Palo Alto, Calif.

Last week the Downtown Library in Palo Alto, Calif. hosted a panel discussion on the industry-wide transformations wrought by digital publishing. The panel, entitled "Sea Change: The ePublishing Transformation," was made up of experts hailing from all corners of the industry. Panelists included sources from Scribd, Smashwords, JukePop.

Charlotte, N.C.-based distributor Baker & Taylor Inc. has launched the first phase of its integrated digital media distribution platform through a licensing partnership with ebrary, an e-content services and technologies provider headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif. The new platform will make electronic and print titles a one-stop-shopping experience for Baker & Taylor customers.

Palo Alto, Calif.-based HP has announced a partnership with U.K.-based Timsons, the world's largest book press manufacturer, to develop a digital inkjet system for short- and medium-run book production. According to HP, the new solution will be designed "to take digital book production beyond niche applications to mainstream production."

Historically, an unpublished fiction author packages his manuscript in a cardboard box, mails it to one or more book publishers, and waits (and waits and waits) anxiously for a reply. The response is typically months away. Publishers can take nine to 12 months before they finish the process of reviewing a manuscript, giving copies to the poor saps who read the slush pile submissions, and usually sending a polite rejection letter. That's all done with paper, even now. But a few forward-thinking publishers are starting to modernize that process, visualizing the electronic slush pile as the tip of the electronic workflow. Science fiction publisher Baen Books, Bronx,