Re: EPUB 3 Justification

This parallels a challenge we face with the adoption of ONIX 3.0 in the
United States. We've been working for more than a year to build a business
case for moving from earlier versions (as well as from spreadsheets and
other transmittal formats). Last fall, we created a detailed plan
(attached) to make 2018 our metadata year, with three summits playing a
central role. The first one, for metadata providers, took place last week.

We're still in the middle of this effort, so I don't have easy or concrete
lessons to share. Your arguments in favor of EPUB 3.x are good ones, but I
think there may be two things the industry could do to help bolster them.
The first is uncomfortable: openly acknowledge that EPUB 2 is still widely
used. Get real data. The stuff I've seen while at BISG is hard to parse,
and it leaves EPUB 2 users feeling like we're hiding something.

The second is to make explicit the cost of maintaining multiple standards.
Recipients, whether for metadata or EPUB, have developed coping mechanisms
for messy supply chains. They want the metadata, and they want the books,
so they do what they have to do to make things work. We're using the
metadata initiative to examine the entire supply chain, hopefully to take
costs and time out of work that is necessary to publishing, but not
publishing itself. I think you need to do something similar for EPUB.

On Wed, May 23, 2018 at 7:32 AM, McCloy-Kelley, Liisa <
lmccloy-kelley@penguinrandomhouse.com> wrote:

> Hello colleagues-
>
>
>
> I need your help with something. I have an imprint with client publisher
> who is still producing EPUB 2. We have been working with all of our clients
> to get to 100% EPUB 3x for newly produced ebooks. But this particular
> imprint doesn’t see any value in changing their workflow to do something
> different than what they are currently doing.
>
>
>
> -          We note that their ability to control navigation would be
> better.
>
> o    They say that their books are relatively simple and retailers are
> interpreting the ncx fine
>
> -           We note that they would have more robust formatting options.
>
> o    Again, the content is simple and what they have is fine
>
> -          We note that this is where the marketplace is going.
>
> o    They want to know if any retailers have given a date when they will
> stop accepting EPUB2
>
> -          We point out that it would make their books accessible.
>
> o    They say that no one is requiring this and it isn’t a legal
> obligation in the US
>
>
>
> These rebuttals are pretty legitimate. This all goes to the PR campaign
> for supporting and getting wide adoption for EPUB 3x that we were
> discussing a month or so back.
>
>
>
> What other arguments are there? How do we convince people to adopt the
> latest generation of ebook formatting so that we can all move beyond the
> limitations of EPUB 2?
>
>
>
> Thanks for any advice you can offer.
>
>
>
> Best,
>
>
>
>
>
> *Liisa McCloy-Kelley*
>
> VP, Director Ebook Product Development & Innovation, PRH
>
> lmccloy-kelley@penguinrandomhouse.com
>
>
>
>
>
>  [image: id:image001.png@01CF7FE3.3A9E4B70]
>
>
>
>
>
>
>



-- 
Brian F. O'Leary
Executive Director, Book Industry Study Group
232 Madison Avenue, Suite 1400
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