Sourcebooks Announces Agile Publishing Model

A New Platform for Authors--Faster, More Flexible, and with Reader Feedback

Sourcebooks is excited to announce the creation of an Agile Publishing Model (APM) that will allow for the rapid and interactive development of books, ebooks, articles, videos, and other content by its authors, where the content evolves through a partnership between the author and their community. This framework allows for a more iterative publishing process—making content available faster, getting real-time customer feedback, and shaping the final product based on the collaboration between the author and customer.

“The traditional publishing model—long schedules, creating in a vacuum, lack of involvement with the readers of the end product—drives some authors crazy,” says Dominique Raccah, CEO and publisher of Sourcebooks. “This model is a great fit for experts who are highly immersed in their field and where the field is evolving rapidly.”

Entering the Shift Age, by futurist, advisor, and speaker David Houle, will be the first book published under this model in fall 2012. Sourcebooks will release several related ebooks and other materials from Houle as part of the APM over the upcoming months.

“The model came to our attention from work O’Reilly Media was doing, and what was really interesting to me was having a physical book come at the end of a community-building process,” says Raccah.

Houle is one of the featured keynote speakers at the Digital Book World Conference & Expo on January 25. Raccah will speak at the opening panel of the conference (“The CEO’s Perspective: Lessons Learned”; January 24), where she will discuss the Sourcebooks APM.

Attendees of the conference will receive an exclusive ebook, featuring an excerpt from Houle’s book The Shift Age and a compilation of his publishing-related columns, and will be invited to join the Entering the Shift Age blog that will serve not only as the community site for review and discussion of the book, but also as a platform for the development of the Sourcebooks APM.

“One of the reasons we are really excited to announce this new model at Digital Book World is that we will be able to test it with individuals who are interested in new, innovative ways to bring content to readers,” says Raccah. “We want this group to be the first to interact with David’s content, provide feedback, and think through various models within the project. What better way to launch than with a futurist.”

Working together, Houle and the blog community will shape and change the content as the book moves from its initial stages as an interactive, digital platform to a “traditionally published” product.

“I’m thrilled to be with Sourcebooks,” says Houle. “I have been searching for a publisher to partner with on inventive, inclusive, future-facing publishing models—Dominique and her team are doing just that, ahead of the curve in so many ways.”

The Sourcebooks APM will be used across a variety of subject matter and content with nonfiction, expert-based authors. Anyone interested in learning more about agile publishing, and joining the Entering the Shift Age community, can sign up at our Agile Publishing Blog. To learn more about Sourcebooks, its authors, or its manuscript submission process, visit www.sourcebooks.com.
​

About David Houle

As a futurist and strategist, Houle has always been slightly ahead of the curve. He is often called the “CEOs’ futurist,” having spoken to or advised 2,000+ CEOs and business owners in the past four years. Houle spent more than 20 years in media and entertainment. He has worked at NBC, CBS, and was part of the senior executive team that launched MTV, Nickelodeon, VH1, and CNN Headline News. He won two Emmys, a Peabody, and was nominated for an Academy Award. David’s most recent book, The New Health Age: the Future of Health Care in America, coauthored with Jonathan Fleece, sets forth what health care and medicine will look like in the years ahead. He is the futurist in residence and a faculty member at The Ringling College of Art & Design. David writes the highly regarded futurist blog www.evolutionshift.com, and can be found on Twitter @evolutionshift, as well as YouTube. 

About The Shift Age

The Shift Age is about humanity’s new era. As the Information Age gives way to the Shift Age, we are entering a time of transformation and change that offers both great risk and incredible opportunity. David Houle identifies and explains the dynamics and forces that already have reshaped and will continue to reshape our world for the next 20 years. He comments from the front lines of the Shift Age on issues and topics that affect our lives. We have entered the final, global stage of humanity’s cultural, social, and economic evolutionary journey: The Shift Age.

About Dominique Raccah and Sourcebooks

Dominique Raccah (@draccah) is the CEO and Publisher of Sourcebooks, where she is in charge of creating the future—not just a future for the company but for authors, readers, and the book itself. The classic example of a successful entrepreneur, Dominique has driven innovation and expansion by kicking her way out of boxes and creating possibility where none existed. The result has been double digit annual revenue growth over the past 10 years, twenty-five New York Times bestsellers, #1 category leaders that range from baby names books to college guides, and a publishing company that many consider on the leading edge of the digital transformation. Most recently, Dominique has managed the launch of the new cutting-edge education division, Sourcebooks EDU.

​Dominique currently serves as co-chair of the Board of Directors of the Book Industry Study Group. For Sourcebooks news and announcements, visit the NEXT blog and follow us on Twitter @Sourcebooks.