Publishing Business Group Steering Committee -- 08 Mar 2019

<wendyreid> scribenick: Bill_Kasdorf

Audiobooks

wendyreid: Topic--audiobooks.

. . . working group progressing well, including having closed a few issues.
. . . Ready to start writing the draft.

<wendyreid> https://github.com/w3c/wpub/blob/master/explainers/wpub-explainer.md

. . . Explainers has been submitted to the TAG.
. . . waiting for TAG feedback.

<dauwhe> https://github.com/w3c/wpub/blob/master/explainers/audio-explainer.md

. . . We've contacted the APA and are waiting for feedback from them too.
. . . We need more information and need the SC to help.

scribe: We need a better understanding of the business case for the industry.
... We also need help with outreach. We have a starter list. Looking for feedback and whether any folks know these contacts personally.

Rachel: any responses from Macmillan?

wendyreid: No response.

Rachel: I'll nudge some folks. Even physically if necessary.

Liisa: What about talking to third parties like CoreSource?

wendyreid: Reached out to Blackstone--they joined the W3C!

. . . need a contact for CoreSource.

I can provide a CoreSource contact.

Jeff: What do you mean by what the business case is? Broadly, why it's important, or more narrow details?

wendyreid: we need to convince the industry of the need for specification.
... Have not contacted Overdrive yet.

Jeff: Shouldn't be a problem to collegially reach out to Overdrive.

wendyreid: okay I'll try.

Liisa: Somebody from Overdrive will likely be at ebookcraft.

. . . Finding the right people to talk to at PRH has been tricky. They often feel that they have a spec, they don't need one.
. . . They've spent a lot of time developing their own spec.
. . . A more senior person might better grasp the value of a standard spec.

wendyreid: Leslie sent a really cool table of the types of files HC sends, and why they send different types.

. . . The information about the differences and thus complexity is helpful to make them appreciate the need for our spec.

dauhwe: In general we do need to be clearer about what problems we're trying to solve.

. . . We know more about the issues of Kobo and Google Play than we know about issues the publishers have.
. . . We need a better understanding of what friction is being introduced into the businesses.

George: Who pays for the process of ingestion?

. . . Do the recipients charge a fee?

wendyreid: No, we don't charge for ingestion.

. . . But the fact that there's no financial cost doesn't mean there isn't an operational cost.

George: The publishers probably feel that the platforms solve the problem for them.

. . . What if there was a processing fee for not conforming to the standard?

wendyreid: Hmmm!

George: You could even provide software to facilitate conformance.

Liisa: It's a bit trickier than that. Especially on the metadata side.

. . . There's a resistance to enforcing a strict and detailed spec.
. . . At PRH, we've done a lot of work to build our dissemination system. We're now leveraging that investment.
. . . That's why internal people will say we don't have a problem.
. . . It may be a stretch to expect everybody to conform in every way.

jeff: George had an interesting business proposal. But W3C is in the business of creating voluntary technical standards.

. . . We don't get into pricing issues.

dauwhe: As a trade publisher, this discussion is making me nervous.

* Kroner tucks his tail.

wendyreid: Even though Blackstone has built a pretty elaborate system, he would be open to aligning with a standard.

. . . Remember we aren't specifying what the file formats need to be. Publishers already have that down.
. . . What we're really looking to provide is a packaging and manifest that work for everybody.
. . . We still need to know what the issues publishers have in this regard.

dauwhe: I like the idea of broadening the business case.

. . . The web makes dissemination so much easier for so many people.
. . . I want it to do that for audiobooks too. Even for an individual, an unprofessional.

wendyreid: Yes, we want to democratize creating audiobooks like ebooks has done.

liisa: I agree to democratizing the process and opening the marketplace. But I would not have that conversation with publishers.

. . . That is not what publishers are looking for.
. . . Really what we're focusing on is a standard for packaging and metadata, which really enhances the user experience.
. . . That's what's currently lacking, not just for audiobooks.

wendyreid: Most APA members are big players. Here's our wish list.

. . . Findaway, PRH, Hachette, Audible, Apple, Overdrive, scribd, librofm, @ and @ in the EU, plus production studios like Mosaic.

liisa: Are we talking about the podcasting world too?

wendyreid: Yes, absolutely. I would love to talk to anybody in that world. I am talking with Robin Berjon, but know nobody else.

jeff: I can possibly help, especially ones that are already part of the publishing community or are W3C members, like Apple and Amazon (Audible).

. . . I can reach out to the AC rep to find the right person in these organizations.
. . . I just need a short description of what we're looking for.

George: I can try to find the contact at Storytel

liisa: A short list of the questions we'd ask these people would also be helpful

wendyreid: I can draft that.

liisa: we can take this up in Tuesday's BG meeting.

wendyreid: Great, I'll get the list done by then.
... in any case we need to move ahead on the draft, even if these conversations haven't all been accomplished.

liisa: In the BG, we are going to be pushing for testing with epubcheck 4.2, esp with the Japanese community.

. . . We all really want to see 3.2 adopted.

wendyreid: AOB?

George: Going to CSUN next week. The program is being distributed in EPUB1

- DRAFT -

Publishing Business Group Steering Committee

08 Mar 2019

Attendees

Contents

Audiobooks

Summary of Action Items

Summary of Resolutions

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