The end of publishing?

See this video at http://scienceroll.com/2010/03/17/the-end-of-publishing-on-a-creative-video/.
For a good blog about self-publishing (which is mentioned here), read http://reviews.cnet.com/self-publishing/

Nowadays there's a lot to do about the future of publishing. In the past 10 years in Europe commercial printers have been struggling to keep their businesses alive. It seems now it's the publishers who feel they are entering the economical battlefields.
Though in general most publishers are doing fine if you look at their balance sheets and financial results, nowadays discussions are going on between them about what their role will be in the future. Everyone in the sector is worrying about what impact the digitalisation and globalisation will have on their business. What will be the role of the publisher in the future?

For myself I think that the main principle which is often forgotten by publishers, is that INFORMATION is not the same as KNOWLEDGE.
My point is that for publishers, value must be added in the transformation of information to knowledge.
According to me, publishers who forget this difference will make themselves obsolete on the long run.

Some observations:

1) Upscale and downscale. Globalisation and localisation.
More and more mergers are taking place. The bigger the resulting groups, the more life space and market there will be for smaller players in the field. But at the same time more and more smaller publishers with niche markets will start new and small-scaled initiatives. Struggle to survive will be common to everybody in the field, just like it is for every other business. This evolution towards downscaled niche-markets is inevitable because it's also very much supported by the technological evolution.

2) Democratisation of publishing.
Like professional typesetting was brought to the individual desktop around 1990, publishing itself is brought within the reach of every individual. Printing on demand and digitalisation are just offering this: a cheap accessible way of producing a book.
Various initiatives already make clever use of these "new" techniques. "Publish Yourself" is the new adagio. And there's not much that existing publishers can do against it.

3) The disappearance of added value.
Before some time typesetting and producing content ready for print was kind of an art. It required tacit knowledge how to present the content of a book in the most reader-appealing way, keeping into account the author's desires. Value was also added in terms of correct use of language and content-related corrections, adding value to the knowledge that was presented by the authors.
Nowadays publishers are talking about all the technological possibilities and conceived future evolutions on the basis of the information they process and distribute. They are not busy with knowledge any more, their attention has shifted from knowledge to the more easy-to-measure "information".
However, because of the democratisation of production and distribution of information, this will not and cannot be the role of the publisher. A publisher - if he wants to survive - will need to define himself as more than an information-processor and distributor.
Authors cry for knowledgeable publishers who understand and valuate their knowledge.
Readers are nowadays internet-aware. If they want to access information only, then they surely don't want to pay a publisher coming in between them and the source of information.

4) It looks like everyone in this sector is trying to find a new theoretical model which enables them to predict and secure future developments. They think this is needed as they feel they have to take decisions for the long term. Unfortunately the vast majority of these efforts is in vain. The paradigms are shifting and the economical world is undergoing major changes in terms of power and wealth distribution. One can try to understand what is happening, but trying to grasp the future can not deliver more than some ease for emotional restlessness. It's only giving a false sense of security.
What I feel is that at this moment there's no new business-model in place or even developing for old-fashioned publishers who don't want to "miss the train of globalisation and digitalisation". Publishers tend to limit their role to the buying-and-selling of information and are overwhelmed by the technological changes which take place in those processes.
But this is just out of their range of activities as these evolutions are not in the field of "knowledge". They are merely limited to how information is produced and distributed. The added value of the publisher should however be in adding value to author's knowledge.

5) The role of the established general publisher is slowly becoming void. To cut costs they start to save on editorial and redactional efforts. Doing this, they force themselves to a mere role of production, distribution and marketing. But precisely these processes are becoming so cheap and within reach of every individual now, that there hardly can be a role for the publisher any more.

The main question publishers should always ask themselves is: how can I improve the knowledge presented by the author.

The end of publishing?
There's a very bright future for small, niche publishers.

At least they look into the (almost) opposite direction !

I took this photograph in MGF mall on MG Road in Gurgaon. Fyi the 'MG' in the names stand for Mahatma Gandhi.

I learned that Hitlers Mein Kampf has extremely good sales in India. At first sight however, the pile of Gandhi books lets you think that Gandhi's book sold at least 1 copy more... Until you really start counting.

Interestingly on the cover, Hitler firmly is looking to the right, while Gandhi seems to doubt if he has to look to the left or to the center. Anyway, it's clear that he doesn't look in Hitler's direction.

For an interesting article about the two letters Gandhi wrote to Hitler before Worldwar II really got launched, I refer to Koenraad Elst.

