The Dictionary Market: Getting Your Words' Worth
And embrace it they have, especially within the confines of every publisher's most valuable marketing tool: the Internet. Both Merriam-Webster and OED, in fact, have managed to transform websites that could have easily been dreadfully dull into electronic destinations that are educational and extraordinarily sticky. Merriam-Webster's "Ask the Editor" series, for instance, regularly presents two-minute videos that make etymology fascinating. On the OED website, images of historic documents are often used as lead-ins to teach visitors about the company's rich heritage. The Oxford University Press, meanwhile, maintains an active collection of documentary-style YouTube videos, many of them offering an insider's account of life as an OED employee.
Dan Eldridge is a journalist and guidebook author based in Philadelphia's historic Old City district, where he and his partner own and operate Kaya Aerial Yoga, the city's only aerial yoga studio. A longtime cultural reporter, Eldridge also writes about small business and entrepreneurship, travel, and the publishing industry. Follow him on Twitter at @YoungPioneers.