The Digital Book World conference started today in NYC.  I couldn’t go, but I did get to follow along on Twitter.  I know I missed a lot, and I’m waiting for some more detailed write-ups from people who were there, but I think I got a pretty good feel for the conference.

Some highlights from Twitter (Follow along with the Twitter hashtags listed here):

LJNDawson (website) quoting Richard Nash (website) “not selling the book; you’re selling the author.” First of all, if you’re at all interested in reading, writing, or publishing, you’re on Twitter, and you aren’t following these two, you should fix that right now.  And the quote gets right to the heart of what publishing increasingly is becoming.  It used to be that an author had to have a publisher to have any sort of chance of selling a book.  That’s not true anymore.  Publishers are still very valuable, but if they don’t start rethinking the relationship they have with the book and with the author, that’s going to change.  Some of them are going to wake up one day and find that the gap between what they offer and the POD and DIY stuff is so narrow that their services are no longer worth the extra money.

Will Entrekin (website) So while pubs flail to fight pirates, golden opportunity for writers to better reach more passionate readers. Brian Napack, President of MacMillan, gave a controversial presentation on book piracy.  The basic gist was that he plans to fight pirates tooth and nail without ever looking into why people pirate books, and trying to find something they want to buy.  He seems to want to revisit all the mistakes the music industry made.  If the rest of the big publishers feel the same way, there is a huge opportunity for others who take a more pragmatic approach (and perhaps learn from the mistakes of others).

Suzi Steffen (website) Book “piracy” & music “piracy”: Offered free download of song or 2, I’m MUCH more likely to spend $$ on other work/merch/concerts. Using free downloads as advertising or promotion – it amazes me how many people refuse to believe this can ever be beneficial.  Not all downloads are a lost sale, and some lead to multiple sales in the future.  This never gets counted in the “cost of piracy” numbers.

Kelly Leonard (website) “young kids have a disdain for media companies” um no they have a disdain for spending $ Know your market.  Before you start filing lawsuits and asking for new laws against unauthorized downloads, think about whether you’re meeting the needs of your customers.  Before demonizing an entire generation, try to understand where they’re coming from, and think about whether there might be a middle ground where everyone can get what they want.

In general, it sounded really cool.  I am looking forward to tomorrow, and I am determined to make sure it makes business sense to attend the conference next year representing Manfred Macx.  I couldn’t justify the expense this year, but next . . .

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