INNOVATION THROUGH CONTENT AND MULTIPLE FORMATS FOR MULTIPLE AUDIENCES

You can watch this video with the recording from the session which took place during Readmagine 24, as part of the day curated by Bookwire (Readmagined by Bookwire).

Here is a written summary of the insights and key points that were shared by the three participants in the session: Raúl Pérez (Head of Digital at Grupo Planeta), Stephanie Simonin (Audio Business Strategy IP and Brand Development at Bayard) and Alessandro Magno (Chief Digital Officer at Gruppo Feltrinelli).

The head of Bookwire in Italy, Marco Ferrario, opened the panel discussion by providing a historical context for the evolution of the publishing industry over the past 15 years. He highlighted the shift from traditional content distribution to a fragmented landscape characterized by self-publishing, fan fiction, and various digital platforms. Ferrario emphasized the importance of understanding audience transformation into communities and the challenges and opportunities this fragmentation presents. He framed the discussion around how authors and publishers are using content creation, innovation, and diversification to engage these fragmented audiences.

1. Presentations by Panelists

1. Bayard’s Children’s

Stephanie Simonin focused on Bayard’s efforts in the children’s sector, emphasizing content innovation across various formats. She provided insights into how Bayard, traditionally a magazine publisher, has diversified into comics, audiovisual, digital platforms, and webinars.

• Audio innovation

Bayard has launched audio adaptations of its popular comics, creating a new genre called «Biddykids.» This innovation involved engaging children through audio series with interactive elements and simultaneous distribution across all platforms to ensure broad accessibility.

1.2 Escape game integration

Inspired by the success of their audio projects, Bayard collaborated with an escape game company to create themed escape rooms, further expanding their content’s reach and engagement.

1.3 Audio-first for manga

Bayard’s recent initiative, «Natural Spirit,» represents an audio-first approach to manga, aiming to capture the essence of manga storytelling in an audio format. This project underscores the importance of visual marketing in audio content and the potential for cross-format expansion.

2. Alessandro Magno: Gruppo Feltrinelli

Alessandro Magno discussed the significant impact of generative AI on the publishing industry, positioning it as a transformative force comparable to the advent of the printing press.

2.1 E-commerce and digital market

Feltrinelli is the leading brick-and-mortar book retailer and the second-largest e-commerce platform in Italy. The company’s experience highlights the ongoing relevance of physical bookstores and the plateauing growth of e-commerce.

2.2 Generative AI

Magno emphasized the profound changes AI will bring to content creation, distribution, and control. He discussed AI’s potential to produce audiobooks and other digital content at scale, raising questions about the future role of publishers in controlling and curating content.

2.3 Industry challenges

The rise of AI-generated content poses significant challenges, including issues of copyright and market control. Magno highlighted the need for the publishing industry to adapt and innovate in response to these developments.

3. Raúl Pérez: Grupo Planeta

Raúl Pérez provided an overview of Grupo Planeta’s digital strategy, particularly in the audiobook sector, and how it has helped the company reach new audiences.

3.1 Market performance

Planeta has seen significant growth in revenue, particularly in Spain and South America, driven by both print and digital formats.

3.2 Audiobook strategy

Planeta has produced over 3000 audiobooks since 2017, targeting new audiences who may not traditionally buy books. Pérez emphasized the importance of understanding different platform dynamics and tailoring content to specific audience segments.

3.3 Marketing and content decisions

The company has shifted its approach to audiobook production and marketing, focusing on backlist titles and author-centric campaigns to maximize engagement. This strategy acknowledges the diverse consumption patterns across various platforms.

1. Discussion and Key Themes

1. Data utilization

Ferrario noted the importance of data in reaching and engaging fragmented audiences. Simonin highlighted Bayard’s use of data from its B2C platforms to inform content innovation and distribution strategies.

2. AI and control

The discussion touched on the implications of AI for content creation and the control publishers have over their products. Magno’s insights into AI-generated audiobooks and the potential loss of control over content production resonated with the panel.

3. Content format and engagement

The panelists agreed on the necessity of diversifying content formats to engage different audience segments effectively. Simonin’s examples from Bayard and Pérez’s insights from Planeta illustrated the success of multi-format strategies in capturing audience attention.

4. Innovation and incremental change

Magno’s provocative stance on the industry’s incremental innovation contrasted with Pérez’s view of modest but significant efforts in digital expansion. Both perspectives underscored the need for ongoing adaptation in the face of technological advancements.

5. AI and content creation

Marco Ferrario introduced this part of the discussion by highlighting the potential of AI in content creation, citing an example from Italy where a novel was generated by AI and published.

