Speakers at the 2016 FutureBook Conference in London emphasized putting disruptive technology to work for book publishers and readers.
The FutureBook Conference plenary room awaits its audience, December 2, at 155 Bishopsgate in London. Image: Porter Anderson
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
‘The New World Is Demand-Management’
A funny thing happened on the way to the future: the book didn’t get left behind, after all.
That’s a functional if simplistic interpretation of what the more-than 550 attendees at The Bookseller’s annual FutureBook Conference in London on Friday (December 2) found themselves hearing. Now deep into the digital shakedown, the industry seems to be coming to terms with an analog-plus-digital concept for the foreseeable future.
“People who succeed in this age will be those who marry digital and analog.” — Andrew Keen
The tone captured by Bookseller editor Philip Jones and his staff—several of whom, including Lisa Campbell and Sarah Shaffi, moderated sessions on Friday—points to an industry no less engaged in changing times than before, but less panicked at the prospect.
In my years as an Indie publisher, there have been a number of schools of thought as to what it took to be successful. In the salad days of 2012, the advice was, “Do a free run, then sit down and wait for the Brinks truck to back up with your money.” Those were good days, almost certainly too good to last. Since then, the advice has ranged from “write in a series and make the first book free” to “drive sales through Facebook ads,” to “use keywords and sharpened metadata to drive traffic.” Through it all, though, one thing has been constant: you need a mailing list.
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