital disruptions and capitalize on emerging opportunities.

Հայկազեան համալսարանի հրատարակչատունը

Haigazian University Press brings an academically characteristic and unique addition to the Armenian book publishing industry in Lebanon, publishing an average of three to four books per year.

The Stickiness of Category Labels: Audience Perception and Evaluation of Producer Repositioning in Creative Markets

Market producers often seek to position themselves in different categories over time. Successful repositioning is difficult, however, as audiences often devalue offerings that depart from a producer’s past creations. Prior research suggests that this penalty arises as evaluators withhold opportunities for producers to reposition because of presumptions of a lack of competence in different categories. In this paper, we develop understanding of a novel evaluator-driven challenge to producers’ repositioning efforts: evaluators are prone to “categorical stickiness,” by which the categories they have come to associate with a producer through its prior offerings shape their perceptions of the producer’s subsequent offerings. The result is a systematic mismatch between what producers claim and what evaluators perceive when a producer repositions. We further propose that audience members who have the greatest prior experience with a producer are the least likely to recognize its repositioning efforts. We examine evidence for our theory using data from Goodreads.com on authors within the book publishing industry, 2007–2017. We first build a novel deep-learning framework to predict categorization of a given book based solely on an author’s description of its content. We then use data on how Goodreads users categorize and evaluate books as well as their past reading behavior to test for evidence of our proposed mechanism. Overall, our results extend understanding of the evaluative processes that generate categorical constraints and how these may differ among various types of audience members. This paper was accepted by Isabel Fernandez-Mateo, organizations. Supplemental Material: The online appendix and data are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2021.02070 .

Publishing Activities of the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute for Fundamental and Applied Parasitology of Animals and Plants

Since 2014, agricultural and medical scientific institutions, previously been a part of the specialized agricultural and medical academies of sciences are under the scientific and methodological guidance of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS). Among them is the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute for Fundamental and Applied Parasitology of Animals and Plants – a branch of the Federal State Budget Scientific Institution “Federal Scientific Centre VIEV” (VNIIP – FSC VIEV), named after K. I. Skryabin and Ya. R. Kovalenko.Special attention in its scientific research is devoted to the study of formation and functioning patterns of parasitic systems; to the development of theoretical foundations to prevent parasitic diseases in livestock animals and plants, and to the improvement and implementation of integrated systems for protecting humans, animals and plants from socially dangerous and economically significant parasitic diseases by creating new methods for early diagnosis and prevention based on the widespread use of biotechnology, genetics and immunology; and to invention of fundamentally new means of protecting animals and plants that provide a high economic effect.The implementation of the Institute’s main tasks predetermines active scientific and publishing activities that can be designated as the final stage of any research work; therefore, scientific and research institutions publish monographs, collections of scientific papers, reference books, study guides, etc. The purpose of the article is to present main directions of VNIIP’s research and publishing activities highlighting features that characterize certain types of publications.The characteristic is given for two printed publications on advanced scientific research in parasitology, namely, the collection of materials from the “Theory and Practice of Parasitic Disease Control” Conference and the Russian Journal of Parasitology. A typological analysis of publications is given, and its results are presented. The declared features of the publications confirm their quality and meet key requirements of the current book publishing industry in this direction.The material is of interest to promote achievements and findings of the most important studies conducted by the team of scientists of the Institute and will be useful both to publishers and to authors of publications.

Neural Networks in the Book Publishing Industry

The article deals with artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in the publishing industry. Some modern generative neural network (NN) models are able to create different types of content: from text generation (GPT-3, Balaboba) to its visualization (Dall-E 2, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, Russian DALL-E, Dream, etc.). Both the early cases of NN applications in book publishing and the latest ones due to the release in 2022 of new AI models that provoked a discussion about the creative revolution are discussed. Special attention is paid to the problems of authorship and copyright protection.

Empowering Authors and Revolutionising Publishing: The Decentralised Approach Using Blockchain

This study looks into how Blockchain technology can be used to establish a decentralised method to book publishing. Traditional publishing strategies can present authors with obstacles such as limited control over their work, money processing issues, and limited access to distribution outlets. The decentralised model afforded by Blockchain technology, on the other hand, has the potential to give authors more control over their work, smoother payment processing, and more distribution channels. The study investigates the advantages and disadvantages of employing Blockchain technology in book publishing and the possible impact on the sector as a whole. The study also includes a prototype of a decentralised publishing platform based on Blockchain technology, which allows authors to upload their work directly to the platform, receive real-time payment, and experience a more transparent and equitable publication process. The front-end of the platform was built with javascript. While writing the smart contract, solidity was employed. According to the findings of this study, Blockchain technology has the potential to transform the book publishing industry by empowering authors and boosting transparency and justice in the publication process.

Book Marketing in Nigeria: Appraising the Role of Digital and Social Media Innovations

Nigeria’s huge population assures a ready market for books, setting the stage for a virile book publishing industry. However, the book industry has been characterized by some anomalies, including the shortage of tertiary level textbooks and the non-availability of books in professional fields like medicine, engineering and technology. Although the situation has improved considerably over the years, the emergence of digital technologies has set the tone for competition in consumer media markets, with book publishers struggling to gain competitive advantage through digital media adoption. Past studies record various approaches to repositioning the Nigerian book publishing industry for growth and development through the adoption of various forms of digital publishing innovations. However, there is a knowledge gap on the role of social media innovations in the prevailing business-to-consumer (b2c) book market environment in Nigeria. A review of extant literature reveals that the book market in Nigeria has been greatly influenced by the demand for educational materials, especially textbooks for primary and secondary level education. It is established that to expand and grow a virile book publishing industry, Nigerian publishers need to open up new book markets and deploy digital and social media innovations to attract new customers, develop relationships, and increase awareness.