Today we are excited to announce the launch of a venture of ours, in partnership with leading consultant Mike Shatzkin of The Idea Logical Company: Publishers Launch Conferences. Building on our successful collaboration with F+W Media on the two Digital Book World shows, Publishers Launch Conferences aims to help trade publishing professionals navigate and maximize the digital transition through educational gatherings all over the world throughout the year. Designed to offer focused, practical, near-term ideas and strategies, we will gather data, solutions, experts and more on an ongoing basis, with each new event adding to the core of information to be shared.
We’re honored to be joined in this adventure by a variety of major organizations. Our first event, “eBooks Go Global,” will be held this May in conjunction with BookExpo America at the Javits Center in New York. Among the first full-day educational events focused on international visitors to BEA and those who do business with them (along with export sales and rights professionals), “eBooks Go Global” will highlight lessons learned during the rapid ebook growth in the US and how international publishers can maximize the opportunities as the big North American ebook players expand worldwide and each territory nurtures its own competitive offerings.
The second event follows quickly in June, as Publishers Launch Conferences pairs with The Publishers Association, the leading trade organization serving book, journal and electronic publishers in the UK, for a full-day show in London on June 21 focused on the special opportunities and challenges for British publishers in the world English-language ebook market.
Digital Book World and F+W Media will continue to serve as the primary producing partner for Publishers Launch in the US at a variety of events, and we will work with the Frankfurt Book Fair to convene two separate events at the beginning of this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair.
The Copyright Clearance Center and Constellation from the Perseus Books Group have signed on as our first Global Sponsors, supporting the entire year of events and contributing valuable data and insights, with more sponsors expected to join shortly. And we have a new website in support of the conferences and the data and thought leadership we will gather in concert with each event: PublishersLaunch.com. Publishers Launch will also serve as a new banner for us in organizing and presenting resources related to publishing’s digital transition.
The full press release, along with more details on some of our events and locations over the next year, are posted at our new site. Needless to say, we look forward to bringing you many more details in the near future.