You can watch this ThinkPub session at Readmagine 25 in this video. This session consisted of a dialogue between educators who had conducted their workshops throughout the morning of the conference. Nathan Hull served as facilitator and moderator for this expert group (Ainoa Zalabardo, Aurora Payá, Michalis Kalamaras and Raúl Pérez). Nathan is a member of the ThinkPub consortium.
Below you can find list of the topics covered during this session.
Market differences and challenges
- Contrasting the Greek, Spanish, and English language markets.
- Challenges faced by smaller versus larger publishers.
- Impact of digital maturity on publishing strategies.
Company structures and cultures:
- Contrasts between small startups and large publishing houses.
- Managing hierarchies and internal communications.
- Attracting and retaining talent in diverse company settings.
Employee satisfaction and development:
- Addressing turnover rates and career aspirations in publishing.
- Strategies for retaining employees through clear EVP (Employee Value Proposition).
- Balancing workplace satisfaction with professional growth.
Industry challenges and adaptation:
- Incorporation of new technologies (e.g., AI, digital platforms) into publishing.
- Learning from and collaborating with tech-driven companies.
- Adapting to fast-paced industry changes and interdisciplinary demands.
Cultural and educational backgrounds:
- Diversity in educational backgrounds within publishing.
- Interdisciplinary nature of publishing as an industry.
- The role of diverse backgrounds in shaping publishing innovations.
Engaging with new technologies and innovations:
- Collaboration with tech companies.
- Excitement and challenges of integrating new technologies into publishing.
- Educational pathways and continuous learning in adapting to industry changes.
Leadership and decision-making:
- Importance of leadership initiatives coming from the top down.
- Impact of leaders being aware of their own knowledge gaps and leading by example.
- The influence of leadership in adopting new technology and fostering a learning culture.
Technology adoption and research:
- The pitfalls of blindly adopting new technologies without proper research and consideration.
- The importance of understanding employee and customer needs before implementing tech.
- Example of AI and chatbots causing more harm than good without proper preparation.
Company culture and employee empowerment:
- Leading by example: how leaders’ actions set the tone for the rest of the company.
- Creating a safe, open, and collaborative work environment where mistakes are seen as opportunities for learning.
- Freedom for employees to take ownership of projects and make decisions.
- Non-hierarchical structures and decision-making processes within companies like Tandem Collective.
Team structure and collaboration:
- Tandem Collective’s flexible and collaborative team structure.
- Decision-making in a non-hierarchical setting and the role of «pot leads.»
- How projects and campaigns are chosen, and employees are given ownership based on interests and capacity.
Strategic decision-making in large versus small publishers:
- Decision-making processes at large publishing houses like Planeta versus smaller publishers.
- Balancing strategic decisions with bottom-up input from employees.
- Flexibility and quick adaptation in larger publishers, with employees contributing valuable knowledge to inform decisions.
Knowledge and training for smaller publishers:
- The need for independent knowledge in smaller publishing houses to make informed decisions, especially regarding new business models like audiobooks and subscription services.
- Challenges for small publishers to access training and information on new business models.
- The importance of «champions» or dedicated roles for researching and experimenting with new trends.
Creativity and freedom in the workplace:
- The importance of granting employees the freedom to innovate, experiment, and express creativity.
- The negative impact of restricting employee autonomy on motivation, loyalty, and creativity.
- Innovation as a key driver of company growth and success, facilitated by employee freedom.
Outsourcing and resource allocation:
- The challenges and possibilities of outsourcing employee experience (EX) functions in smaller companies that don’t have dedicated HR or legal teams.
- Emphasizing people-centric decision-making in companies, even without a formal HR department.
Technology in publishing:
- The role of technology in publishing, even for traditional book readers, and how consumers are used to digital interactions across various platforms (e.g., AI in shopping or entertainment recommendations).
- AI as a new, but familiar, concept in digital interactions.
- The importance of understanding how digital tools impact consumer experience, even if the core product (books) remains traditional.
Decision-making in partnerships and collaborations:
- Key principles for small and medium publishers when selecting partners, especially in distribution, e-pub creation, or sound design.
- The importance of understanding the strategic role of each output (e.g., digital or audiobook formats) and aligning it with the overall business goals before committing resources.
Interacting with larger incoming companies:
- The challenges for publishers when new, larger companies (like Spotify or Eleven Labs) enter the market, and the importance of understanding these companies’ roadmaps and agendas.
- Acknowledging the different priorities of both publishers and incoming companies and the need for mutual understanding and collaboration to best serve consumers.
Cultural and market differences:
- Learning about and adapting to unique market characteristics, such as the Greek market, when international companies enter different regions.
- Understanding cultural differences and local consumer behaviours is crucial for international companies trying to navigate foreign markets successfully.
Self-referential nature of publishers:
- The tendency for publishers to be self-referential and how this sometimes hinders them from understanding broader industry trends or embracing change brought by external platforms or competitors.
Finally, in which the audience directed various questions to the speakers, were discussed issues such as KPIs and ROI in publishing, budgeting and risk in experimentation or content consumption and the subscription economy.
