Highlights from Digital Book World, part 2 (of 2)

The last three days flew by, with so much great information and insights.

Here are some highlights from Tuesday and Wednesday of the 2016 Digital Book World conference:

The final plenary session panel, Women at the Intersection of Publishing, Finance and Tech. (l to r): Joanna Stone Herman, Dominique Raccah, Katherine McCahill, Susan Ruszala and moderator Charlotte Abbott

One slide (of many) sharing some fascinating information about our industry from Data Guy.

Mike Shatskin (Conference Chair; Founder and CEO, The Idea Logical Company):

As shelf space for books shrinks, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google become more important.

Jon Taplin (Director, USC Annenberg Innovation Lab):

$50 billion has moved from content owners to platform owners.

Rand Fishkin (Founder, Moz):

If we know a small handful of the right customers (i.e., readers) we can know their influencers, their social media habits. Survey them. Clone them. Leverage attention by contributing to platforms where they already are.

and

Google drives seven to ten times more traffic than Facebook.

Mary Ann Naples (was Senior VP and Publisher at Rodale, about to start as Publisher at Disney):

Get excited about failure... Do experiments, test your hypotheses.

Data Guy (Data Analyst, Author Earnings):

There's an opportunity for publishers to give debut authors different (lower) pricing so they can find their audience.

Scott Galloway (Clinical Professor of Marketing, NYU Sterns):

Facebook is the most successful thing ever, with 2.3 billion people. They're "giving us the ability to love at scale."

Dominique Raccah (CEO and Publisher, Sourcebooks), on women at the intersection of publishing, tech and finance:

"The ebooks revolution was driven by women. Sorry, guys."

Andy Hunter (The Literary Hub), on content marketing:

 "It doesn't hurt to go very narrow." When you try to go broad, nobody feels like this is for them.

Ricci Wolman (Founder and CEO, Written Word Media), on email marketing:

"The more relevant you can make the content, the better it's going to do."

Highlights From Digital Book World, part 1

I just attended Digital Book World and it's Monday Launch Kids conference, and it was a great experience. There was so much information, insight, and engagement with the process of how all of us in the world of Children's Literature are dealing with the digital changes afoot, that I've broken it up into two posts.

Here are ten highlights from LaunchKids to start:

Dominique Raccah (CEO and Publisher, Sourcebooks), on all the digital possibilities:

It's additive. An "and" transformation, rather than "or."

David Kleeman (Senior VP of Global Trends, Dubit):

Kids prefer print to digital. Kids love to share, which is harder to do in digital.

Kristen McLean (Director of New Business Development, Nielsen Book/Nielsen Entertainment):

Children's is going to be THE growth market... Juvenile nonfiction will be THE growth category for the next 4-5 years.

Jennifer Perry (VP of North America Media Products & Publishing, Sesame Workshop--the Sesame Street people), on apps & ebooks:

"We have not figured out the secret sauce."

Jenny Han (New York Times Bestselling Author): "

"I'm in driver's seat with social media."

Ashley Anderson Zantop (Chief Content Officer, Capstone):

"The kids in kindergarten this year have NEVER been alive without tablets" and will have "fundamentally different expectations of technology."

Agent Joanna Volpe (Agent, New Leaf Literary):

"Focus on engagement rather than # of followers."

...which was followed by Ned Rust (VP, James Patterson Brand & Marketing Director, Hachette Book Group) saying:

"If you get engagement, the #s will grow."

Preeti Chhibber (Senior Editorial Manager, Teens & Book Beat, Scholastic Reading Club, Scholastic):

"The number one thing teens want "is to know someone is listening... that they know we care what they think about books.

Mike Shatzkin (Conference Chair, Founder and CEO The Idea Logical Company):

"If discovery through search matters, giving up on author websites is a big strategic mistake."

Susan Katz (President and Publisher Emeritus, HarperCollins Children's Books):

"Nothing has gone away and everything has been added."

More great highlights of #DBW16 in tomorrow's post!

ps - sorry this Tuesday post is late... the conference was a busy time! 

Do You Know About The Author Earnings Website? (With Info on Digital Book World and Launch Kids)

Put together by "Data Guy" and Hugh Howey, Author Earnings' purpose is "to gather and share information so that writers can make informed decisions. Their secondary mission is to call for change within the publishing community for better pay and fairer terms in all contracts. The website is by authors and for authors."

It's a fascinating resource, with graphs, charts and explanations "for our fellow geeks" and even translations "for the non-geeks." A recent favorite: "Our data-science awesomesauce now tastes even better." That was for the non-geeks, clearly!

The numbers and trends are revealing and thought-provoking. Like this February 2016 report with its chart showing "Market Share of Ebook $ Author Earnings by Publisher Type," from February 2014 through January 2016.

As they comment,

"In two short years, the market share of paid unit sales between indie and Big 5 ebooks has more than inverted. The Big 5 now account for less than a quarter of ebook purchases on Amazon, while indies are closing in on 45%."

I'm excited to hear Data Guy present at the upcoming #DBW16 - The 2016 Digital Book World Conference + Expo. As he says,

"Publishing independently is no longer a fallback choice for authors in today's market --- it may even be a far superior choice for most now," says Data Guy. "What was good career advice even a year ago might be poor advice today. Every author, however they choose to publish, should educate themselves about the new shape of the market and make career choices that are informed by up-to-date data on our industry."

The focus of #DBW16 is how to not just survive, but thrive, through publishing's digital transformation.  I'll be in New York for their Monday March 7th Launch Kids Children's Books and Digital Media Conference, and then the Tuesday and Wednesday of Digital Book World.

Lorraine Shanley, chair of the Launch Kids event, mentioned in this interview some highlights of Launch Kids that she's anticipating, including:

"...a brand new Nielsen survey of the children’s market, a conversation between bestselling author Jenny Han and Tumbler’s Rachel Fershleiser, and some great panels on brands, startups, and how schools and libraries can work together."

Lorraine also wrote about some of the changes the digital world has had on children's books in this article, Digital Book World's Launch Kids: Looking Forward and Back.

If you're there, say hello! (And if you still want to register, #DBW16 is offering a discount on registration: Use the code SCBWI5 to get 5 percent off.)

The #DBW16 Faculty are a who's who, and you can read my pre-conference interviews with with Christopher Kenneally, Peter Hildeck-Smith, Jane Friedman, Kristen McLean and Lorraine Shanley here and with Stephen Blake Mettee and Kevin Franco here. 

I'll be tweeting with the #DBW16 hashtag, and I look forward to sharing some highlights of what I learn on this blog (and on my own.)

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee