Canonical books are texts written by the originators of a concept, approach, a technology, or a tool. Some of the commonalities across these titles are:
- Written by the most respected voices within the tech industry
- Relevant in the market even after several years of their publication.
- Several tech books are now based on the principles discussed in these titles
- These books are preferred by tech professionals as well as academia
The below outlines the core research activities to be conducted for Canonical Works business unit.
Market Size and Competitor Landscape
We begin our research by gathering intelligence around opportunity size for this product. We also thoroughly evaluate our competitors to gather valuable information around how to structure this business unit. We’ll largely focus on the following tasks for market size and competitor landscape analysis:
- Determine the size of market for canonical works in the technology domain by gathering inputs from various sources such as Amazon, Bookscan sales data, research reports, etc
- Analyze average lifetime revenue generated by canonical textbooks within the technology domain. Use data sources such as NPD Bookscan to arrive at estimates
- Analyze the competitive landscape within technology domain including existing publishers, their offerings, current org structure and editorial roles.
- Based on competitor data, make a list of potential editorial talent that could be hired to drive the Canonical Works business unit
Content Creation and Author motivation
After we’ve gathered market intelligence, the next step is to study established industry practices involved in creation of canonical content. This would involve researching existing processes prevalent in the industry and also understanding the author’s motivation behind getting published:
- Research the process and criteria for selecting canonical works in the technology field.
- Research author acquisition process and agreements for authors working on canonical content
- Establish contact with some of these authors to understand their motivation and reasons to get published. What do they look for in a publisher?
- Identify established texts and influential authors in the technology domain.
Customer Insights
- Identify the different types of audience within technology domain who are interested in canonical content.
- Conduct user interviews and surveys to gather insights into reading habits, needs and expectations from canonical content.
Timelines and Milestones
The research activity would need to be completed in 3 months i.e end of September ’23. We’ll follow these milestones to track progress:
- Market Size and Competitor Landscape End of July ‘23
- Insights into Content Creation Process Mid-August ‘23
- Gathering of Author and User Insights Mid-September ‘23
- Revisions and Finalizing the Research End of September ‘23