Industry news
Goodbye BookExpo, hello BookCamp
The demise of BookExpo Canada earlier this week has left many in the industry chattering about what kind of event – or events – might be created to take its place. Though it’ll likely be awhile before there’s any official substitute for BEC, at least one group is using the vacuum to launch a gathering that will bring together publishing types and technology experts to discuss “the future of books, writing, publishing, and the book business in the digital age.”
BookCamp Toronto – which will be held on June 6 – will be unlike a conventional conference in several significant ways: no fees will be charged, and there will be no official speakers or session leaders at the event. Instead, seminars will be more like open discussions, and participants will collectively establish the conference agenda by adding suggestions for topics to an online wiki. (This model of user-generated programming is referred to in Web circles as an “unconference.”) Since the BookCamp website went live on Tuesday, suggested topics for conversation have included fiction podcasting, the future of indie booksellers, and book publicity in the digital age.
The idea, according to BookCamp organizer Hugh McGuire, is to get “a bunch of smart, interesting people who are passionate about books to talk about what the future is going to be.” McGuire, who is the founder of the free audiobook downloading website LibriVox, attended a similar gathering earlier this year in London, England, and he says that the open nature of the conference allowed for ideas from different sectors to cross-pollinate. “I would like to see a really good mix of technology people … publishers, writers, and booksellers,” he says.
With virtually no traditional marketing, more than 40 people have already signed up for BookCamp, including staffers from Random House of Canada, HarperCollins Canada, and Shortcovers, Indigo’s new sales platform for downloadable e-books. McGuire said that, given the amount of early interest, he may be forced to put a cap on registration, since space limitations would make it hard to handle more than 100 or so participants. “I think already there’s enough people from the mainstream publishing business to make it an interesting mix,” he says.
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