“There needs to be a complete re-think of how publishers put books into the marketplace,” says Mike Shatzkin, founder of The Idea Logical Company and chairman of the Digital Book World 2011 Conference Council. The proliferation of ebooks and other alternatives to the printed page brings with it a new set of potential sales channels that traditional publishers have yet to fully maximize.

The new digital marketplace also highlights areas in which publishers have been slow to make changes. At Digital Book World 2011, representatives from publishing houses that are successfully adapting will offer details and actionable strategies based on how they’ve altered their business models.

David Wilk of Booktrix, Rich Freese of the National Book Network, Alison Lazarus of Macmillan, and Michael Selleck of Simon and Schuster will discuss how the sales function has evolved—and will continue to do so. They’ll answer questions like, Will reps cover accounts other than bookstores? Will they perform marketing functions in addition to presenting titles to buyers? What do reps need to know about ebooks and about metadata? Are reps still important in managing marketing with the accounts as they have been managing coop ads with accounts for generations?

Sara Domville of F+W Media, Joseph Craven of Sterling, Rob Flynn of Frommer’s, Ed Nowatka of Publishing Perspectives, and Roger Waynick of Cool Springs Press will talk about how they’ve connected with communities of interest and invested time in indexing, chunking and tagging content to successfully create vertical communities.

In August,  a poll of DBW Conference Council revealed the issue of the direct-to-consumer business model was top-of-mind in many major publishing houses. A panel of publishers will reveal how they are using the modern digital tools to foster direct-to-consumer relationships, as well as the impact of this shift on all aspects of their business – from acquisitions to relationships with bookstore customers. Nina Hoffman of Nina Hoffman & Associates, Brent Lewis of Harlequin, Eric Zimmerman of Courier/Dover, and Neal Groff of Egremont Associates will tackle this sticky subject head on.

Register and learn more about Digital Book World 2011 at dbw2011.com or follow @digibookworld on Twitter or join the Digital Book World group on LinkedIn.

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For more information, please contact:
Matthew Mullin
matthew.mullin@fwmedia.com
212.447.1400 ext 12282
twitter: @digibookworld