CGPublisher for Commercial and Community Publishers

CGPublisher is:

a collaborative content development environment.
a workflow and communications manager.
a publishing and community building platform.
an e-commerce and free distribution space for creative and knowledge content.

CGPublisher connects creators and publishers through the Internet to produce and distribute digitally printed and electronic books, and other digital content. Publishing is not the same as putting up a website. The main differences are the collaborative relationships and systematic quality filters of publishing. CGPublisher brings traditional publishing processes to the Internet. In so doing, it streamlines publishing processes and dramatically reduces costs.

CGPublisher is:

A collaborative workspace which manages creator-creator collaborations and creator-publisher relations-the relationships that are the foundation of high-value publishing.
A way of reaching new markets with add-on products in addition to printed books, such as electronic books, or parts of books and customised books, as well as any other digital media.
A ‘back end’ to today’s online bookstore, but one without the inventory or warehousing that make book publishing and retailing such a prohibitively expensive business. CGPublisher can provide an online connection with a printing company who may print and dispatch directly to customers, as few as one book at a time.
A multimodal media platform, equally comfortable to be publishing audio, video, still images, multimedia-any digital content, in other words.

CGPublisher manages:

Workflow: streamlines the relationship between the publisher and authors, and the relationships between a group of creators and contributors working on a collaborative project: project conception, proposals, version control (drafts and editions), editorial workflow, peer refereeing and copyright agreements.
Production and Distribution: at the point of publication, simultaneously allows production of p-books (digitally printed books) and e-books (electronic books which can be downloaded to a personal computer or reading device). CGPublisher facilitates the printing and dispatch of p-books, both through direct retail to the public, and B-2-B distribution to physical and other online bookstores.
Retailing: creates the publisher’s own online bookstore and publishing site. No technical computing experience is required-it takes about half an hour to create a publisher’s website through a series of online forms. The site is fully maintainable by the publisher, taking about ten minutes to upload a newly published book. Products are retailed through a secure, e-commerce enabled bookstore, and royalties can be calculated for authors according to terms negotiated in the online contract.
Web Presence: creates a website for every author which can easily be updated by them and from which their books can also be purchased. This encourages the author to promote their own work, and means that they become an additional point of sale. The look and feel of the author and publisher sites is fully customisable.

CGPublisher technology is:

Low-tech and accessible, working on any computer with an Internet connection, a web browser and any content creation software, such as Word or Quark.
The high-tech future of the Internet, with open source foundations, server-located and standards-compliant. The underlying technology is Common Ground Markup Language (CGML), which uses Common Ground’s patent pending ‘interlanguage’ mechanism to connect internationally recognised e-commerce, print, e-text, e-learning, digital rights management and cataloguing standards. CGML’s XML standards foundation means that data generated through CGPublisher will survive further technology transitions. Common Ground research and development is working towards the goal of rendering to audio, electronic reading devices (e-book readers, personal digital assistants or mobile phones), and multilingual/multifont applications supported by machine translation.

CGPublisher is designed for:

Publishers of all sizes, but particularly small to medium-sized publishers burdened by the cost of production and inventory, and self-publishing authors.
Universities and research institutes who are seeking greater control over their IP.
Professional associations, one of whose central roles is knowledge sharing but who are hampered by the cost structures, skills and resources traditionally required by periodical and reference book publishing.
Communities of common interest who have valuable but largely hidden content knowledge, such as hobby or craft groups.
Schools and other educational institutions who want to create materials customised to their learners’ needs, and make these easily and widely available.
Government at all levels, one of whose prime means of communication with communities is through published content.
Enterprises requiring a more systematised approach to knowledge management, including publication for internal corporate purposes as well as external communication with clients and the wider public.
Development agencies, where a few computers combined with digital print technologies can be used to create local knowledge, and cross the ‘digital divide’ to reach many people without computer or Internet access.
Libraries, which are increasingly being called upon to be specialised and local knowledge facilitators in addition to their historic role as knowledge aggregators.
Software vendors wanting to extend their product portfolios to offer an integrated information and communications technology infrastructure.
The graphic arts and multimedia community, where there is a need for a collaborative approach to design and intellectual property management.

The benefits of using CGPublisher are:

Quality: manages the collaborations that are the key to excellence in traditional publishing.
Workflow: structures and streamlines the flow of files from conception to production.
Product range: content can be delivered in multiple digital formats and free content can be made available alongside commercial content.
Markets: opens new markets for content, and builds a community around publisher and author sites.
Costs: creates workflow efficiencies, and eliminates the need for inventory of printed material.
Standards: interoperates with major e-commerce, print, electronic rendering, library cataloguing, digital rights management and e-learning standards.
Inexpensive: built on resilient open source foundations.
Flexible: can be packaged as part of a wider information and communications infrastructure.

CGPublisher makes publishing:

More democratic, by minimising the financial and technical barriers access to ’real’ publishing, and providing easy access to conventional bookstores, online bookstores and bookdata services, as well as high Internet visibility.
More diverse, by giving voice to small and distinctive communities of practice.
Higher quality, by returning publishing decisions to communities which have credibility because they understand content, whilst facilitating the rigorous concept development, peer refereeing, contract negotiation, collaborative development, and editorial and approvals processes of professional publishing.

	For Creators	For Publishers	For Printers/Format Managers
Functions	Stores drafts of works in progress and maintains a record of the workflow. Stores the source files of published works. Provides space for collaborative work with other creators and contributors to joint projects. Shapes and sends publishing proposals. Holds copyright data and agreements alongside works. Provides the author with an easy-tomaintain website. Sells the author's works through their own online bookstore.	Manages content based on traditional publishing roles and workflows. Maintains version control (successive 'drafts' of works in progress and publicly accessible 'editions'). Provides an area for negotiating copyright with creators, and storing agreements linked to works. Provides publishers with easy-to-maintain website including online bookstore. Sells works direct to public in print and electronic formats. Manages invoicing, distribution and fulfilment.	Forwards print orders direct from bookstore purchases or publisher orders. Provides access to the publisher's file archive for printing of final books. Creates opportunities for printers to take on distribution and fulfilment roles, direct to the final customer.
Protocols and Security	Generates metadata outputs that create a 'real' published work. Collaborators interact with each other and the system using familiar tools: their web browser and email package. Allows some collaborators to modify works, and others to view and comment on them via a system of varied role definitions and authorisations.	Can assign ISBNs (book product numbers), DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers), barcodes and other formal publication data. Can generate an ONIX B-2-B e-commerce record which will take the book directly into the global publishing trade. In addition to printed and electronic books, can publish any digital content.	Provides access to files of printable books. Supplies print instructions as JDF (Job Definition Format) output.*

	For Retailers	For Libraries	For Consumers
Functions	Facilitates wholesale orders by conventional bookstores directly from publishers. Provides a simple way to establish an online retail presence with an easily created and maintained online bookstore, adding works for sale that have been published elsewhere, or second hand works. Allows a bookstore to become a publisher.	Catalogues works by generating electronic library records. Provides a comprehensive search function. Allows a library to become a publisher.	Supplies an attractive bookstore where selected pages from purchasable content can be browsed. Provides access to free and supplementary content on the author and publisher websites. Makes it easy to purchase works through secure e-commerce enabled ordering. Creates a space where consumers can join online communities of interest located alongside author and publisher websites. Allows a consumer to move easily to the role of creator or contributor, and vice versa.
Protocols and Security	Can generate ONIX compatible metadata for B-2-B transactions and bookdata records.	Can generate MARC, METS or MODS electronic library cataloguing records.*	Generates a consumer rights agreement for unencrypted electronic files with same level of security as conventional printed books. Stamps digital consumer rights details on each electronic file. Conforms to emerging digital rights description and encryption standards.*

* Feature at R&D; stage.

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