Pub Business Conference Finds Its Legs and Looks at a Future with Promise

The book business will be smaller in scale, more profitable in outcome, and its future bright for the nimble and the innovative; and the magazine business is rolling with the transformational punch and sees growth and continued relevance ahead. This was the message as book and magazine publishing executives, professionals and vendors filled the keynote assemblies, panel conference rooms and exhibit halls at Book Business and Publishing Executive Magazine’s two and a half day conference and expo last week at the New York Marriott, March 8-10.

This well established annual event, grounded in the legacy of print, brings together the people who run the companies that provide the stories, pictures and information fueling the internet, portable device and multimedia platforms that are capturing consumer interest for networking search, discover and reading. After years of difficult transition from a time when you could browse through two floors of exhibitors, most of whom were printers, compositors, equipment manufacturers and paper mills, Expo has found its legs in the new digital age. It remains the premier event for the publishing enterprise as a whole.