BNC Tech Forum roundup

Once again the masterminds at BookNet Canada kept it seriously real at their annual conference, BNC Tech Forum. Overall, the team really got it right this year; the event boasted great speakers, timely information, new, sustainable business models and a general rethinking of the shape of the book business. The theme of the day was ‘calculated risk,’ and the speakers covered both sides of that coin, candidly discussing both the failures and successes related to taking risks in publishing. The highlight of the day, for me at least, was imagining the simultaneous chest-heave of the publishers in the room when, after being asked whether community building was a marketing strategy or a publishing strategy, Richard Nash responded with “brand owners will use publishing as a marketing strategy.” I know it’s scary guys, but it will be ok.

1) Can this business be saved? Bob Miller, Workman Publishing

Bob gave a general discussion about his experience working with HarperStudio, focusing on the risks the firm took to move publishing into a new, return-free direction. He made a lot of really interesting points, but I’m not sure how much independent publishers will be able to take home; I’m not sure how applicable HarperStudio’s profit-sharing model for authors who don’t really need the money of an advance is to proprietors of smaller literary presses but nonetheless, interesting things were said:

- data is going to be a lot of the solution to supply chain issues, not eliminating returns

- format building for online sales in the music business – combining physical and digital shopping carts

- importance of investing in books after they’re published

- need for author / publisher collaboration

If you came from another planet and looked at this business you’d think, this can’t work. It’s a financial and environmental disaster.

2) Publishing 3.0 Richard Nash, Cursor Publishing

I am now an official Richard Nash True Believer. If life in publishing were an episode of Lost, I would trust Richard to be my Jacob. I think he scared the poop out of a lot of people, but I really appreciate the way he approaches radical change to publishing business practice with a combination of drama and compassion:

- content has become infinite: our focus on supply has to change to management of demand

- content doesn’t need to be downloadable – ‘just make a website’

- if you’re in the demand market, you have to own a community

- throw off the shackles of the supply chain and understand that books are part of a larger social experience

- the physical object of the book is no more cultural than a t-shirt

It is too risky not to completely rethink our business.

3) Breaking ground Dominique Raccah, Sourcebooks

Dominique gave an overview of the risks involved with creating her independent publishing house and multiple innovative marketing and community building techniques. The highlight for me was poetry speaks, a poetry website I might actually visit.

- importance of defining narrow verticals / monetizing your expertise

- digital is more than just text transfer

- ways to explore digital business through publishing

- innovation is iteration – keep trying

Of all the things I can tell you about, many of them will not have worked.

4) Lessons learned Michael Tamblyn, Kobo

After a heartwarming tech forum reunion between founding and present BNC CEO’s (aww!) Mr. T launched into one of his signature uber-slick PowerPoint presentations outlining Shortcovers / Kobo’s successes and failures (they only had two!) over the last year. The presentation included but was not limited to the following:

- short content was a huge mistake; people are interested in long-form books on devices

- Kobo loves user analytics – knowing your market is the key to success

- ebooks are a new-release market and require a data-rich purchasing environment

- Kobo is the Trinidadian word for vulture

- introduction of the Kobo reader, a stand alone reading device for people who love books more than technology; an implementation of the Kobo app, can be embedded on any device

Make mistakes, adjust, move on, and do it as fast as humanly possible.

5) The afternoon broke into two tracks, of which I attended the second. Speakers from Symtext, BookRiff, Book Oven, Titles Book Store (Espresso book machine), Smashwords and IndieBound talked about innovations in publishing from the point of view of their businesses. I felt these sessions were useful in that they showcased a lot of different business models in a short period of time, but it did feel a little bit pitchy.

6) Has content outgrown its covers Deanna McFadden, HarperCollins Canada

It is now my secret hope to make Deanna McFadden my BFF. (I know, it’s not secret if you write it in a blog post, see what I did there?) With empathy and intelligence, Deanna presented a top ten list of things to do – and not to do – as we usher in this new digital era. It was a lot like listening to my yoga instructor tell me “it’s hard, I know” during an extra-long banarasana:

- enhanced ebooks can be cool, really

- users are treating websites like books

- everything you put on the web has the power to convert someone into a buyer

- static websites suck, please stop making them

People don’t always have to be in competition with each other.(HALLELUJAH!)

