During a Digital Book World 2013 panel discussion so crowded that some attendees sat on the floor, Matt MacInnis, Founder and CEO of the interactive book company Inkling, made a particularly perceptive comment: “It’s a miracle that the book was a thing the whole world agreed on.” That is, up until recently, it is fair to say that “the book” as we know it has retained the same static, linear structure across various nations and fields of study since the invention of the printing press 500 years ago. Going forward, MacInnis continued, “It’s not gonna be one monolithic thing serving the med. school book and serving the novel.” [Read more…] about Digital Book World 2013: Change and Cooperation
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Digital Book World Day One: Optimism and Excitement
At 7:00 AM on a cold, snowglobe of a morning, I stood with three other students from NYU’s Master of Science in Publishing program outside a ballroom at the Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers, bleary-eyed but eager to participate in one of the biggest and most relevant digital publishing events of the year. The second official Digital Book World conference (“DBW”) was about to begin in earnest, and there was much work to be done. As one of a small number of students lucky enough to snag a volunteer position at the event, I was determined to help pave a smooth experience for all attendees, even if that meant working at the coat check in return for time in the actual conference sessions. Not a bad trade-off at all!
After the morning rush finally subsided and attendees settled into the main ballroom, the coat checker crew was invited to sneak away and catch one of the first panels of the day. In “A CEO’s View of the Future,” speakers Brian Napack (Macmillan), Jane Friedman (Open Road Integrated Media), David Steinberger (Perseus), Michael Hyatt (Thomas Nelson), and David Nussbaum (F+W Media) discussed trends in the digital publishing realm and fielded more than a few tough questions about strategic corporate decisions and preparations for the future. [Read more…] about Digital Book World Day One: Optimism and Excitement