Transition to Digital: A Brief BIGNY Dialogue with Galvanized Brands' Daniel Cohen

Daniel Cohen

We recently asked magazine and content publisher pro Daniel Cohen a few questions in advance of his appearance during the Book Industry Guild of New York's (BIGNY) Tuesday, March 8th panel discussion. The topic: "Publishing Technology Update: New Digital Directions."

Daniel Cohen is a digital product, workflow, and editorial technology strategist and team leader. Currently Digital Strategist at Galvanized Brands, he has worked with over 40 magazines and content publishers on staff or as a consultant.

BIGNY: Can you give some examples of re-purposing content in order to monetize it?

Cohen: At Galvanized, spurred by the growth of our brands Zero Belly Diet and Eat This, Not That!, we used custom scripts to export and reformat book content for use in Zero Belly: 14-Day Plan, and Eat This, Not That! The Game apps. The apps feature a reimagining of the same content found in book and on web, with interactivity fitting with the subjects and voice. In Eat This, Not That! The Game, the player learns about food choices as they race the clock to select the more healthful food “swap”—playing off a main feature of the books. The Zero Belly: 14-Day Plan thoughtfully lays out recipes and fitness routines from the book and website, into a 14-day plan featuring meal and workout tracking. The apps drive additional revenue via paid downloads, in-app ad serving, and/or links driving traffic to websites.

BIGNY: How has data from your digital products affected new book or product creation?

Cohen: At Galvanized, one example comes from our use of engagement data from eatthis.com to inform ideas about new products, many of which are created in short order, to deliver to those trends. In 2015 we found high traffic on several of our posts about the role of tea in weight loss, and this led directly to the creation of The 7-Day Flat-Belly Tea Cleanse and The 17-Day Green Tea Diet ebooks.

BIGNY: How has the digital workflow changed people’s jobs? (For example, do designers have to code? Do teams work more closely?)

Cohen: At many organizations, Designers and Production staff from print have gotten directly involved in the creation process of digital products and have expanded their skills sets to include HTML, UI, UX, and Adobe tools for Digital Content publishing. All staff have found new and creative ways of streamlining existing processes in order to make room for the new product demands, including automation scripting and ongoing process improvement. Teams have also learned and incorporated new production paradigms geared towards “version”-oriented rollouts, such as agile development and task-based projects.

Visit the BIGNY website for more information and tickets for the March 8th "Publishing Technology Update: New Digital Directions" event.