Investing Millions: Merriam-Webster’s John Morse on why the costly “Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary” will pay off.
John Morse spoke with Book Business Extra about the process and business strategy behind introducing the “Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary” into the marketplace, a title which he says represents the future for not only Merriam-Webster, but for all reference publishers.
Book Business Extra: What market are you trying to reach with this new dictionary?
John Morse: This is a dictionary really designed to meet the needs of people other than native speakers of English. That is what we’re going after. I don’t think that means just the international market. One of the clear demographic trends we’re really aware of is the increasing portion of the domestic market [for which] English is not their first language. That has gone above 15 percent. … Clearly, this is a move to better serve international markets. [However,] it has become more apparent to us that this is going to be a significant part of our domestic strategy, too.
- Companies:
- Merriam-Webster