BookRiff

Last Friday I attended BookCamp Vancouver, an “unconference” to explore new ideas emerging in the publishing industry as reading is becoming ever more digital. The day was packed with presentations from a variety of publishing perspectives, including the session I led, along with Rob Ellis and Brock Whitten of Nitobi Software, on BookRiff as a new model for publishers, authors and readers. The dialogue during the BookRiff session began with an array of questions, mostly about copyright, mostly originating from the same fears of piracy that emerge whenever anyone poses an idea to place copyrighted works online, in any form. One important thing to remember is that BookRiff is a tool for copyright holders to profit from their works. So, while we’re not going to run around shutting down user accounts without clear evidence of piracy, we will take every reasonable means to make sure copyright is protected. That’s a no-brainer for us. And, though the discussion began with a hint of skepticism, the clear response by the end of our 45 minutes was that BookRiff takes advantage of the digital landscape to provide a complement to traditional publishing and authoring. (So encouraging to hear this message.)

There were more than a few voices contributing to the dialogue throughout the day, as authors and readers drilled publishers on everything from DRM to e-book pricing; newspaper editors defended the continual need for print circulation in an industry full of free online news; new publishing models were presented; and marketing folks hashed out best practices for web marketing and social networking tools to help sell more books. Each session concluded with a group-think on key takeaway points. Looking back at the day as a whole, here are mine:

• Publishing is in a process of evolution. As new tools are emerging for readers, traditional ideas of books and reading are changing, influenced by a variety of players both inside and outside of the traditional publishing industry. Book publishers must find ways to adapt their current business models to accommodate for shifting audience demands, while still holding on to their distinguishing value: curated books.
• Bookselling and marketing is undergoing a similar shift, as communities of readers are shifting from geographic to interest-based, and social networking tools are allowing global interest-based communities to develop. The key is to interact with these communities on a personal level. As Emiko Morita said, “every copy of Margaret Atwood’s new book is sold individually, whether by a book marketer, bookseller, or twitter user.”
• Amidst all of the change, there are a lot of myths that need debunking. Most importantly, there is the myth that publishers are behind the times, unwilling  and afraid to change, clutching on to traditional models, charging exorbitant prices for books and grappling for all the royalties we can pocket. This couldn’t be less true: innovation is happening in every corner of publishing. BookRiff is just one example; there’s Vooks, podcasts, Enhanced Editions and all sorts of other enhanced e-books, not to mention more free online sampling than one could hope for. Publishers, please give yourselves a pat on the back…and let’s keep moving.

I didn’t make it to all of the sessions, so I’d encourage others who attended to comment with their own key points to add to this list. You may also want to check out the ongoing BookCamp Twitter buzz (courtesy of Raul Pacheco @hummingbird604 ), and a nice post-BookCamp blog post by Darren Barefoot.
I’d like to thank the organizing team of BookCamp Vancouver, including Sean Cranbury, Books on the Radio; Monique Trottier, Boxcar Marketing; Crissy Campbell, Boxcar Marketing; Morgan Cowie, BookNet Canada; Nick Bouton, Taunt Media, Protagonize.com; John Maxwell, SFU Masters of Publishing Program; and Suzanne Norman, SFU Summer Publishing Workshops for putting together this event, as well as all of the other moderators for the ideas presented.