Long ago, publishers built the first global networks, even if they didn’t call them that. They were bookstores and warehouses. Publishing still relies on interlocking networks and exchanges, but in 2015 they are virtual and digital.
Rights are the essential links in the new distribution networks. Which rights are most prized? Which markets are on the rise? Will demand for digital products make print extinct? What does it take to keep you safe from piracy?
In a recent webinar for CCC, Publishing Technology’s Randy Petway outlined the basics of a rights portfolio audit and discussed some of the 21st-century approaches to successful worldwide management of subsidiary rights.
“We live at a time where a number of forces have converged. We’ve got the shift from print to digital. Borders, too, are starting to shift, and the expectations of users and consumers of content are starting to shift,” Petway tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally. “I think all of those things have converged to create a situation where rights, now more than ever, are, or should be, a focus of publishers and really any type of organization that creates content.”
As executive vice president, global product strategy for Publishing Technology, Randy Petway leads strategic development for Publishing Technology’s enterprise and digital publishing solutions, including advance, pub2web, and ingentaconnect. Jointly operating from Europe, in Oxford, the UK, and North America, with offices in Boston and Somerset, New Jersey, Publishing Technology was formed in 2007 following the merger of Ingenta, Vista, and Publishers Communication Group, and is listed on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange. Publishing Technology also operates locally in Brazil, India, China, and Australia.