Digital Publishing: Everything you need to know

Written by : Rashmi Singh

Today’s age is called the information age, and digital publishing has everything to do with it. Make a few clicks on your laptop or phone, and you will be bombarded with digital content such as news, blogs, e-books, magazines, and so on. The credit for the ease of availability of this content goes to digital publishing. 

If you are a print publisher who wants to modernize their business, or you just want to publish content that reaches millions of people quickly, you should consider digital publishing. 

Down below is a guide that will help you know what digital publishing is, the difference between digital and print publishing, and much more. 

The distribution of content such as eBooks, magazines, and newspapers through digital channels such as websites and apps is called digital publishing. A user can access such digital content through different devices such as laptops, tablets, and smartphones. 

Among all media forms, the text is considered the easiest to publish digitally. It takes only a few minutes for a person to publish an article. However, as technology is evolving, other media forms such as videos, infographics, podcasts, and other forms are also getting easier to create and publish.

The difference between the two types of publishing is clear by their name. While one focuses on printing content on paper, the other is all about publishing on digital channels. Another difference that one should know is that print publishing is on a decline while digital publishing is having its heyday.

Most legacy media houses that print magazines, newspapers, and eBooks have either shifted or are in the process of shifting to digital publishing. This is happening because the revenue generated by print publishing is at an all-time low.

Digital publishing comes with a number of inherent benefits that print publishing does not have. The key benefits of this type of publishing are:

• Wider Audience: Print publishing was not able to reach a large number of people because of various geographical or economic reasons. Most of these reasons are solved by digital publishing resulting in publishers’ content reaching a wider audience. 

• Ease of Publication: One needs to invest a substantial amount of capital to start print publishing. On the other hand, digital publishing requires just a computer, a stable internet connection, and a publishing platform to start. 

• Two-way Communication: Digital publishing mediums do not just allow publishers to create and publish content, but they also allow users to post comments on individual pieces of content. The higher engagement created by two-way communication is highly beneficial for digital publishers. 

• Multiple Monetization Options: Digital publishers can work on a variety of business models such as memberships, subscriptions, paid content, programmatic advertising, and many more. If one business model or monetizing strategy does not work, digital publishers can easily pivot to the other models or strategies. 

You need a digital publishing platform and a few publishing tools to create and publish content online. The platform – such as a website or an app – acts as the infrastructure that holds the digital content, while tools such as a content management system (CMS) help you create, edit, and share content.