Building books from books: the next page in publishing

This report documents the launch of a new Web application (BookRiff) as a case study of one opportunity for the book publishing industry to increase revenues by diversifying digital publishing platforms. Because this application is a venture of D&M Publishers Inc, it has a unique position among other digital initiatives that largely originate outside of the industry. As such, this study demonstrates both the needs of the publishing industry to expand digital revenue streams, and the capabilities and limitations of Internet applications to respond to those needs. Part one describes publishers’ current goals relating to digitization. Part two describes BookRiff as a viable incentive to overcome current problems, as well as a revolutionary idea in the digital publishing area. Part three documents building the site to demonstrate how publishers’ concerns are dealt with as the application takes shape, and how they will come into play as it continues to evolve.