Traditional print publishing revolves around strict gatekeeping mechanisms that choose texts to be published based on the market. Many digital texts go through the same process, and are purchased through various digital devices. But as taylorjp mentioned, Digital Publishing encompasses much more than the digital texts, most often e-books, publishing houses supply for large brand name stores and apps. Unlike print publishing, Digital Publishing includes, fan fiction, social media, encyclopedias, and much more.Traditional print publishing revolves around strict gatekeeping mechanisms that choose texts to be published based on the market. Many digital texts go through the same process, and are purchased through various digital devices. But as taylorjp mentioned, Digital Publishing encompasses much more than the digital texts, most often e-books, publishing houses supply for large brand name stores and apps. Unlike print publishing, Digital Publishing includes, fan fiction, social media, encyclopedias, and much more.
Self-publishing is a large part of Digital Publishing. With the advances of technology in the last decade, self-publishing has skyrocketed because of the easy accessibility technology offers for authors who want complete control over their book. Until recently, self-publishing was always something I never took seriously. But self-publishing, a lot of times through platforms such as Wattpad, has produced many bestselling self-published authors. According to “What Does 2016 hold for Digital Publishing?”, “Wattpad is working with authors from Simon & Schuster, Sourcebooks, Cosmopolitan, and other publishers.” This shows that even as self-publishing has a negative connotation, publishing houses are transitioning to seeking out good self-published materials, rather than just relying on the submissions they receive.
As feustle talked about, Digital Publishing offers a different interactive experience than text. John W. Warren gives examples of COMPARE, Inanimate Alice, and Flat World’s textbooks, all which are completely different interactive texts, that serve for different audiences. Flat World’s textbooks in particular, were open-source in which the company “…provides tools to modify and remix texts…” The textbooks offer a collaborative experience in which Professors were able to customize texts for their classes.
With digital texts becoming more interactive with the reader, and transitioning from being just a replication of a printed book on a digital device, we see how digital texts are becoming a completely different entity. Publisher Weekly mentioned in their article that publishers seem more willing to incorporate many of the new interactive techniques in their digital texts.
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