Indie Booksellers and the Digital Transition: Opportunity Knocks?
Free webinar from Digital Book World presents the retailers’ perspective

NEW YORK – November 17, 2009 – “No conversation about publishing's future and the importance of engaging readers directly is complete if it doesn't include the perspective of the independent bookseller,” says Guy LeCharles Gonzalez, Director of Audience Development for Digital Book World. “They are one of the publishers’ most critical partners, serving as both curators and, more importantly, community organizers.”

Indie Booksellers and the Digital Transition: Opportunity Knocks? presented by Digital Book World, will address the challenges and opportunities ahead for independent booksellers, and what a digital future means for them.

The FREE webinar, to be held on Wednesday, December 9 at 1:00 pm. EST / 10 am PST will answer these questions, among others.

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Is Publishing Ready for the Digital Transition?
Digital Book World focuses on the unique challenges
consumer publishers face in transforming the business model

NEW YORK – November 16, 2009 – Marketing costs are rising. Sales channels are shrinking. Google is looming. And now, politicians are entering the debate about book pricing.

Are publishers ready for the future?

Digital Book World will address the radically evolving consumer publishing environment, offering strategies to meet the challenges of developing a viable digital strategy while fundamentally transforming the business model. Attendees will represent multiple disciplines across the industry including senior management, editors, agents, marketers, production, eMedia, and digital strategists.

Mike Shatzkin, Conference Chair and digital strategist, with an Advisory Board featuring industry's leaders from publishers of all sizes, have created a compelling program that addresses the unique needs of consumer publishers. The Conference opens with a keynote presented by Shiv Singh, Ad Age Media Maven and VP and Global Social Media Lead at Razorfish. Following his keynote, Dominique Raccah (Sourcebooks) will present a progress report on the innovative vertical community, PoetrySpeaks.com; Amanda Edmonds (Google) will discuss books in “the cloud”, and Brian Napack (Macmillan) will tackle the controversial issue of piracy and eBooks.

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Consumer Attitudes Toward eBook Reading
BISG Report to Debut at Digital Book World

NEW YORK – November 9, 2009 – As eBook sales continue to grow, many publishers are finding themselves in new and unfamiliar territory: What do readers want; which formats do they prefer; and how much are they willing to pay for digital content?

To answers these critical questions, the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) recently launched a research project, “Consumer Attitudes toward eBook Reading”, to evaluate readers’ actual interest in and preferences for digital content, and the factors that influence their reading habits and purchasing decisions. The initial look at the first round data from the ongoing survey will be presented at Digital Book World on January 27, 2010, as part of a morning program that will address the issue of eBooks: Opportunity or Threat?

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The Price is Right: Not Just an eBook Issue
Digital Book World addresses pricing issues and offers strategies for moving forward

NEW YORK – November 2, 2009 – "While I take a back seat to no one in arguing that publishers owe it to readers to provide books in all formats at reasonable prices, and that the customer ultimately drives the business, it's important to remember that publishers have another set of customers who are in play and upon whom they are equally dependent" says Don Linn, former Owner/CEO of Consortium Book Sales & Distribution. "Those customers are called authors and creators and we need to balance their economic realities with those of readers."

The impact of pricing on midlist authors, the workhorses of most publishers' backlists, is the topic of discussion in Linn's op-ed, Caught in the Middle: Publishing's Other Customers, published today on the Digital Book World blog.

"We need these writers and a significant component of a publishers' role is to sustain, encourage and build their careers," Linn explains. "When content's price and value is pushed below a sustainable level for publishers, these writers will suffer."

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Shiv Singh, Ad Age Media Maven and Social Media Expert at Razorfish, to Give Keynote Presentation at Digital Book Word 2010
Social influence marketing for consumer publishers

NEW YORK – October 27, 2009 – "Social Influence Marketing offers new opportunities for marketers to engage consumers with a brand,” says Shiv Singh, expert on digital strategy and social influence marketing. Singh will be the opening keynote speaker at Digital Book World 2010. A 2009 Ad Age Media Maven, Singh is the VP and Global Social Media Lead for Razorfish, an interactive agency that helps their clients innovate and build brands by creating engaging consumer experiences in the digital world. Singh advises clients such as Victoria’s Secret, MillerCoors, and Levi Strauss & Co on social influence marketing—how to incorporate social media and social technologies to support marketing and business objectives.

Singh will speak on the first day of the Digital Book World conference, presented by F+W Media on January 26-27, 2010 at the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers. Digital Book World is the first conference of its kind designed to help consumer publishers maximize their assets in the short term while developing and executing a digital strategy.

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Surviving the Wild West of eBooks: Follow the Reader
Digital Book World offers perspectives, strategies, success stories

NEW YORK – October 19, 2009 – "It's the Wild West frontier stage of eBook publishing," says Cecilia Tan, in a commentary about understanding the changes in consumer book publishing. Tan warns that publishers need to understand what motivates a reader to buy an eBook, and to create quality eBooks with those motivations in mind. "Publishers whose eBooks are shoddy to begin with are not going to inspire consumer trust the way Amazon.com or Fictionwise (now Barnes & Noble) can."

