Contributed by SAS Publishing's Sandy Varner, Julie M. Platt, Mary Beth Steinbach, and Shelly Goodin
Tuesday, February 15
Sandy Varner
Being at the O'Reilly Tools of Change conference allows me to step away from the day-to-day work at SAS Publishing and take the 20,000 foot perspective of the publishing industry. We are in full swing in the mist of the most significant changes since Gutenberg invented the press. Theo Gray, Wolfram Research, says we need 3 things: 1. REAL authors; 2. REAL programmers; 3. REAL designers
I feel like I'm on Mars. What happened to the Word doc, editor, production, and printing?
My favorite speaker was author Margaret Atwood who humorously reminded me that at the core of all the new techology we still need REAL authors who understand their subject. (And we need to pay them!).
Julie Platt
Presentations and discussions at Tools of Change raise lots of ideas and questions to ponder for our business. From today's presentations, here are my primary takeaways:
From Margaret Atwood. Authors are the primary source for publishers. In the process of publishing content in multiple formats and marketing through various channels, how are we focusing on the author and his or her needs? What can an editor do for an author? Encourage, encourage, encourage.
Customers want more features at a lower cost, now. Where can additional content increase the value for customers? How can we measure the content that is being used most frequently? How can we measure its effectiveness?
eReaders are widely accepted and used. Pricing of the devices and the content is more affordable. Digital delivery of content allows publishers to distribute content worldwide quickly and efficiently. Even with wider distribution of digital reading devices, readers are reading both print and online.
How are publishers building the infrastructure needed to support both print and digital delivery of content? Different skills are needed for digital content development. How can publishers make the best use of current staff and achieve high quality results in publishing digital content?
Mary Beth Steinbach
Tuesday sessions included the morning keynotes, CTO panel: the future of ebook technology, can you afford not to consider accessible publishing practices, all about epub3, ereading survey findings, and evening keynotes. Sessions were packed with experiences, lessons learned, and advice to try things, make mistakes, and keep moving. Personal highlights included listening to Margaret Atwood, Sarah Weinman, Joe Wikert, and Brian O'Leary.
Margaret Atwood's talk was personal, humorous, and engaging on a very human level. She told us that some of the most important things publishers can do for their authors are to encourage them, support them, and recognize their strengths and weaknesses. She reminded us all that in the middle of this changing industry there are real people.
Shelly Goodin
Wow. It's so difficult choosing just a few highlights of today's discussions. These particular ideas and directives stand out, though: fail quickly (actually love this although I hope to keep it to a minimum); editors should encourage authors and publishers should treat authors as the primary source regardless of how their book is being delivered to readers; the traditional model publishing is dead; most readers of ebooks still read print books; show your heart when engaging in social media; ignite sessions (5 minute presentations per person) are the greatest; the publishing industry is suffering from indigestion and needs its own purple pill.
Some of my favorite moments today included sitting just 6 rows back from Margaret Atwood. She brilliantly balanced technology with the very human side of publishing . If I could dine with any author it would now be her. Also, in full Twitter geek mode I got to meet and enjoy conversation with Bethanne Patrick (follow her on Twitter at @thebookmaven) who started the very popular #fridayreads. Can't wait to hear the panel she's moderating tomorrow called "Literary Reviewing in the Digital Age."
Tomorrow's post will feature observations from Sandy Varner, Julie M. Platt, Mary Beth Steinbach, and Shelly Goodin about the final day of the conference.
