This Beyond The Book podcast and transcript are provided in their entirety by the Copyright Clearance Center.
In this interview, Ingram Chief Content Officer Phil Ollila discusses what book publishers should consider when setting out for new markets, specifically international markets. He explains how the advent of the digital file has changed the barriers to distribution of content, opening up opportunities abroad that previously may not have existed. He also discusses how publishers can go about sharing their work with audiences worldwide.
In the publishing world, regime change is underway. It’s not happening in Tahrir Square or even in Times Square. The old is giving way to the new in the virtual square, and players like Ingram Content Group have declared themselves on the side of the new regime.
In his role as Ingram’s Chief Content Officer, Phil Ollila leads a number of Ingram business units including wholesale merchandising, Lightning Source, Ingram Publisher Services, and digital distribution through CoreSource. Last fall, Ingram launched Global Connect, a program to allow publishers in any country to print and distribute titles in countries where Ingram has its own operations as well as in countries of one of its partners. Ollila tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally what book publishers should think about in 2012 when setting out for new markets.
“Today, when we think about the delivery of books and the distribution books, one thing we should think about is the consumer, and not necessarily the traditional supply chains of bookstores,” he explains. “For publishers, their content can now be available on a worldwide basis with a single entry point. In the past, they had to think about selling rights in a foreign rights market, or the physical delivery of that book on a ship or a train or an airplane.”