It's quite hard to know what to expect from Bookcamp which is now only a few days away. Publishing conferences (this is not one of them) are often quite dry events - 'Supercharging Content Acquisition and Productivity for Publishers', anyone? - and a lot of the real action takes place outside the conference room in nearby corridors, bars and hotel lobbies. The only time I've seen someone demo something that they had actually made at a publishing conference, they got a standing ovation.
At Bookcamp we're hoping to see lots of things people have made or hear them discuss what they might like to make in the future. I'm looking forward to following discussions about how we get children hooked on reading, hearing about authors' fear of the internet and learning why everything on the internet is the opposite of how it is in print! And I'm excited to meet some new people who share an interest in and passion for books and stories and, yes, technology.
But most of all I'm looking forward to being surprised on the day. It's a day of bookish experimentation and we're going to find out what happens when a bunch of smart, creative, enthusiastic people get together to think about how we might save, repair, rethink and rebuild the book for the 21st century. I can't wait.
Jeremy Ettinghausen, Digital Publisher
PS Please note that because of space restrictions we can't accept any more attendees but we'll report back here soon after the event and perhaps even try our hand at custom, print-on-demand publishing to produce a record of the day.
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Looking forward to hearing about the outcome(s), Jeremy. Wish I could be there...
Posted by: Kat Meyer | January 12, 2009 at 09:00 PM
Excited!
Posted by: Kevin | January 13, 2009 at 08:21 AM
This sounds like a really interesting idea - looking forward to the results and heading over to the wiki now...
Posted by: Adam Maxwell's Short Stories | January 13, 2009 at 11:38 AM
Can't wait! Left you a little something on my blog though, of course, you do not need. Could not resist. Thanks for all the great content!
http://nonsuchbook.typepad.com/nonsuch_book/2009/01/premio-dardos-award.html
Posted by: Frances | January 15, 2009 at 01:06 AM
Great post
Posted by: Jason | January 16, 2009 at 01:54 AM
Jeremy, I was wondering how the wiki idea turned out. I've done something similar but in a non-electronic style. Over the past two years I've mentored six teenagers in the collaborative writing of a murder mystery in Karachi, Pakistan. Check out our website-in-progress: www.shadesofprey.com.
I would also like to get in touch with you via email. Kindly email me at spqalam@ymail.com so that I may send you my Profile. I am currently looking for telecommuting editorial positions in the publishing industry.
Posted by: Saulat Pervez | January 16, 2009 at 06:44 AM