I recently attended the 5th Annual American Bookseller’s Winter Institute in San Jose, California. Three days of workshops, keynote speakers, sales presentations and author dinners. Five hundred booksellers gathered to learn from our peers, to share ideas that work, and to gain insight into the books scheduled to arrive in our stores in the coming months.
Our first day revolved around e-books and the many devices to read them on. Macmillan Publishing Services were given a standing ovation for their stance with Amazon and the subsequent pulling of their titles (print and e-book formats) from the on-line bookseller. Dan Clancy from Google Books Talked of Clouds and the challenge of privacy and piracy. After the first day, I was overwhelmed by Clouds and the digital direction of bookselling.
On the second day our breakfast keynote was given by Jack McKeown of Verso Digital. He presented the results of the 2009 Survey of Book Buying Behavior. 49% of the people surveyed were not at all likely to purchase an e-book reader. There seemed to be resistance to reading any type of long narrative format on a device. Increased library usage and MOLLI class attendance were seen as good indicators that the baby boom generation was still reading and seeking education.
Daniel Pink was another keynote speaker. His new book DRIVE has many topics of interest to any business person. How to motivate yourself and others. How to define a purpose. Two questions to ask yourself: What is my sentence? Was I better today than yesterday? I was a fan of the book before hearing Daniel speak, so now I’m an advocate!