AUDIOBOOKS U P D A T E F R O M T H E P U B L I S H I N G W O R K I N - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

AUDIOBOOKS U P D A T E F R O M T H E P U B L I S H I N G W O R K I N G G R O U P @ T H E W 3 C

AGENDA Who is the Publishing Working Group ? The Audiobooks Use Case Challenges in Audiobooks Translating Challenges into Specifications Feedback The Road Ahead

PUBLISHING OUR GOAL WORKING The Publishing Working Group is focused on bringing the modern web platform and all of its benefits to the publishing industry GROUP USE CASE DRIVEN We work from use cases pulled from our community to then develop standards that address real problems PROFILES From the use cases , we develop " profiles " that address specific needs for segments of the industry , like audiobooks

THE AUDIOBOOKS USE CASE BRINGING STANDARDS TO A MATURE INDUSTRY

AUDIOBOOKS THROUGH HISTORY 1877 1931 1994 1997 TODAY Thomas Edison The AFB and Library The Audio Publishers Audible . com develops Audiobooks is a $ 3 + presents of Congress create the Association the first digital media billion dollar industry " Phonographic books " " Talking Books establishes the name player , bringing the and represents the as a potential use of Program " to provide " audiobook " as the convenience of direct biggest growth in his new invention , the reading material for industry standard download to the publishing since phonograph injured war veterans audio world ebooks and blind people

According to the APA the AUDIOBOOKS market is only growing . $ 2 . 5bn of the market is in the US MARKET alone , the markets in countries like France , Spain , India , and $ 3 + billion and growing China are only beginning . The audiobooks industry is mature and many of the current players are the same companies involved in the . sale and production of ebooks . Some were even involved in the standardization of EPUB . And yet, there is no common audiobooks specification.

WHAT ARE THE AUDIOBOOK USE CASES ? Listening Portability A user should be able to listen to an A user should be able to download , stream , audiobook end to end without input , or offline their audiobook . without interruption . Navigation Accessibility A user should always know or be able to find A user , regardless of ability , should be able out where they are in an audiobook . to enjoy their content .

THE AUDIOBOOKS CHALLENGE WHAT WE FACE WHEN NO SPECIFICATION IS PRESENT

STATE OF THE AUDIOBOOKS UNION : No standard distribution , delivery , or production standard .

LET ' S MAKE AN AUDIOBOOK Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte Cover Image Audio Files Track List Supplemental Content

THE DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL DISTRIBUTOR A DISTRIBUTOR B RETAILER A RETAILER B has content no content track list ( manifest ) audio files standards standard in JSON format formatted in M4B audio in MP3 audio in MP3 audio files metadata and format track list in TXT delivered via other files delivered track list sent via format hosted URL separately email cover image as all files delivered cover in JPEG JPEG via FTP to a single supplement in PDF they do not support folder on the supplemental retailer ' s server content

EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT Different Standards = Different Problems Retailers can receive bad or incorrect data The user experience suffers Audiobooks in this system are siloed to their retail / app platform This system limits independent content creators or small publishers

TRANSLATING CHALLENGES INTO SPECFICATIONS USE CASES AND MORE

WHAT MAKES THE CURRENT EXPERIENCE AN AUDIOBOOK We looked at the current market of audiobooks experiences and UNIQUE ? determined the core use cases . MISSING FUNCTIONALITY What are common use cases that are either currently underserved or not represented by audiobooks experiences ? What could we add to the experience that the modern web platform can provide ?

FOUR NEW USE CASES SUPPLEMENTAL TABLE OF SYNCHRONIZED PACKAGING CONTENT CONTENTS MEDIA Provides a method for B2B exchange , and Images , graphs , data , A rich HTML Sync audio content simplified user any non - audio formatted table of with text . Give users downloads . content a content contents for content the opportunity to creator believes is parity with an EPUB move between text needed to complete or print book .. Gives and rich audio , or the experience . the user the ability to follow along . Make always know where content accessible to they are in the users regardless of content . ability . S C R S | B R A N D G U I D E L I N E S

FEEDBACK

The Argument Against The Argument For Audiobook publishing is an established Moving to a single specification eliminates the industry , every audio publisher is comfortable need for multiple workflows , opens audiobooks with their current practices , why introduce new to the modern web platform , brings new work with changes to how they make , features to the product , and simplifies file distribute , and develop files ? delivery . Retailers who have implemented a similar standard have seen massive reductions in processing time .

WE NEED THE SUPPORT OF THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY Specifications are fueled by feedback . Without feedback , we risk not providing what is needed , so please log issues on Github , contact us via email , or tweet to us ! We want to hear your thoughts .

THE ROAD AHEAD What happens next TODAY SUMMER 2019 CANDIDATE RECOMMENDATION The First Public Working Reach out to the industry We will be looking for Draft of the Audiobooks for more feedback , seek implementors to adopt profile has been out implementors , and our spec and provide published . prepare the implementations and test implementation and test results plans .

KEEP IN TOUCH MAILING ADDRESS https :// github . com / w3c / wpub EMAIL ADDRESS wendy . reid @ rakuten . com TWITTER @ wendy _ a _ reid