BookCamp Vancouver 2010

The second BookCamp Vancouver is this Friday, October 1. BookCamp is a conference that brings together 250 members from the technology and publishing industries to talk about digital aspects of book publishing and how online media is changing the game.

The early days of the internet brought to publishing:

• Credit card payments
• Shipping trackers
• Inventory counts
• Reviews
• Buy and recommendation engines
• Communities and tribes

Sharing, collaboration, organization and knowledge exchange were reinforced through easy tools, search and recommendation engines such as those available through YouTube, Amazon, Facebook, iTunes and Twitter.

With the social web, fresh insights into the community are possible. A publisher can:

• Listen and learn: identify influencers; build up reputation and leadership
• Build awareness: create compelling campaigns and, more important, movements
• Facilitate participation: Contribute to the community, provide tools that empower others to speak on their behalf, and create connections
• Support purchasing: Accommodate individuality (customizations), provide service on-demand and support multiple payment methods
• Re-engage and empower: provide social rewards for positive behaviours that support the community and, with permission, encourage repeat behaviour

Ebook readers bring new insights to reading preferences, as well as a shift in reading from a linear model to an interactive one.

Big questions are forming. How long will we be in a transition from printed books to digital works? Will publishing houses continue to exist as they do today or will light-weight publishing condos develop instead (where a core group handles finding, making and marketing)? Will price points reflect more points along the demand curve? How will people behave in a market of infinite choice? What will they want to pay for, who will make money and how do we finance publishing new works?

Seth Godin says that publishers have done an excellent job for 100+ years. As curators, they pick the winners. As producers, they create and manufacture the works. As financial risk takers, they make the initial investment. As distributors, they manage inventory and shelf space. And as promoters, they disseminate press releases, earn publicity and buy advertising space.

His challenge to the industry is to focus on curation, leadership and connection.

This Friday, we’ll do just that. We’ll look at digital sales to libraries, ecatalogues, ebook production and the reading practices. We’ll explore how literary communities are supporting new works and the discovery of amazing authors. We’ll talk strategy, tools and tactics for fostering community and dialogue within and between online tribes.

All of this happens daily on the web, but BookCamp is a chance for us to have an in-person literary salon where innovators and problem-solvers in the technology space interact with risk takers and trendspotters in publishing to explore how digital technology continues to amplify and extend the discovery, production and delivery of new works of fiction and non-fiction, whether they be in tree format or pixels and bits.