Booksquare

Imagine, if you will, a bright, cold Tuesday morning in New York City. But you don’t mind the chill outside because you’re inside, attending Day 2 of the second annual O’Reilly Tools of Change conference. In fact, at this moment, the only worry on you mind is what fantastic session to attend (don’t worry, I’m here to help).

For those members of the publishing industry who still haven’t registered for next week’s conference, it’s not too late. For those members of the book community who are eager to learn more about the future of publishing, ditto. Recall, if you will, that at last year’s conference, an entire room of jaded professionals were held rapt by design student Manolis Kelaidis who had married digital and analog to create bLink, a new way of looking at a digital book (FoBS Jeremy Ettinghausen, digital publisher at Penguin UK, offers his thoughts here).

Of course, all the description of this presentation cannot begin to demonstrate the electricity in the room as Kelaidis touched a word on the page and the Internet kicked in (nor can it describe casual drinks later in the bar with the toast of the conference, who was elated and perplexed by what had happened that day). As the industry stands on the brink of new and exciting change, don’t you want to be part of the revolution?

Of course you do. That’s why I’m reminding you to attend next week’s conference. I promise you, the office will still be there when you return. The piles on you desk will wait for you (in fact, they will grow larger in your absence…think of it as your desk bingeing while you’re gone). Those phone calls? Well, let’s all be frank: would you be all eagerness to return them if you were sitting right there at your desk? Thought not.

Oh, and best of all, you have your choice of incredible panels. I don’t want to use my awesome power to influence you (big fat lie!), but here are my top picks for the event:

• Literary Bloggers: The New Online Insiders: This incredible panel is moderated by the terrific Jeff Gomez, Senior Director of Online Consumer Sales and Marketing for Penguin USA and proprietor of ”Print is Dead: Books in Our Digital Age, and features genius panelists Ron Hogan (Beatrice.com), Mark Sarvas (The Elegant Variation), Maud Newton (MaudNewton.com), and moi (you know where I’m from). Best session on the schedule, except…
• DRM, Digital Content, and the Consumer Experience: Lessons Learned from the Music Industry: This is going to be an equally awesome session hosted by the incredibly prescient Kirk Biglione (Medialoper.com). Kirk knows whereof he speaks and is ready, willing, and able to steer publishers past the pitfalls of moving into the future.

As you will see, these two panels are opposite each other, one of those funny quirks of fate that often afflicts BS/ML HQ. This presents a serious challenge for some of you. I suggest cloning. Best way to solve a complex problem and involves minimal invasive surgery. I wish I could be in two places at once as well.

And, of course, the fun doesn’t begin and end with these sessions. While I cannot predict the future, I can make a reasonable guess that I will be in the hotel bar at some point during each evening of the conference. Please, please say hello.

Technorati Tags: TOC2008, TOCconf08, jeff gomez, mark sarvas, maud newton, ron hogan, kirk biglione, medialoper