Tan is an author, editor and early pioneer of independent publishing who remade her company, Circlet Press, into a Web 2.0 and eBook business concern. She suggests partnerships with the key online retailers are vital for publishers. "If you bought a Kindle, you are going to purchase from Amazon and not shop around different sites. If you get your start with your very first download from Fictionwise, chances are you will keep buying from Fictionwise. Publishers have to put the books in front of the consumers where the traffic is, just like they used to by packing the shelves in the major bookstores."

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Social Media Brings Every Publishing Professional to the Frankfurt Book Fair
Check in to digitalbookworld.com and @digibookworld for reports from the show

NEW YORK – October 12, 2009 – As thousands of publishing professionals pack their carry-on bags and head for the Frankfurt Book Fair, tens of thousands more will stay at home and keep abreast of the news from Germany thanks to reports from colleagues via email, Twitter and a variety of other social networking tools and platforms.

The topic of maximizing these tools is on the roster at Digital Book World, an innovative new publishing conference that addresses the necessary changes in business processes, marketing strategies and technological resources that are being driven by changes in consumers’ reading and buying habits. In the session How Publishers Can Build Their Own Communities: Using Social Media Tools, speakers Pablo Defendini of Tor.com, Jesse MacDougall of Chelsea Green, and Guy LeCharles Gonzalez of F+W Media, Inc. will discuss how book publishers and authors can use existing social networks to engage readers directly and build a community of their own.

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The Truth About eBooks: Devices, Formats, Pirates (Oh, My!)
Free Webinar presented by Digital Book World

NEW YORK – October 5, 2009 – Breathless news stories, blog entries, tweets and retweets over the past few weeks declare eBooks are the future of publishing! Again! But even within the field of publishing there is much confusion over what exactly is an eBook. How do you decipher the alphabet soup of formats and acronyms? What’s the difference between the Kindle, Sony Reader and iPhone, and what in the world is a Vook? Is digital rights management (DRM) a necessary evil, or is there another solution?

Get the facts about eBooks during the FREE Digital Book World webinar, The Truth About eBooks: Devices, Formats, Pirates (Oh, My!) on Wednesday, October 21st at 1:00 pm EDT...

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eBooks: Opportunity or Threat?
Digital Book World answers the question, offers solutions

NEW YORK – September 29, 2009 – "Ebook publishing is fiendishly complicated," noted Richard Curtis, participating on the "eBooks, Kindles and the Digitization of the Industry" panel at the Writer's Digest Conference held in New York City last month. "To deliver an eBook can be very complex and very costly."

Curtis offers a well-rounded perspective on the questions of how and where eBooks fit in the consumer publishing eco-system. His presence on the Advisory Board for January's Digital Book World Conference ensures that these questions will not only be answered, but practical solutions will be offered. Curtis is uniquely qualified to speak on eBooks as the president of Richard Curtis Associates, Inc., a leading New York literary agent; founder of E-Reads, an electronic book publisher; and a published author and well-known author advocate.

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Rewriting the Rules of Risk and Reward
Roger Cooper and Bob Miller discuss innovative business
models for a rapidly evolving digital world.

NEW YORK – September 22, 2009 – “I believe that publishers and authors should be equal partners, sharing profits fifty-fifty,” says HarperStudio’s Robert Miller.*

That belief represents not only the innovative business model of Miller’s new HarperCollins imprint, but is also one of the many opportunities that will be addressed at Digital Book World, an innovative new conference designed specifically for commercial book publishers and their trading partners, taking place on January 26-27, 2010, in New York City.

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Digital Book World Conference Advisory Board Announced
Inaugural event to take place January 26-27, 2010 New York

NEW YORK – August 13, 2009 – Digital Book World, the first-ever conference to address the radically changing commercial publishing environment from near-term challenges to long-term opportunities, today announced the Advisory Board to the event. Advisory Board members include chief executives, digital strategists, and thought leaders from across the industry. Digital Book World will be held January 26-27, 2010 at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers, New York City. To learn more, go to: www.DigitalBookWorld.com or follow updates on Twitter @DigiBookWorld.

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Digital Book World Conference Dates Announced
Inaugural event to take place January 26-27, 2010 New York

NEW YORK – August 10, 2009 – Digital Book World, the first-ever conference to address the radically changing commercial publishing environment from near-term challenges to long-term opportunities, will be held January 2010. Conference attendees including leading publishers of consumer books and their trading partners will leave armed with ideas and insights to drive new revenues and adapt their business models to the new digital landscape. The conference will take place at the Sheraton, New York Hotel and Towers, January 26-27, 2010. To learn more, go to: www.DigitalBookWorld.com or follow updates on Twitter @DigiBookWorld.

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