India nowadays is the home for Gandhi-worshippers as well as Gandhi-haters. The former idealise him as "Father of the Nation", which became his political correct and official name. Nevertheless according to the latter, Gandhi stands for the undecisiveness, lack of Realpolitik and lack of efficiency of Hindu culture confronted with globalisation.

What most Indians might not know is that at least in Belgium, but probably this applies to the whole of West-Europe, you may have and read Mein Kampf but publishing it, going to public places to give the book away for free or sell it, will without doubt get you in contact with Justice. In other words: 'Mein Kampf' is a forbidden book.

The (co)(s(m)et)(ic)(al) identity of the Hindu

1. The "cosmic" identity of the Hindu
While the world is ruled by countries and geographical areas dominated by the so-called 'book-religions' like Christianity and Islam, any of their individuals become shocked when confronted with the Hindu religion.
All of a sudden you realise that here is a religion that has nothing to do with power and economics (well ... this can be discussed), with trying to win souls or convincing others by any means.
Hinduism offers over 300000 supernatural beings to choose from. Each individual can choose almost completely free which avatar of the supreme Brahman or which deity he/she wants to worship. Each individual is as well free to define for himself how far he wants to follow the worshipping rituals.
All these deities represent a specific human experience of the cosmos.
For westerners it is very hard to understand how a religion being so diffused, without the use of power as we understand it, without central organisation and without clear personifications of the deities, can be so successful that it binds 1 billion people for thousands of years.
Though one may perhaps dislike many of the aspects of Indian society that seem to go along with Hinduism, for me, Hinduism presents itself as a far more realistical and truthfull faith in comparison to other religions. To my feeling (IF any faith is still needed), Hinduism gives answers for a lot of modern-day individual questions.
Hinduism should be cherished by the world and Hindu culture on its own should be called one of its wonders.

2. The "comical" identity of the Hindu
I cannot say I'm an expert in Hindu psychology at all. And the longer I reside in India, the lesser I dare to say anything about it also. Each time you think you 'understand' something, another thing happens which proofs you didn't understand it.
The beauty of it is that mostly Indians don't care themselves too much about their identity. Identity is for them something which is defined by others, and as such is subject to eternal change caused by the everlasting changes in the environment.
As a consequence they almost accept every change or situation without second thoughts.
For westerners, who usually try to build up their identity on the basis of principles which they try to keep as long as possible, this often gives the impression that Indians 'are not serious', that they are 'playing games' with you (and with themselves).
There's no "hard" or "principle-based" center to find in Hindu individuals. In the same way it is very hard to find arrogant (in the common sense of the word) ones. (What a contrast with Americans and Europeans here !).


3. The "cosmetical" identity of the Hindu
Could it be that the non-organised and cosmic orientation of Hinduism results logically in a mind which has an aversion of self-definition, is reluctant to choosing principles and plainly hates to have enough arrogance to take decisions and bear responsabilities.
Could it be that the lack of self-definition causes an overweighted attention for cosmetical identity building as is shown in the fact that half of the daily "quality" papers consists of reports and photos from the lifes of Bollywood actors.
Could it be that the choice of M. Gandhi (with his agression-free and often vague and unrealistic ideology) as "the father of the nation" is a consequent (but perhaps not so fortunate - because too vague) choice for a society based on Hinduism ?
Could it be that in the modern globalised world, Hinduism will become a threat to its own survival, because of its refusal to take itself serious when confronted with other cultures ?

If you look at where the budget spendings go, the US brand is based on "military and economic power", the European identity defines itself then as "social (security) and cultural (historical) power", the Chinese as "organisational efficiency".

What is the India-brand?

That is what we in Belgium call: "Nearshore Outsourcing of our Social Security"

I came across this small article in the Times of India on Sunday 7 January 2010.
The problem of shortage of cells and prisons is already existing for 20 years in Belgium. The problem could never been solved, partly due to the very complicated communautarian political organisation.
Of course, one cannot deny that "nearshore outsourcing" is a very creative solution for this problem.
As a Belgian I'm so happy to read that the Dutch were so extremely friendly to offer this service to us "at cost".

I have some other tips for Belgium where outsourcing could solve the problem. What about:

- nearshore outsourcing to Germany of the few production jobs in the private sector that are still there in Belgium? The advantage would be that then we could collectively cancel all productive jobs, turn 100% into a service economy and become easily the greenest, ecological savvy country in the world;

- a bit-further-nearshore outsourcing of our Belgian pension obligation. What would you think of a "sell and lease back" operation for the whole of the ageing problem? To be able to make some profit in this operation, I think this type of oursourcing should be done in Poland. I'm quite sure they can handle Pension obligations cheaper than we can do in Belgium;

- a third proposal is: Why not "offshore outsource" our complete unemployment service system. I'm sure any member of the BRIC countries can make us an appealing offer for that !;

- then ... now that we begin to see the advantages of outsourcing more clearly: We could outsource the Governments and Administrations of the French speaking part. It's costing us too much money now and I don't have any doubt that Sarkozy can do it cheaper.

