Hacker Friendly

I’m back from the 4th International Conference on the Book. I gave a presentation on the book sprint process along with Marco Zennaro. I was very impressed with the program and the people who attended. Many of these folks have been in publishing for years, and had some very interesting perspectives on where things are heading. The short version: Bookstore chains are doomed, libraries will get better, books will be cheaper, more authors will find a voice, and royalties will be more equitably distributed, all thanks to the biggest threat to the existing distribution chain: Print On Demand. Here are some highlights from the conference program (the papers don’t seem to be up yet, but the blurbs are there):

• The World of Independent Publishing by Dr. Kate Gale. Tales of the life of an independent publisher, from the managing editor of Red Hen Press. It’s a hard life, but viable if you care. The long tail is alive and well, and only recently possible through the Internet and print-on-demand. Inspiring.
• Linear Thought in an Age of Non-linearity: Threat of Interactive Technology to the Book by Dr. Don A. Grady. The book is a linear presentation of information (by convention), but this represents just one mode of communication. Kids are reading less literature but interacting much more. McLuhan’s “medium is the message” was groundbreaking, but what is the message of hyper-interactivity (like IM, blogging, Second Life, and World of Warcraft)? Are we evolving or devolving? Not too many answers here, but many thought-provoking questions.
• Google Book Search: Value-Added or Added Hype? by Jaena Hollingsworth. Interesting perspectives on the relevance of Google Book Search to librarians.
• Print on Demand: A Revolution in the Making by Bob Young (CEO of Lulu). Bob started Lulu after being frustrated with his $2,000 earnings on a book that sold 500,000 copies. Sounds strangely familiar…
• Print on Demand part 2: A Revolution in the Making by Jason Epstein, venerated publisher, former editorial director of Random House, and one of the founders of On Demand Books. His vision: book distribution directly at book stores and libraries using an on-demand printing machine that costs less than $30k. He spoke very eloquently on the subject of the evolution of the book store as publisher, community center, curator, and chain. Fascinating and reassuring ideas, particularly since they came from someone who has been in the business for more than 50 years.
• Global Publishing & the Developing World by Bill Carman (IDRC), Michael Jensen (The National Academies), Dr. Donald Young (Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, UPENN) and Laura Fillmore, Open Book Systems. POD and electronic distribution is making a difference in getting scientific and medical information into the hands of folks who can use it in the developing world. But it’s an easy mistake to make thinking that knowledge should only flow from the rich to the poor. There are now villages that have mobile phones but have never seen a book. Anything that helps people connect to the global mindspace will help us all.

Overall, I found the conference to be surprisingly engaging and relevant. Some of the between-session debates with old-school publishing folks who barely know how to read email were priceless. I’m definitely looking forward to COTB.07…