Contributed by Sean Gargan, Director of SAS Publishing
Julie Platt, Editor-in-Chief of SAS Press
Peggy Haas, Manager of Publishing Production and Pre-Media Services

Upon returning from the exhilarating Digital Book World 2011 conference—and from being stranded in a New York snowstorm—SAS Publishing’s Sean Gargan, Julie Platt, and Peggy Haas thawed out by answering a few questions about their experience.

What was the most surprising fact or concept that you learned at the conference?

Peggy Haas (PH): The shift in focus from other conferences; discoverability rather than searchability. This was in the context of social media and getting the word out. You need to help your users locate the book first. Also related to this was the fact that publishers are no longer the curator of metadata but they are also the collectors.

Sean Gargan (SG): This particular conference included survey results in addition to presentations on best practices. Many of the surveys focused on reading habits in the digital age; one survey in particular noted that with the proliferation of mobile and dedicated e-reading devices, people are reading more. And more people are reading.

Julie McAlpine Platt (JMP): Some presentations focused on how to determine who your customers are and how to reach them. The advice was to build strong communities around the publisher’s products. At SAS, the strong connection between our users and our publishing program has existed from the beginning. We began the SAS Press program (formerly Books by Users) based on suggestions from customers. We develop titles based on feedback from customers. Our authors are also our customers. To me, it was rewarding to hear others recommend practices that we’ve always had in place and know are successful.

How can SAS and JMP users currently access electronic SAS Press books and documentation?

(PH): Kindle proper and Kindle apps on smartphones and tablets.

(SG): We offer our content through many channels and partners (in addition to providing SAS Documentation free from our Web site in both html and PDF format). SAS Press books are available through GoogleBooks, Amazon Kindle, Mobi, etc. We also partner with Safari, Books 24x7, and NetLibrary. We recently signed an agreement with Apple and will soon have SAS Press books available through the iBook store.

Are there any new plans in the works to provide additional digital content?

(PH): A lot of our effort now is focused on making SAS Press content available natively on the iPad.

(SG): As the digital landscape evolves, we will provide our customers with access to SAS content when and where it is most convenient for them. At Digital Book World, predictions were made that by 2015 market share for hardcopy and digital content will be 50/50. This is amazing growth considering that today digital content makes up only 5% of the total industry.

The changing device landscape also adds to the challenge. Consider this…Apple introduced the iPad on April 3, 2010. This year, over half of the 1,200 attendees at Digital Book World were using an iPad. Keeping up with devices and opportunities for delivering content is extremely exciting!

At SAS Global Forum I look forward to speaking with users about how their own reading habits are changing. Please stop by the SAS Training and Bookstore booth to share your thoughts.

(JMP): With respect to digital content, our mission is to make SAS Press content available immediately, in the form the user wants, and in a form most appropriate for the content. Delivery of SAS Press content through various channels (Safari, Books24x7, netLibrary, Kindle, iBookstore, and Google Editions) is well underway. We’re now building on that work and looking at how we optimize delivery of the content for digital delivery by adding more linking, animations, etc.

Stay tuned for additional posts about our electronic offerings