As you know, the Publishing Business Conference & Expo (PBC) and the Book Industry Guild annual Book Show both occured two weeks ago.
Here in Philadelphia, I'm settling back into office life after nearly a week in New York City at the annual Publishing Business Conference & Expo (PBC). And while of course I'm going to sound biased, considering I'm one of the event's conference program editors, PBC is my favorite industry event. I always come home with a notebook full of inspiration and new ideas, and I always have the opportunity to meet and interact with some of the most brilliant minds in publishing.
Over the past year or so, I have been attending timely and informative book publishing lunch hour Meetup meetings—first come, first serve by advance sign-up —sponsored by Susan Danziger's Publishing Point. They are held in donated upper- floor meeting rooms in the high-rise midtown Manhattan headquarters of major houses such as Random House, Hachette, News Corporation, McGraw Hill—and this past March 23, by CBS, parent of Simon & Schuster, in Studio 19.
I think we can all agree that ebooks are part of our present and future, right? Obvious, right? Of course, there are all those open questions about format and timing and volume and functionality, and what print will be like, etc., etc. But the basics are in place, aren't they?
Let me be clear right upfront—I get very passionate about design. I love it when I see something that I consider well-designed, and I get frustrated as hell when I see the opposite.
Last week, I was fortunate enough to moderate a meeting of the Bookbinder's Guild of New York (now renamed as the Book Industry Guild of New York), billed as "The Changing Role of Production."
With some fanfare (OK, a push email) Barnes & Noble recently announced pubit! For a company that is, or isn't, in trouble—depending on who you ask—this is a very interesting venture.
I've been thinking a lot lately about the future. I find that so much more actionable than thinking about the past. The problem is, to quote the great wordsmith Yogi Berra, "The future ain't what is used to be."
It’s been a while since my last blog; the title for this was going to be “Pneumonia Sucks.”
A box of old books dug out from my parents' garage reminded me of my favorite author as a child, Ruth Chew.