- and last but not least: Why couldn't we outsource our King and his family ?
If The Netherlands agree to take our inmates, then why would the UK have objections to host our Royal family. If I recall right ... they're related anyway. So ... in fact they should take them for free !

View on some official Indian languages ...

Urdu

Telugu

Tamil

Punjabi

Oriya

Marathi

Malayalam

Kannada

Hindi

Gujarati

Bengali

Assamese

A riot at Ivy bar in Delhi: a clash of cultures

or:
BELGIUM AND INDIA: 1 FRONT IN CREATING VIRTUAL WORLDS !

We Belgians are very proud on our beer culture. While there only exist around 10 million Belgians, the total number of various kinds of beers produced in Belgium must be somewhere over thousand. Personally I know 2 or 3 guys brewing beer in their Belgian living rooms.
And in Belgium you can easily find pubs where you can have a couple of beers for 1.5 euro (100 rupees) a glass.

So ... what initiative can be better to bring Belgians together in a city like Delhi, having three times as many inhabitants than in the whole of Belgium ?
Right: a beer party sponsored by Inbev, the beer multinational which started in Louvain were my wife and I have (or had) our base. It's a Brasil company by now, but we still feel very proud, just like we still feel proud on Electrabel and the fact that we could manage in Belgium to keep SO MANY people living together with only 5 governments !

All 20 or something Belgians residing in India were present at the beer-gathering. Many many consultants among them. I felt especially proud that our lively Belgian economy has evoluated to such high levels that we all became Consultants to the World, a profession I myself however link spontaneously with our neighbours from the Netherlands. And guess what? I can be wrong, but I had the impression that quite some Netherlands-accents crawled in our Belgian Flemish-Dutch.

Anyway, let me stay focused on the beerparty.

We had to pay 600rs and then we could drink as much beer as we liked between 7 and 9:30pm. Great. Even according to Belgian criteria a good deal.

The evening went on in a good pace, everybody was trying to swallow as much beer as possible in that short timespan. So the moods were very good and under influence of the alcohol, here and there people started to loose their natural Flemish shyness (including myself).

But then came the time of no return: 9:30pm. Because I was feeling really really thirsty still, I thought by myself: "Let's order another glass... the last one before the road."
Unfortunately the bartender told me: "Sir it will cost you 500rs" (= 7 euro).
"Then for that money I can drink till what time?", I asked.
"What do you mean?", was the question.
"Well", I said, "I payed 600rs to drink 2,5 hrs as much as I wanted. So now I pay 500rs to drink whatever I want, till what hour?"
I found it very fair from them that they realised that even a Belgian cannot keep up the same drinking pace whole night. So I welcomed the idea of a 100rs discount.
Unfortunately the answer was: "No Sir, it's for ONE glass of Stella".

For one glass? I quickly calculated that also 30% various taxes should be added, resulting in the cost of 1 glass of Stella beer of somewhere between 9 and 10 euro.

Well, after the Belgians came to know about the kind of money they had to pull out to keep on drinking, hard words started to be said. The sentiments went extremely high a few moments later and I think I even heard our esteemed Embassador calling names to the Indian bar manager, even insisting that he would get a Hoegaarden for 50 rupees. Well, I myself judged this a little bit exagerated from his side and after having brought him to reason (which would be only possible to do BEFORE he would actually drink that extra pint ... I admit it was a little bit a tricky moment), we could come to a fair price of 100rs. We had to explain him that even in a low cost country you may not take advantage of the situation. We told him that if he could bring the cost of a pint of beer in India down to the level in Belgium, that this would be a very esteemed achievement for his position and function.

At the same time however, while we were convincing our Embassador, in another corner of the establishment, glasses were thrown on the floor and chairs flew through the air. I have not seen who did it, but I have a slight suspicion that even the Chairman, nevertheless an Indian, showed his loyalty to the Belgian cause in a very expressive way. Well ... he's not to blame, it's in his culture to be so enthusiastic! Probably he was thinking he was at an American party!
Anyway, being a little bit a chairman myself I can very well understand the endless frustrations he has to deal with when trying to get along with other cultures. And yes ... every now and then you really feel an urge to throw and destroy some small things here and there. All my sympathy for his difficult position.

