Digital Book World: the gathering of the wide world of publishing

Digital Book World, the annual gathering of the publishing industry, returns to New York City after six years.

Monday, January 16, 2023

7:30 AM - Registration opens

8:30 AM - Welcome

Bradley Metrock (Executive Producer, DBW 2023)

8:35 AM - A New Beginning: IPA @ Digital Book World

Karine Pansa (President, International Publishers Association)

The IPA kicks off Digital Book World 2023 with incoming President Karine Pansa's address on the state of the industry.

9:00 AM - PANEL: Black Women In Publishing

Marie Dutton Brown, Laini Brown (Director of Publicity, Hachette Book Group), Dana Canedy (Former Publisher, Simon & Schuster), Lisa Lucas (SVP and Publisher, Pantheon and Schocken Books, Penguin Random House)

A headliner panel discussion on issues confronting Black women in publishing.

9:50 AM - The Third Pillar: Spotify and the Audiobook Market

Nir Zicherman (VP and Global Head of Audiobooks, Spotify)

The streaming music pioneer has now grown to encompass the world of audiobooks, and Spotify joins us to share how they view this increasingly important space within the broader publishing landscape.

10:10 AM - BREAK

10:30 AM - A Journey In Publishing: From Kickstarter To Feminist Press

Margot Atwell (Executive Director and Publisher, Feminist Press)

Buoyed by an activist spirit and a steadfast belief in equality, Feminist Press has carved out a unique position for itself within the greater publishing landscape. Margot Atwell, the executive director and publisher, will join us to speak on publishing's successes as well as many challenges that still confront the industry today.

10:50 AM - PANEL: On Accessibility in Publishing

Moderated by Bill Kasdorf (Founding Partner, Publishing Technology Partners)

Richard Orme (DAISY Consortium)

Michael Johnson (VP Content, Benetech)

Madeleine Rothberg (Senior Subject Matter Expert, WGBH National Center for Accessible Media)

A roundtable of some of the most pre-eminent experts on incorporating accessibility into digital publishing join Digital Book World 2023 for a wide-ranging panel discussion.

11:30 AM - LUNCH / DEDICATED EXHIBIT TIME

Mid-Day Talks: Words Without Borders, eBooks2go

1:00 PM - What's Old Is New Again: Publishing's Next Chapter

Brian McKinley (VP Global Marketing & Customer Experience, Ingram Content Group) and Kim Schutte (Director, Consumer Marketing Services, Ingram Content Group)

Digital advertising isn’t what it used to be. There are more places than ever to advertise online and they’re not created equal. Technology is evolving. Targeting directly on social media has become unreliable. Data collection rules and privacy regulations are changing. It’s chaotic and getting more so.

How do you keep up with all the changes, maintain an effective advertising strategy that makes the most of your ad budget, and ensure you’re targeting the right audiences for your books? In this session you’ll learn about what’s happening with online advertising today and how you can cut through the chaos to create ad campaigns that work.

1:20 PM - Synthetic Voice And The Future Of Audiobooks

Taylan Kamis (CEO, DeepZen)

With Apple recently making news by announcing AI-narrated audiobooks, the future of audiobooks is a popular topic of discussion. This session will examine the growth and evolution of synthetic voice and how change in the audiobook market is well underway.

1:40 PM - AI-Enabled Quality Control for Audiobooks

Adam Fritz (CEO, Pozotron)

The ability for AI to intermediate the process of scripting and producing audiobooks has allowed savvy publishers to reduce costs significantly. This session will explore this transformation and the broader trend of AI disrupting the publishing industry.

2:00 PM - The Kitchen Sink: Mixing Media To Drive Readership

Andrew Weinstein (VP, Content Acquisition, Scribd)

Digital reading subscription services offer a nearly unlimited supply of content, but how do consumers fare when faced with so much choice? This presentation will discuss how both consumers and authors benefit from digital reading subscription services, as well as how this differs from the relationship to traditional physical and digital bookstores or publishers.

Rather than deciding what to buy, digital reading subscription services put consumers in the mindset of finding something to read. In fact, subscriptions encourage readers to browse content without having to commit to buying it. Removing the purchase equation offers a unique discovery opportunity for subscription services that leads to more consumption and cross-content discovery.

