Speaking from Experience: Jon White

We talk to Jon White, course director of our new The Digital Publisher course about his experience, the industry and the future.

Jon, how did you get involved in digital publishing?

In 1995 I was working in a sales role at a company called Times Mirror International Publishers – a conglomerate of academic medical, science and business publishers which included the Mosby and Irwin imprints. The Times Mirror team produced a product in conjunction called The Interactive Human Skeleton with Laurie Wiseman’s Primal Pictures, which was designed to compliment and ultimately replace the use of skeletons in medical schools. It was CD-Rom based and having just been given a laptop by the company and connected to what was then the early www, I was fascinated by all things digital. I also realised that selling site licenses for the product was a much easier way to reach and exceed my sales targets. A whole new world of digital products and services unfolded from there including a stint in the music industry.

And what do you find exciting about this part of our industry?

I love the way it is constantly changing and evolving. As a whole new generation of consumers arrives, we have the opportunity to grow revenues and produce new products which are exciting, innovative and different in capturing those consumers. For years we’ve been focused on e-books and the PC environment, and the mobile sector opportunity is now dwarfing that. The industry has been relatively small up until now, and we have a chance to grow at a very large rate of knots and address markets and market sectors we’ve never even considered before.

What would you say are the career opportunities for people trying to get into this area of publishing now?

Huge! This is where all the growth will be over the next 5 years. If you’re not interested or knowledgeable about the digital sector, then learn fast.

So in terms of skills, what would you say were vital to succeed in this industry?

The ability to keep an eye on the future. The ability to handle change. The ability to adopt new methods of doing things. The ability to look across content industries and to learn from the mistakes made by other content sectors. The ability to forge new partnerships and strategic alliances with the technology sector. The ability to accept that over the next few years, the model and workflow for producing, storing and delivering content will dramatically change and that the industry needs to move with this change and not resist it. The ability to turn the business from product driven to consumer driven, whichever sector that consumer sits within – what the consumer wants, where the consumer wants it, when the consumer wants it.

What training would you say would be useful?

Training that is led by industry experts and/or practitioners in the field. Practical courses led by publishers who have pioneered digital projects who are now coming back to share their experience at the Publishing Training Centre.

Any other tips on how to succeed as a digital publisher today?

Keep an open mind. “Rigid thinking will lead to businesses sinking” is a motto that I’m using a lot at the moment. Learn how the technology industry works and get as close to them as possible. The reason that the technology industry is so successful is that it is continuously evolving and has constantly evolving strategy and tactics for delivery.

Where is the industry going? Where will it be in 5 years time?

The technology industry will have an even bigger grip on the way content is delivered. Whilst we would like to own the channels to our consumers, the reality is that if we took any one of the big tech firms, they are many times bigger than our entire industry. Those who form strong alliances with the tech sector, I believe, will be in the most commanding positions in the digital market – and we need to be thinking way beyond e-books, iphone apps and websites. The content companies who realise that consumers will pay a dollar for a product 50 times over will be in better shape than those who hold on to the model “you give me $10 and I’ll give you Y content”.

Jon White is a digital consultant and is course director on The Publishing Training Centre’s new course: The Digital Publisher, which runs for 3 days at Book House in London