Then there was a lightning round that I’m not going to talk about, then some other stuff happened – Noah gave away a Kobo reader disguised as a piece of paper and a Sony reader (with a bow!), Sachiko broke a glass, and the intern rang a bell. Thanks to the BNC gang for a great day that made a future in publishing a little less scary. And big ups to new mom Morgan Cowie, I know she poured a lot of work into planning the event. See you next year!

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What Would Peggy Nature do?

I will warn you (and any of her spies) that this post will reference Margaret Atwood. Let it be noted that, because I am a young, superstitious person hacking away at a career in publishing, and because I believe that any unflattering reference to the queen of CanLit carries a curse of horrible failure, all references herein are friendly, playful, or, at worst, flip.

I spend a fair amount of time working with and thinking about the brave new digital world of publishing, and while most of the big conversations are centered on Ebooks, reading devices, and sales channels, I thought it might be worth considering the vehicles in which we intend to drive these electronic tomes around – social media. Despite one of the most unfortunate instances of terminology abuse in recent history, social media has become one of the most widely used methods of communication we have. It seems to be good news for publishers, who have been using the web to sell and promote their titles more and more steadily.

In fact, social media has become so main stream in publishing that even Ms. A herself has been tweeting, blogging, and selling band-style swag (???) to promote her new book, The Year of the Flood. If the old rules are still in play, the ‘if Peggy’s doing it, it’s got to be right’ philosophy should work. But does the fact that a dino of Canadian publishing has warmed to social networking validate it, or just date it? What does social media really do to promote books and ultimately drive sales?

Some stuff that’s kinda factual:

- The internet is wicked. Really. It’s a great opportunity for publishers   and authors to promote material. It’s cheap, it’s convenient, and it’s trendy.

- Book people love it. It’s been recently reported that teens aren’t using twitter, and it ain’t your grandma – who does that leave? Nerds.

- It works – just ask Kat Meyer. Check it here.

So people are using these resources and seem to like them – but how? As an active user of social networks and a member of the Canadian publishing family, my own experience shows that these applications do two things:

1)       they show that traditional marketing and publicity techniques, like print advertising and media coverage, are passé

2)       they reinforce the basic understanding that good content and word of mouth publicity are the most important things when promoting new material

Publishers aren’t gathering online to share links to facebook groups for new novels, they’re engaging one another in conversation and building relationships. Even authors aren’t online plugging their own books – they’re talking about other people’s work. People want to engage in these conversations, and regardless of the environment, a good story will generate them (and though it’s hard to track, presumably this will help to drive sales, as word of mouth advertising has proven to do in the past). Perhaps, then, it doesn’t matter what Margret Atwood does – if, ultimately, the point is that a good story speaks for itself, people are bound to be a-Twitter.

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BookCampTO

This Saturday, Cheese and I (along with my friend Kevin) attended BookCampTO, a grassroots “unconference,” whose mandate was to have “A conversation about the future of books, writing, publishing, and the book business in the digital age.”

So, while I didn’t bring my laptop and tweet throughout the day, here are a few summaries, observations and memorable quotations for the day:

7:15 – Alarm goes off. Linger in bed out of resentment to be getting up at work time on a Saturday.

8:00 – Cheese arrives grumbling. Make her coffee and toast with nutella, and she is temporarily placated (the girl will do almost anything for nutella).

8:10 – My friend Kevin arrives. He is a brave soul who is not in publishing but is interested in books, digital media and pop culture in general, and who comes with non-nutella-induced enthusiasm.

8:52 – Arrive at the iSchool for registration, which runs as smoothly and quickly as at most regular conferences. Well done, BCTO team.

9:03 – Very quick opening remarks from Hugh McGuire. His vision of BookCampTO? Making the one-to-one hallway conversations from a regular conference the focus of this one.

