MP Publishing Seeks to Win Rush for eBook Gold

MP Publishing has a simple, yet ambitious goal: Become the world’s leading publisher of eBooks for small- and medium-sized publishing companies. Their method: Acquire the digital rights for thousands of book titles from small to medium-sized publishers and make them available for download through mass distribution retail channels as well as their own e-commerce website, skoobestore.com.

Challenge Building an eBook Business from Scratch

In developing markets, the competitive advantage typically belongs to the early entrants. So MP Publishing needed to build a critical mass of eBook titles as quickly as possible—ahead of other eBook retailers. Moreover, any eBook publisher with a substantial inventory would have the edge in reselling converted titles to major eBook retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble. To get that edge, and sustain it against potential new competitors, MP Publishing needed a proven eBook conversion partner that could rapidly transform its titles according to stringent quality standards.

Solution A Custom Workflow and Team for Rapid Front-End Conversion of Live Magazine Content

MP Publishing turned to Aptara. In the late summer of 2009, Aptara began transforming book titles for MP Publishing, taking source files in formats that included Quark, InDesign, and PDF. Because MP Publishing works with numerous publishers, the most expedient way to transfer files was overnight via Flash drives or hard drives to Aptara’s content production facilities.

Using its proprietary fast-publishing process, Aptara is turning titles around in three to five business days, depending on their complexity. Content engineering teams perform image extraction, XHTML generation, DTA, DTD and style-sheet applications, and QA review at various stages of the workflow via Aptara’s advanced .Net, PERL and Java scripts. When the final ePub packets are ready, Aptara delivers them to MP publishing for immediate distribution through multiple channels and delivery mediums, including the Amazon Kindle, Sony Reader, and smart phones.

Results Beating the Rush

Aptara has helped MP Publishing beat the rush and achieve its goal of building an eBook repository of thousands of titles across a wide range of genres. With a swift, lean production supply chain, MP Publishing is reaping the profits of a successful eBook distribution model.

Combined, MP Publishing’s strategy and Aptara’s innovative eBook solutions are having far-reaching implications for the industry as a whole. Small to medium sized publishers are being provided with a simple and direct route to the eBook marketplace, as well as to new revenue streams.

Aptara’s unique eBook Production Platform and fast-publishing technologies continue to accelerate the pace of eBook creation across the industry, helping meet publishers’ and readers demands for high-quality, affordable eContent.

Added Value Enriching MP Publishing’s eBooks

Recognizing the multi-media potential of eBooks, Aptara has helped MP Publishing add a number of features to make the books more interactive and engaging to readers. For example, Aptara’s eBook Production Platform easily incorporates navigational links within figures, tables and section headers. And with its extensive experience converting graphics-intensive comic and children’s books, Aptara is able to convert even the most lavishly illustrated titles in MP Publishing’s portfolio.