Ohel Leah Synagogue

OLS: CONNECT

Kislev 5768 - December 2007                                                                                   Hong Kong
THE LIFE OF A PUBLISHER
Text Box:   What it is got to do with publishing? Do we get excited when we read an article or a news story? Is it skillful? Can anyone do it? In many ways, the role of the publisher is the constant juggling act, the ring master, some times the clown, always trying to be diplomatic, having lots of ideas and implementing from scratch. Publishing is a generic word ¡V an industry to itself. The career path can be in the form of the content itself such as writing or reporting; the production, design of text layout; the revenue sales process such as subscription marketing, sponsorship and advertising; or mastering the distribution & circulation channel ¡V final delivery of the content. To be the Publisher all of the above need to be part of your make-up or at least a clear understanding on how each function works and operates, similar to a composer of a symphony. You need the initial spark, the motivation and vision to create the editorial product and understand the complete process to final delivery. The success or failure of any publishing venture relies heavily on these key ingredients and they all need to be achieved. Defining the correct distribution channel for the published work for example hard copy print or internet website or both; who the subscribers/readers; revenue funding either through advertising sales or finding a publishing company to take the editorial and pay you a royalty fee (this is common for writers wishing to publish their own books). The commercial publishing industry tends to be divided into two categories: Trade or Consumer publishing. I have had a fairly long career in trade publishing an area that requires a very clear publishing vision. It services particular industries, for example the banking sector, medical profession or IT. Trade publishing is more defined and in general more profitable, it requires less diplomacy and less juggling with the sector your dealing with and normally the recipients of the publication are employees of companies ¡Vless loyalty needed as the publisher. In reality you are tending to provide a Business -to-Business service. Consumer publishing is more open & difficult to break into as a novice. It is extremely competitive, you are most likely to be chasing the same type of advertisers from other competitive publications, and competing editorial content, and similar types of subscribers. Categories, such as lifestyle or hobby magazine, require very careful content planning a very aggressive delivery channel and a lot of customer feedback ¡Vthe subscriber is the king! Their feedback will guide your advertisers. In general an expensive publishing operation to fund and to develop Then there is a targeted audience of ¡§special interest¡¨, community publishing which brings me on to Jewish Times Asia, launched last year. An idea I have had nurturing for a considerable time probably around 10 years since moving to Hong Kong in early 1990. Publisher are very patient individuals ¡V if it¡¦s a good idea, unique (one-of- a- kind), that potentially can last for ever, you need to get the basics right. The problems identified at the very beginning are now slowly being addressed. Jewish residents have been extremely low profile, very scattered, not organized, and not that many in number. Recent improvements have been the opening up of Jewish community centres in Hong Kong and around the region. Also the growth of the communities has increased the circulation base, with more Jewish resident families moving into the region. A big concern was how to fill the content is there enough Jewish news in Asia? Would Jewish residents be interested in being interviewed? How do we balance the content flow across a very wide and diverse Jewish community? And lastly and more importantly, how will it survive Advertising, paid subscription, or private funding? Publishing is a risk business- there is no concrete guarantees. You need to have a very strong stomach; in addition too a passion and determination beyond the norm ¡V the inventor/creator mode. The sense of achievement is very real and unique. Jewish Times Asia has been a tremendous challenge, the idea of putting together the regions first content community newspaper in Asia. The paper has now be accompanied by its newly launched website www.jewishtimesasia.org a completely different set of skills to implement. The potential could be far greater as the paper can now be accessed globally. Asia¡¦s first Jewish newspaper is truly now portable!

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