9:15 – First session on DRM ends up being a throwdown by some of the female powerhouses of publishing. Try to get over exhilarating “fly on the wall” feeling. (As it turns out, DRM are three letters which can get people hot under the collar in just about any session throughout the day. Kev and I referred to it as the “DRM bomb”).

9:17 – The big question succinctly stated: how to achieve “freely disseminated information, but not for free.”

9:20 – Thanks to Morgan Cowie for important distinctions between DRM at a retail level and at a publisher level. Most seem to agree that it’s ridiculous at a retail level if it restricts use of content to only one device.

9:24 – Someone brings up the book industry/music industry comparison. Much eye rolling ensues, since of course, the comparison is quite faulty, especially when it is reasserted by a couple prominent publishers that nobody really wants to meet authors…and they don’t want to meet you.

9:33 – I struggle with the contention that people only break DRM and pirate out of frustration that content is encrypted in the first place.  I think this is an overly optimistic view of my generation’s sense of entitlement to free content.  Besides, one person breaking the code and posting it isn’t the entire problem, it’s that people don’t have any problem downloading it and using it.

9:40 – Someone suggests a micropayments idea, which in theory, I like, though how it would work, I’m not sure.

9:50 – Someone throws out the word “assholic.” I’m impressed not only by this adjective, but by the general heated involvement around the room.

9:52 – Sarah MacLachlan brings up Anansi’s success with their limited time offer of free ebooks this fall. It generated huge publicity and a sales increase. Sure, I’m behind that. Though of course that kind of thing still qualifies as unique and worthy of attention. If giving away free content was the norm, I imagine the increase in sales and publicity would be much lower.

10:15 – Second Session on the disappearance of the print review and the online review scene in general (Led/moderated by Q&Q staffer and blogger Steven Beattie, writer Claire Cameron and Ryan Nurwisah of the National Post)

10:17 -  Steven expresses his dismay that the deep long-form critical review is not widely available online (well, they are on his v. intelligent blog That Shakesperian Rag). I think it’s true, but the problem isn’t necessarily the reviewers, but rather the medium itself (a point Steven made as well). We are ctrl + tab readers online – constantly multitasking and jumping about the page (I have 4 tabs open right now). We chat, we tweet, we google, we follow hyperlinks. Aside from the misery of squinting at small text on a glowing screen, we haven’t been conditioned to read carefully onscreen, especially online. We’re skimmers and attention tramps, and sadly I don’t think that will change. Dismal? Maybe.

10:22 – Alexa Clark (the creator and organizer of the fantastic Mini Book Expo) doesn’t think it’s a huge problem. She’s all about the quick recommendation, and thinks that’s what’s most important. hnd this is probably what online reviewing does best. (Check out Erin Balser’s very cool Booksin140 reviews on twitter)

10:23 – Concern expressed over lowering Canadian critical discourse and canon formation. SB: “Doesn’t that downgrade the discourse? If you just rub against it and say, ‘Yeah, I liked it.’? ” Funny quip, though I’m not sure reviewers are entirely responsible for canon formation. I realize that they’re on the front lines, but academics also play a vital role in promoting Canadian literature and deciding which works are worthy of sustained critical attention and passing on to students. Granted, it’s an insulated community, but thousands of students pass through the ivory tower each year, or at least stand outside to listen for proclamations from above.

10:28 – Speaking of academics: “We’re not afraid of offending people, that’s the only way people remember who we are.” (As a former academic, I can assert this is true.)

10:35 -  Morgan Cowie wisely reminds all the alarmists in the room that the Globe coverage hasn’t disappeared, it’s moved online. (Now, whether people can absorb that coverage or privilege it in the same way is something else.)

10:40 – What will happen to the almighty cover blurb. “Ryan from GoodReads” is subject to a little snobbery, and Ryan (from the National Post) suggests that Demi Moore should be blurbing more books.

