Last year, nearly 3,700 book publishing professionals from across North America convened in New York City for BookTech, the only event focused on the latest technologies and techniques in the book and e-book publishing industry. The total attendance surpassed the previous year by 21 percent, and was demonstrated by a packed exhibit hall, crowded keynote address, and standing room only conference rooms.
The event featured industry experts from leading companies such as Microsoft, Adobe Systems, ContentGuard, The Lehigh Press, The Mazor Corp., Simon & Schuster and World Book, among others. Leading publishers spoke of hot topics like ASP's, e-book formatting, marketing and distribution, and print on-demand.
"Professionals and entrepreneurs in the e- and p-spaces of publishing and manufacturing can find BookTech events a cornucopia of useful information, networking, and updates on the dynamically evolving infrastructure of our industry," says Eugene Schwartz, editor-at-Large for ForeWord, as reported in the weekly ForeWord e-newsletter.
In addition, vendors and suppliers made a number of announcements at BookTech . For example, Franklin Electronic Publishers released its content conversion developers' kit (CDK) for the Franklin Reader, enabling publishers to produce e-books for the eBookMan multimedia platform based on proprietary SGML; and Indraweb made its debut, unveiling its new technology and service that allows traditional publishers to make S-books of their content. netLibrary, Oce, OverDrive, Questia.com, among others, also released new products/services.
"The quality of the sessions, speakers, attendees, and vendors is a testament to our continuing commitment to provide the nation's foremost business event for book publishing professionals," explains Gretchen Kirby, last year's conference coordinator and former editor of BookTech the Magazine. "With so many new technologies available to support the digital publishing process, BookTech provides the unique opportunity for publishers to share their companies strategies for adapting to the changing times."
Plans are readied again this year for BookTech 2002 starting Feb. 11 and continuing through Feb. 13 at the Hilton New York Hotel & Towers. To weigh in on the evolving role of e-books, Leo Dwyer, COO of RosettaBooks, will appear on the panel: "Finding the Right Business Model for eBooks," on Monday, February 11 at 9:30 a.m. - 10:45 a.m. Dwyer will share his unique experience of being at the helm of a company that was at the center of a landmark court decision. He will also be available for individual questions during a Q&A session on Tuesday, February 12, 2002, 4:15 p.m. - 5:15 p.m.
Dwyer has had extensive experience managing startup and high growth businesses. As project manager for New York Waterways, he was responsible for systems/operational design and start-up of an intermodal passenger ferry-bus system that has been cited as the best example of private sector mass transit initiatives in the U.S. As co-managing director of King Island Dairies P/L, a branded specialty consumer products company, Dwyer managed through four consecutive years of 40 percent compounding growth. Just prior to joining RosettaBooks, Dwyer was a strategic and financial consultant to Pacific Dunlop in relation to a large divestiture.
These days, at RosettaBooks, Dwyer is responsible for strategy, finance, developing content conversion and distribution systems, as well as establishing strategic alliances with hardware manufacturers, software developers and retail distribution channels. He is a graduate of Washington University, Harvard Business School and the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
To see Dwyer and other leaders in the book publishing and manufacturing market, more than 3,500 book and electronic publishing professionals are expected to attend this February event. Conference Tracks Include: Strategists and Managers ; Small and Independent Publishers; Technology Focus: eBooks and ePublishing Technologies and Workflow Solutions
BookTech will host more than 150 leading product and service suppliers during the exhibition hours, Monday, February 11th from 11:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. and on February 12 from 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m., including all the leading suppliers of book manufacturing, prepress, paper and publishing technology.
According to this year's conference coordinator and editor-in-chief of BookTech the Magazine, Rebecca Churilla, "The current economic conditions being as they are, I think it is doubly important that production professionals attend BookTech. The conference sessions offer practical information as to how to perform job functions more efficiently and cost effectively. This, coupled with an the exhibit hall that features a variety of companies with the services and equipment to facilitate the notion of doing more with less, makes it a must-attend show."
For more information, visit www.booktechexpo.com.