The academic publishing sector in South Africa is facing many changes and challenges in a post- 1994 democracy. Most of these changes were brought about by the Higher Education Act No 101 of 1997. Challenges and new trends include new business and threats from multinational corporations; a limited buying market at higher education level; a need for localised content; new emerging technologies in publishing and knowledge distribution; the merging of 36 higher education institutions into 22; escalating book production costs and book prices; a non-book buying and book reading culture; illegal photocopying and widespread copyright infringement; changing student and lecturer profiles including the language of instruction; increasing pressure on academics to publish research; inefficient student loan schemes; decreasing library acquisition budgets and the transformation of the publishing industry itself in terms of BBBEE. Within the midst of all these challenges, publishers are faced with a new trend, that of selfpublishing of academic textbooks, which lecturers then prescribe to their own group of students. Self-publishing implies that authors undertake all processes related to publishing on their own, including the financial risk of publishing a book. There is a multitude of literature available on self-publishing, but very little focuses on this trend within the academic environment. A literature survey of self-publishing provided various reasons and conditions for the existence of the phenomenon. The researcher made use of two questionnaires that were sent to academic campus bookshops and academic self-publishing authors. From the results of these two surveys it is evident that academic self-publishing is an increasing trend in the higher education environment of South Africa. Reasons for self-publishing collected from the literature survey were supported by the empirical research findings from the two surveys. The main reasons for self-publishing in the academic environment include financial incentives; a volatile author-publisher relationship; issues of copyright and control; possible rejection suffered by authors; technological advances and a sense of community service among academics and lecturing staff. The study was able to prove the existence of academic self-publishing in the higher education environment of South Africa. Academic self-publishing is most apparent in the academic fields of Business, Economics and Management Sciences to the extent that it could have far-reaching financial impact on markets that are traditionally lucrative for commercial publishers. Commercial publishers are encouraged to engage with author associations and seek out possible new alternatives to satisfying author needs in a changing market place. / Dissertation (MIS)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Information Science / unrestricted

The traditional print publishing industry has been faced with significant change over the past decade. Advances in technology have led to the increased digitisation of business processes, and have debatably brought e-books to the brink of the mainstream market. With the growing popularity of e-books in the trade market come several opportunities for publishers to expand, improve and differentiate their businesses. But publishers also face a very challenging time ahead to successfully implement digital publishing in their business processes. This study examines the implications of digitisation and digital publishing on publishing business processes in the traditional print publishing environment. The research considers digital publishing as a disruptive technology in the publishing industry, and draws on the context and predictive value of disruptive technology theory. Disruptive technology theory examines why, when faced with a disruptive technology, some firms succeed in the marketplace, and others fail. The research applied the principles and predictions of disruptive technology theory to the publishing industry to develop a set of recommendations for publishers implementing digital publishing processes. The research employed a mixed methodology design that included an extensive literature review and an online survey of South African book publishers. The literature provided an overview of the issues surrounding digital publishing, and the opportunities and challenges that publishers are faced with. Literature on disruptive technology theory served to establish trends in industries faced with disruptive technology, and uncovered recommendations for its successful implementation. The researcher made use of an online survey that was sent to South African trade publishers that had already started experimenting with digital publishing in 2010 or 2011, or had plans to do so during the course of 2011 and 2012. The survey was designed to uncover the current state of digital publishing in the South African trade publishing industry, to discover the approaches that publishers are currently taking, and the barriers to implementation that they are experiencing. The research confirmed that the current state of digital publishing in South Africa, and the problems that publishers are experiencing, are characteristic of industries faced with disruptive technology. The principles of disruptive technology can therefore be applied to develop recommendations and suggest strategies for publishers planning to venture into digital publishing. Although the focus of the research was on South African trade publishers, the results and recommendations that emerged from the research can be applied to the wider international publishing industry. / Dissertation (MIS)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / gm2013 / Information Science / unrestricted