Welcome to Business Day TV with Terry Bradshaw. Today we feature a company that is poised to change the way we look at reading and learning. Ingram Content Group is world’s biggest and most trusted distributor of content to over 38000 retailers, libraries, schools and distribution partners.
The video segment below allows access to the company, how they work and the vision of where they believe eBooks and technology are moving towards.
In a world of high tech marvels, many old school methods are in danger of disappearing. Among those facing extinction is the beloved paper book. Treasured by many, the traditional book is having to battle against newer, more innovative media. Ingram Content Group, a behind the scenes engine powering world wide access to physical and digital books, has proven that old school paperbacks can happily co-exist with electronic media.
Skip: Ingram Content Group is the link between tens of thousands of publishers and tens of thousands of brick and mortar and online retailers, libraries, and schools. We help content, whether digital or print, reach readers around the globe.
Terry: The first step toward purely digital media is actually the most promising development in book publishing since Guttenberg’s printing press print on demand. The traditional business model of the publishing industries has printing thousands of copies at a time in order to achieve a desirable cost per copy. With a fully feasible cost effective means of printing small batches from a single book to a few hundred, the need for warehousing large inventories and the wasteful practice of destroying slow selling editions is now unnecessary. Ingram’s Lightning Source supplies retailers, libraries, and publishers worldwide and can print and ship a single book directly to a reader in eight to 12 hours.
Skip: Print on demand makes it possible for a single copy of a book to be made for a single reader. It’s now possible for all the world’s books to reside as digital files to be downloaded instantly or printed to order.
Terry: Gone are the days of searching endlessly for out of print books at your local library or book store. Printing on demand allows books that sell just a few copies to remain available and offers a rebirth of volumes that have long been out of print. It saves not only paper but other resources that go into huge press runs and prevents large numbers of books from ending up in landfills.
Robert: Thomas Nelson’s move into print on demand and digital publishing has really produced two very important results for us. As a company, we’re much more efficient. And the second thing is, we capture more sales. At the end of the day, for the consumer, it really gives them the choice that they expect – either a print book or an eBook.
Terry: What lies ahead is a full departure from physical volumes, the eBook. Already immensely popular, there are several suppliers of eBook readers, each with their own format. In the academic environment, eBooks brings the costs of mandatory textbooks down to an affordable level and provide students with a whole new interactive learning experience, enhancing the value of curricula.
Shawn: eBooks allow us to take advantage of all these features and functions available in these new devices. Through the use of sight, sound, and motions, students can truly interact with their subject matter, which greatly enhances the learning process.
Terry: Ingram’s Vital Source offer eTextbooks to 1.65 million users on 6,000 school campuses around the globe. Vital Source eTextbooks are available online through desktop or mobile and operate on a wide range of devices perfectly capable with the ever-increasing mobility of the reading public.
Shawn: Vital Source is a learning platform. It’s designed to allow students to access their information when and where they want. They can download the book, view it online or look at it on a mobile device. They can also share notes and highlights, so they can study in groups or focus on key subject matter.
Terry: As one sage observer put it, the book is not dead, it’s just shape-shifting. The chasm between writer and reader is getting narrower all the time to the benefit of both.
Skip: We’re living in the most amazing time. Storytellers will be able to use technology to interact with readers like never before. Educators can engage students no matter how they learn. Ingram Content Group plays a role in launching the next generation of books, physical, digital, or whatever the future may hold.