Raúl Pérez emphasized that Grupo Planeta requires a clause in their contracts to prevent their content from being used to train AI models. However, they have been experimenting with AI for text-to-speech and synthetic voices, particularly for backlist catalogs. They have also explored AI-generated audiobooks with cloned voices, showing a willingness to adapt to new technologies while maintaining quality.

Stephanie Simonin stated that Bayard focuses on improving discoverability rather than creating AI-generated content. She acknowledged the usefulness of AI in pre-production and marketing tasks but stressed that human creativity and emotion are crucial in content creation. Bayard has experimented with AI for audiobooks but found it challenging to replicate the natural rhythm and emotion of human narration.

Alessandro Magno expressed skepticism about fully embracing AI-generated books, noting the potential flood of low-quality content. He suggested that publishers will play a crucial role in curating and endorsing quality content, whether human or AI-assisted, to maintain their reputation and trust with readers.

6. Discoverability and marketing

Stephanie Simonin highlighted the importance of discoverability in a market saturated with content. She discussed how AI can aid in metadata management and marketing, improving the visibility of books. Bayard also uses AI for generating social media content and ensuring the consistency of marketing materials.

Raúl Pérez added that understanding how AI impacts different aspects of publishing is a continuous process. He mentioned their efforts to refine AI outputs and ensure they meet customer expectations, using AI to enhance the accessibility and availability of their catalog.

7. Children’s books and engagement

Mark Thornton (Bookshop.org), who was part of the audience in this session, raised a question about the crisis of reading for pleasure among children and how publishers can address this issue.

Stephanie Simonin responded by emphasizing the need to engage children with relatable content and strong branding. She discussed initiatives like series books and interactive formats to captivate young readers. Simonin also stressed the importance of involving parents and teachers to foster a reading culture and mentioned France’s initiative of 15 minutes of daily reading in schools.

Alessandro Magno discussed the potential of AI tools in education, suggesting that AI can serve as a valuable aid for studying and completing assignments, provided it is trained on high-quality content. He highlighted experiments with AI tools in ancient Greek history education to support learning.

8. Future of publishing and IP creation

Marco Ferrario questioned whether the future trajectory for publishers involves creating and exploiting IPs rather than just producing content for traditional channels.

Raúl Pérez noted that while publishers might need to adapt and deliver content in new formats, the fundamental nature of books as prototypes and the low entry barriers in publishing make it challenging to follow the IP model of industries like video games or film.

Alessandro Magno and Stephanie Simonin both agreed that while AI and digital tools offer new opportunities, the core value of publishing lies in human creativity and the ability to curate and deliver high-quality content.

Alessandro is Chief Digital Officer at Feltrinelli Group, a leading book publisher and retailer in Italy and Spain. He has twenty years of experience in Media, Publishing, and Entertainment. He has built his career both in Italy and in the United States, working for companies such as GeMS/Gruppo editoriale Mauri Spagnol, Class Editori, Global Finance, and FilmMaster/Torino 2006 Olympics. Expert in the creation, development, and monetization of digital content, he has led numerous innovation projects. Currently, his focus is on the application of AI, specifically Generative AI, at Feltrinelli.

He holds a degree in Media Studies from the University of Bologna, and has completed three Master’s degrees in Cultural Management, Marketing, and Artificial Intelligence, as well as a Global EMBA developed jointly by LSE, NYU Stern, and HEC Paris.

Marco Ferrario is a pioneer in the digital publishing industry in Italy, with a broad international network and vision. He was the founder of Bookrepublic in Italy in 2009, after 16 years spent at Mondadori in charge of the new media department and of some book imprints. Over the years, Bookrepublic became a leading player in the ebook and audiobook distribution, an independent ebook store in the Italian market and an agency managing the global digital communication for the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. In 2017, in addition to Bookrepublic, Marco also joined Storytel as country manager developing the local audio business from scratch and getting in charge of other markets including Germany and France in 2022 before leaving the company in April 2024. Presently, he is Director for Bookwire in Italy, after the German international digital distributor decided to enter the Italian market through the acquisition the distribution business of Bookrepublic. Besides this, he is now CEO of Narae, a new venture in partnership with Mondadori to expand the webnovels market in Europe through the upcoming launch of an app to access, purchase and read this type of content on everyone’s smartphones.

Stéphanie Simonin is the Sales and Marketing Director at Bayard Jeunesse Audio, a division of Bayard Group, a prominent French media company with a strong presence in children’s media. Bayard Group boasts an impressive portfolio, including magazines enjoyed by 10 million readers each month, the publication of 800 new children’s titles annually, engaging digital content, and captivating TV animations. Stéphanie’s journey with Bayard spans 20 years, during which she has played a significant part in various aspects of the company’s growth, including marketing, licensing, brand management, and business development in both print and digital domains. She is now happily dedicated to playing a role in shaping Bayard Audio’s success story.