Another exciting part about BEA 2012 was INscribe’s SVP of Business Development, Larry Norton, participating in the panel discussion on “Secrets from the Other Side: Lessons Learned from People Who Have Worked for Both Print and Digital Companies.”
Larry is uniquely qualified to sit on this panel as his experience as an Executive at Simon and Schuster during the glory days of publishing, then joining Borders when the earth under print publishing started to rumble, and now working at the forefront of the eBook space at INscribe have all informed a broad perspective on opportunities and challenges within the industry.
Larry helps publishers rethink their digital strategy and leverage the flexibility of INscribe to make the complexities of digital publishing easier, and offers a more integrated business model by understanding their print workflow and their digital needs. As Larry said during the “Secrets from the Other Side” panel, “Our core competency is digital distribution…but the whole concept of finding ways to bring the story to the reader is…different. The notion of supply chain is still very important. What is the most efficient way, what’s the best way, what’s the most reliable way to find your way into retailers?”
Playing to a packed house, Larry discussed and reiterated the INscribe mantra that all publishers need to “Embrace Your Metadata.” As data is turning into the lifeblood of publishing, INscribe prides itself on strict standards and requirements for delivering files through our proprietary distribution system because it helps readers find your books and in turn drives your sales. Speaking to the publishers Larry urged publishers “as you consider your options for going to market digitally do not underestimate the power of a partner like INscribe Digital. There are many details to master to “do it right” and in the area of metadata, INscribe is particularly strong.”
The INscribe team understands that for many publishers the learning curve for understanding how to create and manage good metadata is significant, but once the process is reviewed and the results show in sales, our clients begin to appreciate our attention to detail.
As retailer requirements for metadata change, and as publishers require greater and more detailed analytics, INscribe’s development team stays on top of these trends by constantly releasing new features and requirements via our world class ONE Digital distribution platform.