Hi there.
I am John Bond from Riverwinds Consulting and this is Publishing Defined.
Today I am going to talk about time, quality, and money as they relate to the publishing
process.
Scholarly publishing is under assault from a host of factors: shrinking library budgets,
new startups, the expectation from some that everything should be free, piracy, a pricey
technology arms race, consolidation among publishers, and the list goes on and on.
These challenges have led publishers to seek new or additional revenue from new product
development, searching for new markets, price increases above the inflation rate, selling
publishing services, and many other ideas.
But publishing, to stay profitable or viable, has also taken a look at costs.
The inevitable drive toward lower costs reminds me of the unattainable triangle.
In one version of the triangle, each point is time, quality, and money.
You can have one, maybe even two, but you can't have all three.
So, you want inexpensive printing done quickly, well it is unlikely to be high quality.
Or, you want high quality editing done on a tight schedule, then it will be expensive.
Finally, you'd like cheap page composition done very well, then it is unlikely to be
done overnight.
There is another version of the triangle, but the points are time, money, and scope.
At the center is quality.
Balancing all three, instead of emphasizing just one, is the path to quality.
I applaud people or organizations that try to be frugal with their expenses.
But if at the end of the road is the expectation that everything should be low cost, done yesterday,
and be high quality then there will be consequences.
My worry is that things do get done at a lower cost and of course on a shortened schedule,
but at the end of the day, quality suffers; it is just less tangible and not immediately
recognizable.
A lowered quality standard in publishing services, in let's say editing, means everyone loses
including the author, the journal, the reader, and the subscriber.
I've discussed production examples here because they are tangible and readily definable, but
the challenges of the unattainable triangle apply to all aspects of publishing: marketing,
customer services, production management, peer review, and so on.
This unattainable triangle applies to employees as well.
Quality work costs money, likely at or above the market rate.
Pay as little as possible, and you get what you pay for.
Angela Merkel said, "A good compromise is one where everyone makes a contribution."
Using this approach in publishing with employees, vendors, printers, and any partner that contributes
to the final product is a valuable one.
Look too hard at costs, and quality or something else will surely pay the price.
Well that's it.
I've released an eBook called, "The Request for Proposal in Publishing: Managing the RFP
Process."
It is a short, focused guide to this essential business task that associations or societies
use to find potential publishing partners.
See the link in the notes below for more information on the book or how to purchase it.
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time, quality, and money.
And make comments below or email me with questions.
Thank so much and take care.
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