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Digital Newsbooks are visually rich eBooks on timely, newsworthy topics. Their content consists primarily of journalistic investigative and explanatory stories that were originally published by news organizations in printed editions and/or websites.
Since January 2007, Roger Fidler, RJI’s program director for digital publishing, and his graduate student assistants have produced more than 40 Digital Newsbooks at RJI for Digital Publishing Alliance members.
From May 2009 through June 2010, RJI partnered with eReader Outfitters to host a pilot online store where Digital Newsbooks could be browsed, purchased and downloaded. In that period, 16 newsbooks were produced at RJI for seven DPA members and placed in the pilot online store. Revenue was shared between eReader Outfitters and the participating news organizations.
While only a few hundred newsbooks were sold through the pilot online store, the field test demonstrated that news organizations should be able to generate significant revenue from their special reports even when the content can be freely accessed on websites. However, to do so, they will need to actively promote their newsbooks on their websites.
Nearly all of the newsbooks sold through the pilot store were produced at RJI for the St. Petersburg Times and the Center for Public Integrity. Both news organizations promoted their newsbooks and provided links to the store on their websites. Digital Newsbooks are produced at RJI at no cost to members of the RJI Digital Publishing Alliance.
RJI is now in discussions with MBS Direct, an international distributor of electronic textbooks and course materials, about selling Digital Newsbooks through its online store in the near future.
RJI will continue to produce Digital Newsbooks and provide training for members of the Digital Publishing Alliance. Members are free to sell their Digital Newsbooks on other websites.
The Digital Newsbook model also has been adapted for magazines. Examples can be downloaded at no cost from the Global Journalist website. No special software is required other than a PDF viewer. The digital editions of Global Journalist magazine are produced at RJI using the Digital Newsbook model. They are optimized for reading on the Apple iPad (using the GoodReader app), e-readers and smart phones as well as on notebook and desktop computers.
For more information about the Digital Publishing Alliance, Digital Newsbook Publishing Project and the Reynolds Journalism Institute, please contact Roger Fidler at fidlerr@rjionline.org; office: (573) 884-0175; mobile: (573) 808-2137.