10:51 – My own starred review: Quote of the day from Jack Illingsworth: “I’ve seen starred reviews on Quill & Quire launch and sell nothing because the only people who read that review got a copy for free.”

11:00 – Someone articulates what I’d been tumbling around in my brain — the nature of online reviews being conversations that can continue indefinitely, whereas print reviews are far more like a lecture. (Perhaps even unconference vs. conference playing out on the review scene?)

11:10 – Basic conclusions that we can create opportunities for reviews to be read, but we can’t control how people read them.

11:15 – Small is Beautiful, with Alana Wilcox and the hastily recruited Jack Illingsworth

11:17 – Alana lists off many great advantages to working for a small press – focused lists, knowing readers, only guerilla marketing, agility, staff who are jacks of all trades, freedom and finishes it off with “we’ve never had money.”

11:19 – The lists of downsides mostly start with “no money.”

11:20 – A little general indignation that “small” can be derogative, and “independent” is suggested as a more suitable alternative.

11:25 – An CH author wrote a blog as a character in their novel? Wicked.

11:40 – Discussion on the necessity of engaging with readers instead of other publishers (which implies today might be more useful with more civilians in the crowd – thanks, Kev!)

11:50 – Someone from an American small press reveals that they use ebooks as a form of market testing — only printing the book if the ebook does well. But that seems based on pretty huge assumptions for me — mostly that a representative portion of your target audience are ebook buyers. I can see how this would (and I think has) worked for someone like Harlequin where readers have very specific tastes and offer lots of feedback, not to mention are big ebook consumers.  I remain unsold on this strategy for general trade books.

12:15 – It’s lunch! And it seems like there’s enough despite worries by organizers. Wonder what the actual attendance count was?

1:17 – Arrive back a couple minutes late from lunch (trying to cram in errands over lunch = unwise). I thought it would be ok,  but this is an unconference that runs on time. End up in the wrong session due to my hustle, but as it turns out “Listening to Readers” probably talked about many of the same things that “Stories from the trenches of online bookish communities” did.

1:25 – Questions of how to guide reader response/ when to censor — some publishers don’t allow negative comments, but I assert that these things tend to be self-correcting.

1:40 – Some very vocal Harlequin authors in the room, which is neat, but a very specific sort of writing. In any case, they’re very responsive to their readers — is there a romance storyline you always wanted to see? Write to them.

2:15  – “How to be a Digital Marketing Rockstar” with Mitch Joel of Twist Image.

2:17 – Joel starts with a provocation: Authors and publishers have to become marketers. No one seems too provoked (now if he had mentioned DRM…)

2:25 – Why are we infatuated with mass media models? Joel suggests we should be targeting much more specific audiences.

2:40 – Don’t give anything away for free! Now this is a bit of a provocation as it turns out, especially given that this is in contradiction to things said earlier. Joel suggests providing ancillary content — writing articles, etc, but giving away nothing of the book, since that devalues the actual object. However, it is wisely pointed out that this kind of extra content is much harder to provide with fiction.

2:41 – To clarify Joel’s earlier point: “Reviewers always think something sucks because they didn’t pay for it.”

2:53 – This has the least conversational feel of all the sessions today. A professional speaker, Joel seems to be a bit chafed by the restrictions of the unconference model — it’s mostly a Q &A sesssion.

3:13 – My brain is saturated and I’ve got a party to prepare to hostess this evening and many things still to do. So yes, I bail, and switch to soaking up sunshine instead of information.

But on the whole, I’d have to say BookCamp exceeded my expectations.The conference as well-organized as a regular conference.  I wasn’t sure that the discussion model would work, especially with a group this large, but it did. People were fairly respectful of one another, and though it was sometimes hard to get heard, the moderators did their best. It was great to hear established industry leaders discussing things with newcomers, authors, and media. I don’t know that any answers were reached, it was a really engaging conversation.

Check out more coverage of BookCampTO at the BookNet Blog, Torontoist, Quillblog,A Certain Bent Appeal, and for an list of the twitter feed and blog coverage, it’s all at IndexMB.

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