Put simply digital opens up markets where a traditional print-focussed strategy, with all the inherent costs involved with printing, warehousing, distribution and remaindered stock, will often be unviable.
Per a report in the UK trade journal The Bookseller this week, Washington DC-based publisher Rowman & Littlefield, building on acquisitions, is expanding its global footprint this year with a focus on Europe and Asia.
Rowman & Littlefield’s Alex Kind, The Bookseller explains,
has pivoted to the newly created role of European and digital sales manager, which will see Rowman & Littlefield take direct account management of Europe for the first time in its history. Kind will also be heading up R&L’s acceleration of digital delivery of content globally.
Fazi Ramjhun has moved into a new role as international sales manager for Asia Pacific, with particular focus on accounts based in Japan, Korea and South East Asia.
It’s not clear how much this particular decision is down to last year’s pandemic-driven global pivot to digital publishing, but is an example of the way western publishers are looking afresh at digitally-focussed global opportunities.
Put simply digital opens up markets where a traditional print-focussed strategy, with all the inherent costs involved with printing, warehousing, distribution and remaindered stock, will often be unviable.
As this year unfolds and the pandemic continues to ravage the planet, we can expect digital to assume an ever more central role in the global publishing ecosystem.
Savvy publishers will, like Rowman & Littlefield, be exploring the global possibilities a hybrid print and digital strategy brings, not clinging to pre-pandemic models that were already in decline before this decade began.