2:20 PM - BREAK

2:40 PM - Serialized Fiction is Back: Investing Millions Into A Growing Category

Annie Stone (Head of Content Acquisition, Digital Fiction Group, WEBTOON)

From Victorian periodicals, to comic books, webtoons, and literary zines, serialized storytelling has a long and storied history. And just like flare pants, Y2K fashion and choose your own stories, what’s old is new again, as serialized stories are more popular than ever. Today’s serialized fiction boom is happening online, where a new generation of mobile readers and storytelling technology platforms have reinvigorated the format.

This session will look at the history and evolution of serialized storytelling, why Gen Z has embraced the format, and how publishers and authors can monetize this growing category and format.

3:00 PM - Controlling The Narrative: How Arizona State's Narrative Storytelling Program Is Paving The Way To Greater Public Engagement

Steven Beschloss (Director of Narrative Storytelling Initative, Arizona State University)

In one of the first programs of its kind, Arizona State's Narrative Storytelling Program is empowering today's younger generation to expand the quality and scale of their public involvement, thanks to guidance in how to be better with the written and spoken word. This session discusses this fascinating and innovative program, and shares some lessons learned that may shed light on the current and future intersection of publishing and education.

3:20 PM - The New Frontier of Digital Reading: Upgrading the Reading Experience

Dwayne Campbell (CEO, BookFusion)

The digital reading experience varies across personal, business, and education use cases, and across all three, continues to be in need of enhancement and refinement. This session will explore some of the ways the reading experience has helped drive enjoyment and discoverability, and other areas that continue to cry out for improvement.

3:40 PM - Trends in Content Creation Using AI and Smart Technology

Ashok Giri (CEO, PageMajik)

The use of AI and smart technology in content creation is a growing trend that has the potential to streamline and improve the way that content is created and distributed.

By automating tasks , content creators can save time and resources, allowing them to focus on more high-level tasks such as strategy and creative development. AI used within publishing platforms allows for multiple use cases, such as validating and structuring documents, generating index terms, identifying abbreviations, making the content creation process more efficient and effective.

4:00 PM - The Audiobook Phenomenon: Accelerating Your Audio Business

Videl Bar-Kar (Global Head of Audio, Bookwire GmbH)

This session contemplates the growth of the audiobook market and discusses strategies to achieve top-line growth and increase discoverability for both new titles and backlist.

4:20 PM - Fireside Chat: Catching Up With Mary McAveney (Abrams)

Moderated by Bradley Metrock

DBW executive producer Bradley Metrock sits down with Mary McAveney, who recently departed Open Road to become CEO of Abrams Books nearly two decades after serving in a sales/marketing role within the well-known publishing house.

Tuesday, January 17, 2023

8:00 AM - Registration opens

9:00 AM - Fearless Books In A Fearful Time

Alexandra Grant (Publisher, X Artists' Books)

Moderated by Bradley Metrock

American visual artist and creator of publishing house X Artists' Books Alexandra Grant joins Digital Book World 2023 executive producer Bradley Metrock for a discussion on being a modern publisher and the challenges associated with publishing fearless books in a fearful time.

9:40 AM - A Panel From The Printerverse: The Intersection Of Print and Digital Publishing

Moderated by Deborah Corn (Principal, Print Media Centr)

David Drucker (CEO, highresolution nyc)

Noel Tocci (Founder, Tocci Made)

Join the hosts of “Making It with Print” on Podcasts From The Printerverse as they discuss advances in printing technology that foster creative, efficient, and cost-effective opportunities to support the sales and marketing goals of digital publishers.

10:15 AM - BREAK

10:35 AM - Unlocking Our Libraries: How Data Conversion Informs Accessibility

Greg Cram (Director, Information Policy, New York Public Library)

Mark Gross (President, Data Conversion Laboratory)

Technology and content are empowering products and ideas that were previously impossible. Content structure and semantics are the essential building blocks that enable downstream capabilities, such as search engine and database discoverability, consumption through voice interfaces, and new monetization opportunities. This presentation details how data extraction combined with well-structured content is being used to structure and enrich the Catalog of Copyright Entries to ultimately create an important resource for the world.

