The educational publishing industry, or the eLearning industry, has been booming ever since it first came into action. In fact, according to Statista, the eLearning product market worldwide is expected to surpass 243 billion U.S. dollars by the year 2022.
The importance of educational publishing cannot be understated in the present time. Educational electronic book publishing helps the publishers:
- Achieve better productivity
- Cut down on costs
- Bring their product idea to life, thereby enabling them to conquer the market.
As far as the students and the teachers are concerned, both of them aspire for a way of learning that is not only quick but equally effective. Not to forget, the increased engagement factor, which is a must for most of the eLearning courses.
So, let’s dive a little deeper into the world of educational eBook publishing and learn more about its future, common challenges faced by the publishers, and some result-oriented strategies.
The future of educational publishing
Digital publishing has totally changed the face of modern education, for sure. But where is this revolution headed to? It has been on the rise as of late but who’s to say how long this era would continue? Well, if you were to believe and analyze some of the latest surveys and statistics of educational publishing, they do suggest that eLearning, is here to stay.
Source: Gutenberg Technology
The possible reasons why scales usually tip in the direction of digital educational publishing could be any of the following:
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Easy distribution and cost-effectiveness
When it comes to educational content, there’s always a constant incoming of new information and updated content. Outdated information must be updated and distributed accordingly, and that too well in time. Traditional publishing makes it harder in the case of mass distribution, thanks to the huge cost implications. However, things are entirely different in the case of eBooks.
eBooks can easily be updated and distributed in the most cost effective and convenient manner possible. There are a lot of easy content distribution methods such as a dedicated mobile app, online eBooks, etc. that make it easy for both the publishers and the readers to print and access the latest content respectively. A professional who renders eBook distribution services can help you better understand your distribution options.
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Interactive content
eLearning makes it possible to include interactive elements such as images, videos, quizzes, etc. within the content. These elements work way better in engaging more learners in a way that stagnant content can never do. Modern eLearning material features external links to additional resources and various multimedia interfaces instantly improves the readers’ learning curve. Moreover, static content is too mainstream now. Modern learners have an eye for engaging content, which can only be delivered via digital educational publishing.
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Easy access to analytics
ePublishing solutions these days support analytics, allowing publishers to gain a real-time analysis of their published content. They can track user behavior and analyze their content performance in order to devise suitable strategies along with decision making, content organization, and indexing, etc. Publishers can easily alter the content they produce in order to make it work well for the targeted audience.
Result-oriented strategies for successful educational ePublishing
Digital educational publishing is flourishing, without a doubt, but so is the competition. With more and more publishers turning to ePublishing, the strategies that you choose to go with must be effective enough to ensure some profits. Well, here’s how you can do that:
1. Create attractive content
Your educational content may be in the form of an eBook or a full-fledged eLearning course. Either way, you need to ensure that it is worth the users’ read. Here are some tips you can use to create effective content:
- Just like the way traditional books are created, eBooks must be created by collecting questions from your target customers and then providing the answers to the same via your eBooks or online courses.
- Use customer personas to figure out what your customers really want and then work towards the same with your eBook content.
- Structure your content well. Organize everything in a neat manner to make your content more readable.
2. Choose your publishing format wisely
A lot depends on the publishing format you choose. For example, what interactive elements would you be allowed to include, the kind of annotations, etc? Here are some formats you can choose from:
- Interactive PDF
- HTML5
- ePub for education
- PDF converted to Flash
- XML version with a player
3. Market your content right
Whether it’s an eBook or an online course, you need to market it right in order to make it visible to the right audience.
Here are some marketing strategies that you can follow:
- A good landing page is a must. Readers will only enter their email address to download your eBook if your landing page is good enough and actually intrigues them. And not just that, it even helps a lot in building a good email list which will prove to be worthwhile later.
- Invite people to subscribe to your eBooks so that they can be easily informed of all the recent updates. You may do that with the help of a compelling pop-up or an interesting newsletter.
- Social ads are a great way to put your content or eBook in front of a quality audience and gather some clicks and impressions. Use social media advertising or paid advertising to market your content to the audience you prefer.
- Repackaging eBooks into a different format can also introduce you to new possibilities. For example, your old PDF eBook could be repacked in ePub format after adding some interactiveness to make it even more interesting and saleable.
- Influencer marketing, when done right, works like a charm. Approach relevant influencers who can really help with your sales and work hard to get your content featured by them.
Educational publishing can be a rewarding business, especially now when a majority of teachers and students are realizing the importance of digital content. As a publisher, all you need is a definitive strategy that is good enough to work in your favor and benefit you in terms of business profits.
Looking for higher-ed publishing solutions? Get the best ones devised at SunTec India. Our ePublishing experts have all the know-how of educational publishing and can help you come up with the most effective strategies ever. Just write to us at info@suntecindia.com to get started.