One hour later the bar's shape was resembling the Gurgaon roads, including the potholes, the water up to the knees, ... I started to really feel comfortable from then on.

The waiters, probably foreseeing that the scenery went out of hand, had wisely chosen to go safely back to their family before 11pm, like they are used to do.
We locked up the manager in the kitchen though for possible administrative complications later on.
At 11:23 one of us found him pinched in the small window of the restroom (the female one - they always are so much cleaner!) trying to escape from the place.
We Belgians we never eat snacks when drinking so the kitchen seemed to us the best place to safeguard him. Having him locked there was a wise decision as to keep at least one responsible person in the establishment.

By democratic voting among the Belgians in the bar, and after having convinced our esteemed Embassador, we lowered the price of a Stella to the levels we are used to.
But only after every one agreed with it - I repeat it: 100rs INcluding service tax, VAT, TDS, service charge, education cess, wealth tax, fringe benefit tax, capital gain tax, customs duties, securities transaction tax and excise duty.

A form, form 32, was created by the Embassador himself and was duly stamped by the bar manager in the kitchen to make it offical.

Someone proposed to knot the Belgian national flag to some lightspots, a proposal we happily and proudly accepted. And so three trials took place to hang our national flag on the light bulbs. In fact every time that a power cut occured.
Unfortunately the guy got electrocuted when suddenly and unexpectedly the power came back. We are still glad that the proposal of the Belgian flag being raised came from one of the Indian maintenance employees.
This accident was thoroughly discussed among us and we agreed with unanimity that this was a freaky accident that could have happened anywhere.

After this small disturbance we didn't bother too much anymore about our national flag though, as we focused completely on the Inbev products.

Completely in accordance to Indian law and to guard the entrance to make sure that no minors of -25yrs age would enter the place, we expelled all 4 Minor-Belgians from the place, first those with a slight Netherlands-accent. They were given the important job of guarding the entrance, a job which they happily accepted against a few packs of sigarettes and some bottles of mineral water. That is to say ... completely in accordance with Indian food culture we filled some empty bottles with water from the tab. We couldn't do otherwise, because our agreement about the selling prices was only applicable to the beers.
These young people ... they just want to have a few smokes anyway...

With the money we saved on each Stella we did drink from then on, we could easily bribe the police officers who gathered at the entrance and wanted to enter to reclaim the bar as Indian territory. And still we got some extra dimes to give a few bucks to the small Indian kids still begging just outside our new Belgian territory.

We didn't understand how the police was so quickly aware about the riot at Ivy bar though.
I think now that we forgot to take the mobile from the manager who was locked up in the kitchen.

We closed the bar at 5:42am but released the bar manager first at 4:12am from his kitchen. In only half an hour he was able to clean up the whole place.

By 6am it was like no Belgian ever entered that bar!

(For a good understanding of the reader: everything mentioned here is fake and nothing of it comes even close to reality.)

It's easy to choose but it's difficult to know what you have chosen

Sometimes very simple things can become suddenly very complex.

I have a Belgian client here who wanted to have an Indian SIM-card with STD-functionality, so that he's able to phone internationally.
So we went to the Airtel shop in Gurgaon to make him "internationally phoneworthy". A clear choice was given to him by the Airtel salesman:
"Or you take a prepaid scheme, or you go for a postpaid scheme."

The question was refreshing simple. We did choose the postpaid scheme. So at the end of every month the invoice would be payed by the company.

Sounds easy, right?
Not in India!

After 3 weeks suddenly the client is not able to phone anymore. He dials Airtel to complain and the gentle young man in the callcenter tells him:
"But Sir, of course you cannot phone anymore."

-- "And why is that?"
"According to our pc, you have an amount which is NOT payed yet!"

-- "Exactly, my friend, I have chosen for a POSTpaid scheme. And I did not receive an invoice yet".
"Yes Sir, but the amount which is due by you is so very high!", the boy says.

-- "Really? That high?". The Belgian now begins to sweat and being scared for the information he's about to receive, mumbles: "How much is it?"
"Sir, your due amount is now over 1200rs!" (= 18 euro)

-- "1200 rupees?", the Belgian asks, "And you cut me off? How can this problem be solved now?"
"Yes sir, 1246 rupees to be very precise. It's almost half of my salary! The only way we can activate your SIM again, is if you come here to DEPOSIT enough money with us. Only then you'll be able to phone again."

-- "So you mean actually exactly what you are telling me?", the Belgian unbelievingly asks, "You really want me to PREPAY 2000 rupees so that I am able to make use of my POSTPAID scheme?".

"Exactly, Sir, you understand it right. You must be a damn clever white guy !"