[euralex] Re: End of print dictionaries at Macmillan
- From: Michael Rundell <michael.rundell@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Sander Bekkers" <Sander.Bekkers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "'Gilles-Maurice de Schryver'" <gillesmaurice.deschryver@xxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2012 11:02:38 -0000
Dear Sander
Many thanks for your insightful observations on today's marketplace, and for
passing on your thoughts on the situation in the Netherlands. As you say, this
is a challenging time for all of us who work in (commercial) dictionary
publishing, but also a moment of great opportunity. Your comment on Macmillan's
move sums it up well:
>>The decision to continue business on the internet as a free dictionary is
>>therefore not only the result of a new vision on dictionary publishing, but
>>also the result of a calculated evaluation on market position.
Undeniably true. We're in the process of moving from a fairly simple,
tried-and-tested business model (I sell you a book, you pay me for the book,
this supports continued editorial development) to a more complex and (for now)
more risky model, where there is a variety of smaller income streams, some
already established, others still being developed (there's a lot of trial and
error in this process).
You conclude:
>>I do not think this is the answer to saving commercial lexicography
It's impossible at this point to know whether you're right, but I'm inclined to
take a more optimistic view. Despite the carping from some quarters, most of us
are committed to producing high-quality content and to thinking about news ways
of using digital media to support people learning or using (in our case)
English - for example, the Macmillan Dictionary now has a couple of
language-related games on its website and more are being developed. We're
hopeful that if enough people find our content useful we should be able to
figure out ways of staying afloat.
all best
Michael
----- Original Message -----
From: Sander Bekkers
To: 'lexicografie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx' ; DSNA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ;
'michael.rundell@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx' ; 'Gilles-Maurice de Schryver'
Cc: 'euralex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx' ; 'braasch@xxxxxxxxx' ; 'krek.simon@xxxxxxxxx' ;
'S.Bullon@xxxxxxxxxxxxx'
Sent: Wednesday, November 07, 2012 3:16 PM
Subject: RE: End of print dictionaries at Macmillan
Dear Friends,
I thought that the view on this matter from a fellow dictionary Publisher
could give you, as the international dictionary community, some added insight
as to what is happening out there in the marketplace. What we have observed
over the last decade is much loss of ground to free online dictionaries and
initiatives to develop dictionaries by public funding. In particular the
incidental users such as employees of companies or people at home tend not to
spend money on dictionaries any more but use free online dictionaries instead.
Free online dictionaries on the other hand never seem to disappear from the
web, on the contrary: they are improving every year.
That great dictionary brands grow to a status of unassailability and over the
passage of time fall into decline is of all ages. In recent years you could see
it happen in the Netherlands where two great different Brands disappeared
(Verschueren and Kramers) and two other Brands grew and strengthened. These two
remaining brands in the Netherlands and Belgium (Flanders) are Van Dale and
Prisma, the brand I work for.
Regarding the underlying marketing mechanism which has a major effect on this
development, you can see that success in a market is secured by the principle
that in a developed market there is only room for three competitors and among
these competitors there is only one leader. In most cases you see a Market
leader is also the authority on the subject and unless I am not much mistaken
that would be Oxford in the English language market. The Cost leader, a
competitor known for their moderate pricing, and the Innovator, the brand known
for its advanced products, and if it plays its cards right, the next market
leader.
I ask myself if Macmillan could be one of these brands in the UK. The
difficult market situation within as well as all the free dictionaries on the
internet has made mm's position very difficult. The decision to continue
business on the internet as a free dictionary is therefore not only be the
result of a new vision on dictionary publishing, but also the result of a
calculated evaluation on market position. To transform this into a new
beginning as Macmillan is doing, is a very strong and admirable move, however
the question is, if this isn't already too late. The internet competition is
already fierce. In Germany Pons tried to compete with another free dictionary,
Leo, but did not succeed, even though their product was state of the art.
In conclusion I do not think this is the answer to saving commercial
lexicography. What we need are entrepreneurs who are capable of reinventing
commercial lexicography over and over again and of being there to serve all who
study and practice language.
Kind Regards,
Sander Bekkers
Publisher
PUBLISHER PRISMA, UITGEVERIJ UNIEBOEK|HET SPECTRUM BV
P.O. BOX 97, 3990 DB HOUTEN | PAPIERMOLEN 14-24, 3994 DK HOUTEN | THE
NETHERLANDS
T +31 (0) 30 265 06 01 | F +31 (0)30 265 08 50 | M +31 (0) 6 50 989 382
Sander.Bekkers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx | www.unieboekspectrum.nl |
www.prisma.nl
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Van: lexicografie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lexicografie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Namens Gilles-Maurice de Schryver
Verzonden: maandag 5 november 2012 12:00
Aan: euralex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; DSNA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx;
lexicographylist@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; asialex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; afrilex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx;
lexicografie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; ishll@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Onderwerp: RE: End of print dictionaries at Macmillan
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
This is Breaking News indeed!
"Macmillan Dictionaries will no longer appear as physical books. The final
copies are rolling off the presses at this very moment, and from next year,
Macmillan Dictionary will be available only online."
http://www.macmillaneducation.com/MediaArticle.aspx?id=1778
For the past decade or so, we have all been expecting an announcement like
this from one of the major dictionary publishers, and I am happy to see that
the honour goes to Macmillan, a key player in the monolingual learner's
dictionary market for English. Finally getting rid of the paper constraints,
and starting to exploit the true power of the digital medium -- and to be able
to do just that -- is nothing less than a revolution. I predict that the other
major publishers will now also stop talking about what should be done, to
simply take the step and do it.
More info in Michael Rundell's post below.
Kind regards,
Gilles-Maurice de Schryver
President of AFRILEX and author of "Lexicographers' Dreams in the
Electronic-Dictionary Age" (IJL 16.2, 2003, free access here)
From: euralex-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:euralex-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Anne Dykstra
Sent: maandag 5 november 2012 10:11
To: euralex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [euralex] End of print dictionaries at Macmillan
Macmillan has announced that, from 2013, it will no longer be publishing
dictionaries in book form. It will focus instead on its expanding range of
digital resources. Michael Rundell, Editor-in-Chief of the Macmillan dictionary
list, sees this as both inevitable and entirely positive. He regards the
printed book as a very limiting medium, and increasingly out of step with the
way people look for information in the second decade of the 21st century. While
printed reference books are out of date as soon they go on sale, an online
dictionary can be kept fully up to date. More than this, the digital medium
allows dictionary publishers to provide valuable additional resources, like
audio pronunciations, interactive games, and a thesaurus function. As well as
all these, Macmillan has a crowd-sourced dictionary (the 'Open Dictionary') fed
by users from all over the world, and an active blog with four or five new
posts every week on language-related issues. Michael says he was struck by one
of the findings reported at the recent Euralex Congress in Gilles-Maurice de
Schryver's plenary: his analysis of papers in the Euralex archive showed that
the word 'look up' had declined in frequency and been overtaken by 'search'.
This is the world that dictionaries belong to now. For more details, see the
post on this subject in Macmillan's blog:
http://www.macmillandictionaryblog.com/bye-print-dictionary.
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