Digital Has Changed the Publishing Job Field

In the publishing arena, new roles have been created to keep up with the expansion of digital publishing. Legacy print publishing houses are downsizing traditional staff positions; outsourcing work like marketing campaigns; and hiring social media managers, SEO mangers, e-commerce specialists, engineers, and computer scientists. The changes are impacting job titles and descriptions, taking a heavy toll in production and sales. Content is affected too: number of words, subject matter, and method of presentation, e.g., digital storytelling using audio/visual, native advertising, and audience interaction.

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Religious Titles are Enduringly Popular

The religious publishing market produces works promoting religious themes, practices, and principles that advance adherence to faith. It includes the following types of material:

* Devotional literature, i.e., written works of lasting artistic merit

* Fiction and non-fiction

* Fables, stories of legends, myths, parables, and allegories about real and symbolic people, places, and events

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Predatory Publishers Threaten the Integrity of Academic Publishing

Legacy academic, medical, and scientific publications operate by a set of established and near universally accepted guidelines that ensure the long-term integrity of their publications. Procedures are in place and rigorously enforced to avoid conflicts of interest, misinformation, unsubstantiated facts, suppression of data, and wrongful conclusions from being published.

The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) was established to promote “integrity in research publication.” It is a forum of editors and publishers of peer-reviewed journals addressing all aspects of publishing ethics and methods for handling misconduct by authors and publishers. COPE maintains a published code of conduct, guidelines, sample submittals, flowcharts, and e-learning resources. Its searchable database includes all cases discussed since 1997 and includes the advice given to publishers and authors who made mistakes about the research and conclusions they published.

Threats to the Integrity of Academic Publishing

Lately, there have been threats to integrity in academic publishing. One example is the required apology in 2010 by the editors of Lancet. The premier UK medical journal published a paper in which the authors linked the MMR vaccine and autism. Ten of the thirteen authors later repudiated the suggestion of a link. Lancet’s editor apologized and retracted the paper after an investigation, citing “fatal conflicts of interest” on behalf of the lead author and unethical research conduct. Meanwhile, proponents of the notion that autism is linked to vaccines continue to cite the paper as proof to justify the anti-vaccine movement.

A second example threatening the integrity of publishing in journals is what Jeffrey Beall, a university librarian with a scholarly interest in open-access publishing, labels “the burgeoning industry of predatory publishing.” Predatory publishing is a threat to the transfer of legitimate and tested information through scholarly communication. There were an estimated 53,000 predatory journals in 2010 and more than 400,000 by 2015. Most publish ten to ninety-nine journals from one source. Most of their authors originate from Africa and Asia with unclear ties to established research programs. Authors can pay nearly $200 for each article published.

Warning Signs of Predatory Publishers

Beall developed a warning signal system for predatory publishers. These publishers typically:

* Violate accepted standards of peer review

* Do not maintain a “Chinese Wall” between research authors and management

* Charge fees to authors to have their articles appear in the publications

* Employ the same members of the editorial board on more than one journal from the same publisher regardless of members’ qualifications in the specific field

* Produce publications not transparent about ownership, business management, and ethics including sometimes the place of publication of their journals

* Own a “fleet” of publications or “stand-alones” with no particular ties to respected organizations and institutions of higher education and research, and more too numerous to list here

The problem predatory journals and misleading non-peer reviewed articles create is that the unsuspecting public latches on to conclusions hyped by the Internet and mass media that transform early findings and non-peer reviewed conclusions into facts.

Beall urges scholars to research the publication before submitting because some predatory publishers will submit an invoice to the author following publication of an article without previously informing the author. Beall’s List of Predatory Publishers 2016 can be found on the Internet.

Social Media have Opened the Door to Fake News

The opportunities to publish have grown exponentially with the explosion of social media. Unfortunately, social media have opened the door for fake news and misinformation to compromise the integrity of publishing. Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms give everybody the chance to reach the public with their pictures, thoughts, opinions, and stories, without regard to the ethics and standards that have guided print publishing for centuries.

Legacy academic and scientific journals remain bastions of integrity, but there are a plethora of new titles, especially on the Internet, bearing few ties to institutions and short on adhering to publishing standards.

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Children’s Books on Screen Capture the Imagination

Bucking trends in print book publishing and sales, ebooks for children from birth through ten years old are a hot market. Print books for juveniles are also on the increase with double-digit growth. Nielsen Book business development officer Kristen McLean told Ellen Harvey at bookbusinessmag.com, “Children’s books are holding up the U. S. book market right now.”

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Women Have Come a Long Way in the Publishing Field

A little acknowledged revolution in the publishing industry is the fast and furious acceptance of women authors and publishing executives. Women writers are recognized experts in every field of nonfiction, and women are among the top earners in fiction writing. In publishing, women hold nearly three-quarters of sales, marketing, editorial, and operations jobs in the industry and share about half the managerial positions with male counterparts.

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Open Access in Publishing Opens Doors

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) supports Open Access, or the free unlimited distribution of professional and scholarly articles. Open Access fits in neatly with the priorities and views of the AAP. For 2016-2017, its positions at home and abroad are:

* Modernizing copyright because the copyright incentivizes authors to imagine, publish, and disseminate “everything from science fiction fantasies to cookbooks to textbooks and much more”

* Celebrating Freedom of Expression because “publishers cherish and champion the freedoms to read, write, and publish in the US and abroad. AAP and the publishing industry are outspoken opponents of censorship”

* Embracing Digital Publishing’s “new technologies and delivery methods to expand consumer choice and accessing models” and

* Promoting Fair and Open Markets “essential for publishers to compete on a level-playing field…protection and enforcement benefits all copyrighted works.”

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Storytelling Engages Consumers in a Brand

Once a product becomes a household name, the brand has momentum to carry it for a long time. We have seen it millions of times with brands like Lucky Strike, Marlboro, Nike, Heinz, Right Guard, and Old Spice. But name brands eventually become passé. Ivory Snow, Schweppes, and Dove are among the many that have been able to revitalize their images.

Powerful marketing campaigns can lose their impact and effectiveness. Companies are scrambling for new content to entice and retain audiences, i.e., customers. Here are some tips and examples of storytelling to enliven and stimulate customer connections, making the content entertaining, informative, and effective.

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