10:55 AM - Empowering The Next Generation Of Women Through Storytelling

Fireside chat with Joy Smith (Head of Audio, Rebel Girls)

In this fireside chat with Joy Smith (Head of Audio, Rebel Girls), we'll hear from a digital media company and children's book publisher working to publish the books and stories that empower young women.

11:15 AM - How the University Press of Mississippi Automated Their Website To Sell Directly To Consumers

Rod Elder (EVP North America, Virtusales), Craig Riggs (Founder, ReaderBound), Kristin Kirkpatrick (University Press of Mississippi)

In this session, the University Press of Mississippi will outline how it went from a manually updated website with limited selling capabilities to a fully automated website with sophisticated direct sales capabilities. Attendees will learn how the press manages its data and the information flow to its website to boost discoverability and online book sales while also reviewing a number of high-performing sales and marketing campaigns that were run on the website.

11:35 AM - Digital Ownership, NFTs, and Revenue Streams For Publishers

Joshua Stone (Co-Founder, Book.io)

In this session we will deconstruct and demystify what Web3 means for the future of digital publishing. Learn how the technology behind blockchain enables verified digital book ownership and how that changes the way the previous licensing models worked. Dive into how decentralized storage, NFTs and next generation blockchain-based DRM unlocks new revenue streams (like digital collectibles, and royalties on secondary sales), and allows you to reach new audiences, and connect directly to readers to supercharge marketing and merchandising in ways not previously possible.

12:00 PM - LUNCH / DEDICATED EXHIBIT TIME

Mid-day talks: Gotham Publishing Solutions

1:00 PM - Publishing Industry 2.0: ChatGPT, Amazon Alexa, and the Rise of AI

Bradley Metrock (CEO, Project Voice; General Partner, Project Voice Capital Partners)

It's easy to focus too much on ChatGPT's dominance of tech media headlines, while missing the emergence of other equally-important AI-related technologies that will collectively re-shape publishing. We'll explore some of these and how publishers can best position themselves for a short-term future we previously thought was a longer-term future.

1:20 PM - Driving Digital Book Discovery & Sales through Libraries & Schools

David Burleigh (Director of Brand Marketing & Communication, OverDrive)

Successful bookselling often overlooks the public library and school channels. One of the industry’s best-kept secrets, these institutional channels provide unique and valuable digital opportunities for discovery and engagement that can result in increased retail sales. Join us for the latest data and best practices.

1:40 PM - PANEL: Media, Publishing, And The Creator Economy

Sari Botton (Publisher, Oldster)

Kate Lindsay (Newsletter engagement editor, The Atlantic; Co-Founder, Embedded)

Simon Owens (Journalist and Substack writer on the current and future media landscape)

Gabriel Snyder (Publisher, The Fine Print)

Moderated by Jane Friedman (Editor and Publisher, Hot Sheet Pub)

Part of the ongoing impact of technology on the publishing industry is the emergence of creator-centric new media businesses in which creators are able to monetize their audiences without involving a third party, such as a traditional publisher. This all-star panel, moderated by industry legend Jane Friedman, will explore the ins and outs of this new and important trend.

2:30 PM - BREAK

3:00 PM - Monetizing The Backlist

Peter McCarthy (Chief Marketing Officer, Open Road Media)

The more technology publishers have at their disposal, the better they should be able to monetize their backlists. This session will explore why this doesn't always happen as planned, and how publishers can make better use of data and science to increase backlist revenue over the short-term.

3:20 PM - How Discounts Drive Discovery: A Look at Reader Behavior

Wade Lucas (BookBub)

The art and science of book pricing doesn't get the discussion it should. The underlying psychology involved with how publishers decide to price new titles, as well as ongoing backlist, is important to understand as new and emergent technologies enter the fray. This session explores how discounting affects book readership and what publishers can do to maximize the likelihood of a title's success over a sustained period of time.

3:40 PM - Autonomous Learner: The Future of EdTech Content

Randi Economou (CEO, Capstone Publishing) and John Costilla (CMO, Capstone Publishing)

Innovation within publishing deeply extends into the realm of education, where students of all ages and socioeconomic backgrounds can benefit from advances in modern storytelling. This session will explore trends seen at both the K-12 and higher ed levels, and how any and every type of publisher can benefit from their recognition.

