Content Management
Unlike the print world, where the chain of supply was relatively simple, from author to publisher to bookseller or subscription agent to library or individual customer, the digital universe is more complex. To exploit the new marketplace effectively, there are multiple distribution channels and many revenue streams, including:
- Licensing your electronic books and journals to libraries and consortia. We provide advice on the terms and conditions of use of electronic products and the creation of licences for electronic content
- Licensing journal and e-book aggregators to re-publish your content in databases that will generate additional revenue from markets that would not normally be expected to buy your books and journals
- Digitizing journal back volumes to generate sales
- Revenue from licensing Reproduction Rights Organisations and document delivery services throughout the world
- Establishing pay-per-view mechanisms to sell individual journal articles or book chapters online
We have the ability and experience to relate commercial business policy to the issues in copyright and contract law that arise in electronic content licensing, both from the publisher's viewpoint and from the librarian's perspective.
We have expertise in advising on the sales and customer service management structures required to get the best from your digital content, which usually involves a mixture of in-house staff development, developing appropriate pricing models to cater for all aspects of the market, outsourcing some processes or functions, and partnering with other specialist agencies.
Our experience in content management extends back to the inception of online journals in the mid-1990s. Under John Cox's stewardship, Carfax launched its first online journals in 1995, using the CatchWord platform. He was a director of CatchWord from 1995 to 1997. Much of our consultancy work has been focussed on the management and licensing of content to library consortia, including pricing models, sales and marketing strategies, trading partners and the creation of a suite of model licenses at www.licensingmodels.com.