Contributed by Mary Beth Steinbach, SAS Press Managing Editor and Shelly Goodin

Yesterday four of us from SAS Publishing flew into NY for the 2011 Tools of Change Conference (TOC). For the next two days we'll blog about our experience and striking book trends. (Plus, you can watch TOC keynote presentations livestreamed on their Website today and tomorrow).

Monday, February 14, 5:00 p.m.
Mary Beth Steinbach: Today's workshops included: ePub finishing touches: fixing errors, adding metadata, and tweaking formatting; metadata boot camp; going digital: and launching a digital-first business from within a traditional publisher.

I heard presentations from Joshua Tallent, Laura Dawson, Adam Witwer, Michael Zuberbier, Angela James, and Jenny Bullough. Today's TOC 2011 sessions were much like being at work (except for the NYC Sheraton location): there was a bit of talk about a rapid-fire information gathering and information dissemination, and excited chatter about tomorrow. The publishing industry continues to evolve. I can't wait for tomorrow

Monday, February 14, 10:00 p.m.
Shelly Goodin: Just returned from having dinner with a former colleague and good friend, Michael Taeckens, who is the digital and paperback marketing specialist at Algonquin Books. While I didn't attend any workshops today (unlike super industrious Mary Beth), Michael and I enjoyed chatting about the excitement as well as challenges that face us in our current roles. I am now looking over tomorrow's agenda and can't wait to hear Margaret Atwood during the opening session. Plus, I look forward to bumping into publishing connections that I've made on Twitter.

Stay tuned for additional entries from Julie Platt, Sandy Varner, Mary Beth Steinbach, and myself each day of the conference.