4:00 PM - Accessibility On A Budget: Retrofitting The Backlist

Suzanne Norman (Lecturer, Publishing at Simon Fraser University; Director at Large, SFU Faculty Association)

ChatGPT description: This session focuses on how to make older, pre-existing materials more accessible to people with disabilities, without breaking the bank. We will cover a variety of strategies and techniques for retrofitting older materials to make them more accessible, including simple fixes such as adding alt text to images and more complex solutions like creating audio versions of text documents. The session will also discuss how to prioritize which materials to retrofit first and how to work within a limited budget. Attendees will come away with practical tips and ideas for making their own backlists more accessible.

Actual description written by Suzanne Norman: This session will look at meaningful ways publishers can start on the path to producing accessible books. We will cover the whys and ways publishers can affordably work with accessible formats, remediate backlists, create accessible websites, and workplaces and retrofit pre-existing materials. While not a hands-on workshop, this session will work through a checklist of best practices from why we should use epub 3, creating alt text, and how each step of the publishing process should contribute to accessible first publishing. Attendees will come away with practical tips and ideas for building and producing born-accessible books, without giving away or breaking the bank.

4:20 PM - The Digital Originals: How To Market Your Books With NFT Technology

Carsten Lambrecht (General Manager, Creatokia)

Blockchain and especially NFT technology offer many innovations and above all new revenue streams. As with every evolutionary step of the internet from Web1 (reading) to Web2 (reading and writing with social media), the current step to Web3 (reading, writing and digital ownership) must first be understood and, above all, a good user experience must be established.

We show how even Web3 newcomers can benefit from the new possibilities and revenue streams. Furthermore, we show what great new possibilities Web3 offers for the whole marketing mix and promotion. We will guide you to easily start into Web3 yourself, whether with a Web3 collector's item or a marketing campaign to sell more books in traditional markets.

Wednesday, January 18, 2023

8:00 AM - Registration opens

8:30 AM - PANEL: A Discussion of Book Publishing Startups in the United States

Jim Milliot (Publishers Weekly)

Thad McIlroy (Principal, The Future of Publishing)

John W. Warren (Director and Associate Professor, Masters of Professional Studies in Publishing, George Washington University)

This panel will discuss Thad McIlroy's exhaustive report on startups within the publishing industry, along with the trends at play that are actively re-shaping the publishing world.

9:15 AM - PANEL: Modern Publishing Industry Rights Management

Clare Hodder (Director, RightsZone)

Brian O'Leary (Executive Director, Book Industry Study Group)

Pamela Malpas (Literary Agent, Jennifer Lyons Literary Agency)

Miriam Miller (Subsidiary Rights Director, Holiday House and Pixel+Ink Publishing)

Moderated by Kris Kliemann (President, Kliemann & Co.)

In the same breath we discuss the growing role of technology within publishing, we also have to discuss how the same technology impacts existing structures within the industry, such as with rights management. This powerhouse panel will discuss a number of issues related to modern rights management, and trends they are seeing emerge from this exciting and challenging time of technological evolution.

10:00 AM - The Business Opportunities For Publishers With Podcasting

Javier Celaya (CEO, Dosdoce)

International publishing industry veteran Javier Celaya will explore, in this session, lessons learned from publishers' varying attempts at podcasting over the years, and will share new ways to increase revenue and market share through the medium.

10:45 AM - Rethinking Your Platform: Monetizing Audiobooks and Podcasts

Huub van de Pol (Founder, Audiyence)

One solution to the problem of content discoverability, amidst a very crowded and noisy world, is to simply create your own audio platform to use for distribution and promotion. This session will discuss how the cost of such an initiative has fallen dramatically, to the point where it should now be considered an option by publishers of a wide variety of sizes and titles.

11:15 AM - CLOSING KEYNOTE: Metrics, Analysis, and Best Practices With BookTok

Padma Warrior (Founder, CEO, and President, Fable)

Amidst serving on the boards of directors of both Spotify and Microsoft, legendary Silicon Valley executive Padma Warrior has found time to start her own publishing startup, Fable. This session will explore Warrior's views on BookTok and next-generation approaches toward digital marketing within the publishing world.

12:00 PM - Adjourn