Web Seminar Debates How Self-Publishing Will Lose Its Stigma

Thanks to the well-publicized success of authors like J.A. Konrath, Amanda Hocking, and Seth Godin, the stigma surrounding self-publishing is fading fast. Still, it’s far from gone, and a web seminar sponsored by PW and Digital Book World yesterday titled The Evolution of Self-Publishing covered the reasons for self-publishing’s stigma, how and why it’s losing that stigma, and what the industry and individual authors need to do in order to help self-publishing move even further into the mainstream.

PW's Events Listing: Compleat Biographer Conference

Do you have an industry event you would like to share with the publishing community? If so, send details about upcoming happenings to us at events@publishersweekly.com. (Please note, we will not run information about promotional events, such as book parties.)


Compleat Biographer Conference. Date: May 21, 2011. Where: National Press Club, 529 14th St. NW, Washington, D.C. What: The daylong conference will be preceded by a series of research workshops, at such important institutions as the Library of Congress and the National Archives, and a reception at the home of one of the city’s leading biographers. Keynote speaker: Robert Caro. More info: http://www.biographersinternational.org/conference.html.

Toy Fair 2011: Publisher Attendance Down, but Books Presence Remains

The mood at the 108th Annual American International Toy Fair, which ran February 12–16 at New York's Javits Center, seemed optimistic, and the aisles were more crowded and energetic than in the past several years.

AWP 2011: Where Indie Presses, Handselling and Digital Meet

The Association of Writers and Writing Programs annual conference (AWP) took place from February 3-6 in Washington D.C. The conference, with its massive book fair, has become the most important gathering for independent and university publishers.

PW Events Listing: L.A. Bookwoman Conference on Book Publishing

Do you have an industry event you would like to share with the publishing community? If so, send details about upcoming happenings to us at events@publishersweekly.com. (Please note, we will not run information about promotional events, such as book parties.)

L.A. Bookwoman Conference on Book Publishing in 2011. Date: Feb. 26, 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Where: Marina Del Rey Hotel in Marina del Rey, Calif. What: An all-day event featuring a series of workshops and panels on topics including new self-publishing models, developments in digital publishing (e-books and book apps), new social media book marketing strategies, and pitching to literary agents and producers. Panelists include Mark Coker, founder of Smashwords; Kassia Krozser, publisher of Booksquare; and Wendy Kram, film/tv producer and founder of L.A. for Hire. More info: http://www.wnba-books.org/la/.

PW's Events Listing: ABPA's Meet the Acquiring Editors

Do you have an industry event you would like to share with the publishing community? If so, send details about upcoming happenings to us at events@publishersweekly.com. (Please note, we will not run information about promotional events, such as book parties.)

PW's Events Listing: Oxford American Summit for Ambitious Writers

Oxford American Summit for Ambitious Writers. Date: June 21-26, 2011 Where: Petit Jean Mountain, Arkansas. Topic: A five-day, creatively intense workshop for writers seeking to enhance their literary skills. Cost: $1,000, plus room & board. More info: summit.oxfordamerican.org/.

PW's Events Listing: NBCC Names 2010 Finalists

National Book Critics Circle announces 2010 finalists. Date: Jan. 22, 6 p.m. Where: WNYC’s Jerome L. Greene Performance Space, 44 Charlton Street, at the corner of Varick Street, New York. Additional: The event will kick off with free food and drink, and announcements will follow the food/cocktail opener.

Execs Look Ahead At Kodak Panel on Industry's Future

Last week, a collection of top executives from printers, publishers, and retailers gathered in New York to discuss the future of the industry. The panel, sponsored by Kodak and moderated by PW co-editorial director Jim Milliot, took place at the New York Public Library and confirmed two things: the retail market is harder than ever to gauge, and key changes in printing technology should help make the supply chain more efficient.

Librarians Brace for a Tough 2011

Attendance dipped to its lowest level in a decade and traffic on the show floor was noticeably slow, but last week's 2011 American Library Association Midwinter Meeting in San Diego, Calif., was anything but quiet.

PW's Events Listing: AAP's Forum for Editors & Marketers to Understand Consumers

Do you have an industry event you would like to share with the publishing community? If so, send details about upcoming happenings to us at events@publishersweekly.com. (Please note, we will not run information about promotional events, such as book parties.)

New Ways for Editors & Marketers to Understand Changing Book Consumers. Date: Feb. 3, 9:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. Where: Association of American Publishers, 71 Fifth Ave., 2nd Fl., New York. Topic: Using consumer data to more effectively acquire and market new titles and authors. Cost: $49. More info: http://bookconsumers.eventbrite.com/.

At ALA Midwinter, Brewster Kahle, Librarians Ponder The E-book Future

From research and pilot programs, digitization efforts and financial support for vendors, libraries have helped prepare the way for e-books. But now that the consumer market for e-books has taken off, are libraries in danger of being marginalized? A standing-room-only panel discussion on Saturday, January 8, at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in San Diego, looked at the challenges and opportunities e-books hold for libraries, with two overarching observations: e-books have arrived, and, as moderator Rick Weingarten noted in kicking off the discussion, e-books are not just another format—they are different, just as web pages are different from printed pages, and e-mail is different from regular mail. "And because e-books are different," he said, "what libraries do with them is different."

PW's Events Listing

Do you have an industry event you would like to share with the publishing community? If so, send details about upcoming happenings to us at events@publishersweekly.com. (Please note, we will not run information about promotional events, such as book parties.)

American Book Producers Association. Date: Jan. 17, 12:30-2:00 p.m. Where: In Good Company, 16 W. 23 St. New York. Topic: Producing Electronic Books. Speaker: Josh Koppel, co-founder, ScrollMotion: Cost: $10 members, $20 nonmembers: More info: office@abpaonline.org.

Las Vegas Here We Come! CES Opens This Week with 'PW' In The House

The annual Consumer Electronics Show will open on Thursday and for the second year in row we can expect that digital reading and an array of tablets, dedicated e-readers and other reading-optional mobile devices--including an ever growing list of gadgets running Google's Android OS--will grab a major share of the tech headlines coming out of the Las Vegas convention. CES lists over 120 firms offering e-book devices or services and the tech press predicts as many as 80 tablet devices will be unveiled this year.

International Book Fairs, 2011

I Went to Book Camp NY And All I Got Was This Story

It's been a long time since this reporter has been to camp, but this past weekend I was invited to attend Book Camp NY, a curious but lively gathering organized by Open Sky, an online startup that combines social networking and e-commerce. Held at the Open Sky loft/offices on W. 18th Street, Book Camp NY was an "unconference," a seemingly unstructured gathering of book and new media professionals to talk spontaneously about the transformation of books and publishing by technology and social media.

The Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival Is Back

The Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival returns for its second year on December 4 at the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church on North 8thStreet in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. While shows like this are a familiar platform for small press and self-published comics and other graphic works, the BCGF is a bit different. Exhibiting at this show is by invitation only—a practice that has generated a few bruised feelings—and admission is free to the public.

NYU Draws 30 to First Abu Dhabi Training Session

NYU's first publishing training seminar at their campus in Abu Dhabi, in partnership with Kitab, the joint venture of the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage and the Frankfurt Book Fair, hosted 30 publishing professionals from the Netherlands, Russia, Malaysia, Nigeria, and Senegal as well as from the Arab world.