Head of ebooks, David McDade looks back at ten years of IOP ebooks publishing and reviews the highs and lows of launching a brand new books programme.
It’s 2013 and the UK is still in the afterglow of the 2012 Olympics, scientific breakthroughs are being made across the globe, including at the incredible IceCube South Pole Neutrino Observatory, and keen to keep up with these exciting events we make our very own breakthrough with the publication of our first ebooks ‘Semiconductors: Bonds and Bands’ by David Ferry and ‘Renewables: A review of sustainable energy supply options’ by David Elliott.
Fast forward ten years and we have surpassed 800 books published, written, and contributed by more than 1,500 authors from 19 countries across 17 subject areas. No easy task, considering we had no back catalogue to start from. ‘Born-digital’ was a phrase we used at launch to describe IOP ebooks, and with very good reason. Since we didn’t have legacy print to rely on, we really were born as a digital programme. But that doesn’t mean we don’t print books as well. Over 10 years we’ve evolved our product offering and that includes providing print copies. Whether that’s a full-colour hard copy or the black and white option ordered via myPrint.
But where does that lead us, and where do we see ourselves heading in the next ten years? David McDade, Head of Ebooks at IOP Publishing shares the challenges, changes and what’s to come for our ebook programme.
What are the biggest challenges in scholarly book publishing?
The challenge of innovating in scholarly books is an interesting one. If we picture a spectrum of technological development, we can imagine traditional print books at one end, progressing through flat PDFs and then formats like ePub that can facilitate more dynamic and interesting features. Moving further out, we might consider additional enhancements that lie outside the book itself (via web links) but that have been designed especially for it, or the inclusion of code and data sets. That describes many of the books that we publish. Beyond that might lie, for example, online courses which have evolved from popular student textbooks, or digital reference libraries which are essentially databases of chapters or encyclopaedia-style entries.
I would argue that, although all these products may share some common DNA, the spectrum of innovation described above has already extended beyond what most people consider to be a book. Courseware and reference works absolutely have their own utility but people still like books. Readers understand, within certain parameters, what to expect from a book: what it will do for them, how much information it will contain, how much it will cost. As part of the experience of writing, authors value the experience of holding a physical book in their hands and putting it on their shelf once the hard work has been done. That’s why, despite being a born-digital book programme, IOP ebooks are also produced in print. So the challenge is to find the right balance between innovation and tradition – not for the sake of tradition itself but because of the enduring value and appeal of the book format as a container of knowledge. I think we’re in a good place with that right now but we are always looking at new possibilities that fit our authors’ and customers’ needs.
What are your thoughts on open access book publishing?
Open access is, of course, another type of innovation in the industry. The landscape for OA books is much less evolved and standardised than in the journal world – certainly with regard to the STM (scientific, technical and medical) disciplines that I have always worked in. It’s a different story in the social sciences and humanities where the book is often the format of choice for sharing primary research findings and where funding support is therefore driving change at a faster pace.
The physical sciences books we publish at IOPP are overwhelmingly secondary and tertiary literature. Their value is in presenting a digested view of a topic (more on this later) and the content is not therefore linked to research projects in a way that would place them in scope of funder mandates. Our principal business model is selling digital book collections to institutional libraries and, once purchased, library users can access the books in perpetuity and without restriction. We think this remains a good arrangement for all parties including authors, who are still paid fees to publish rather than having to find funding to pay the publisher.
That said, OA is an option that our authors are likely to seek out on an increasingly frequent basis in the years to come and we are continually monitoring the situation and updating our thinking on this issue.
What have you learned from working in book publishing?
I feel privileged that my career has taken me around the world and allowed me to meet talented scientists working in many different fields. As a humanities graduate I have always valued gaining some insights – if only very superficial ones – into their work and the ways in which the vast landscape of scientific research connects across disciplines. That remains a thrill.
There are many publishers out there. Why do you think authors are choosing to work with IOPP?
They are choosing to work with IOPP in greater numbers because our reputation as a modern STM book publisher is growing all the time. The service we provide is absolutely central to retaining authors and winning new ones via word-of-mouth recommendations, and we have been very successful at that. Authors value the combination of an efficient, digital workflow and quality of personalised service that many authors feel is increasingly rare in the industry. Our status as a society publisher guides that mission and helps us to deliver it. Authors like that the money we make from our publishing endeavours goes back into science. Our level of service is a big differentiator and, when put together with our global sales reach, we truly believe we can be the natural home for any book author working in our subject areas.
What are you most excited about for the future of IOP ebooks?
It takes many years and a great deal of perseverance from publishing teams to establish a brand-new book programme and I see the first ten years as only the beginning. It’s been exciting to see the momentum gradually build as authors and readers have come to know about what we’re doing, and to seek to be a part of it. In those ten years we have published almost 800 books and there are hundreds more in the pipeline. That feels like an achievement. So I’m excited to see that progress continue and for our programme to become even better known and read.
Another thing I feel very positive about is the role of the book in the scholarly ecosystem. Books tend not to be at the cutting edge in the way that journals are but I believe they play a crucial role in making sense of the research, providing accessible gateways into the primary literature, and of course facilitating the teaching and learning of new generations of researchers. As the world’s research output continues to snowball in volume every year, I believe the role of books in providing some signal in the noise will be more valuable than ever.
And, back to technology, there are things on the horizon like augmented reality which could be really useful in bridging the physical and digital book worlds. Turning that into a viable business model is another thing, but the tech is exciting.
If you could have published one book in history, what would it have been and why?
I should probably go for a ground-breaking work of science like On the Origin of Species or a profound work like Wittgenstein’s Tractatus but, since I get to choose, I’ll say something by Cormac McCarthy who is one of my favourite writers.
If you weren’t in publishing, what would you be doing?
Reading, travelling and dabbling in music.