The IDPF is holding a two day event before the main Book Expo America Starts in late may. This is a major digital publishing event featuring the who’s who of the ebook, e-reader, and self-publishing world. The main speaker list has been finalized and one of the new executives to lead a session is Otis Chandler, Co-founder and CEO of Goodreads. He will share an update and tackle questions from the crowd, including: What’s next for Goodreads now that it’s owned by Amazon? What does the recent sale mean for the 17 million members, 530 million books and 23 million reviews?
Other speakers include:
- Malcolm Gladwell, bestselling author and staff writer for The New Yorker will speculate on the digital future with Brad Stone, Bloomberg Businessweek writer and author of the upcoming The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon.
- Paul Aiken, Executive Director of the Authors Guild, will speak out for his constituents in the sale versus licensing digital content controversy, sharing the stage with the other side, John Ossenmacher of ReDigi, moderated by former Tools of Change icon, Joe Wikert.
- Allen Lau of Wattpad, Kristen McLean of Bookigee and Anne Kubek of INscribe Digital will enrich the audience with tips on how to engage deeper with readers.
- Sylvia Day and Jennifer Armentrout will reveal their secrets on how to be a successful and bestselling hybrid author.
- Paul Belfanti (Pearson), Kent Freeman (VitalSource), Evan St. Lifer (Scholastic), Daniel Fountenberry (Borne Digital), Rebecca Tomasini (The Alvo Institute), Ken Brooks (Cengage), Diana Rhoten (Amplify) and more digital education pioneers will show us what 21st century learning platforms and classrooms should really look like and why.
- Steve Potash (OverDrive), Jeff Jaffe (World Wide Web Consortium) and John Wheeler (SPi Global) will cover the open web platform, EPUB 3 and HTML 5, while Markus Gylling (DAISY) and Bill Kasdorf (Apex CoVantage) will share the latest EPUB 3 developments and features and Liz Castro (Author) will put them into action.
- Chris Kitchener of Adobe and Steve Matteson of Monotype will explore how to enhance a reader’s experience through typography and fonts.
- Eve Hill (Department of Justice), George Kerscher (DAISY and 2013 Presidential Appointee) and Robin Seaman (Benetech) will cover accessibility in the digital world.
Registration remains open but the IDPF Digital Book Conference sells out every year. Register today at: http://idpf.org/db13. Paid admission to IDPF Digital Book 2013 includes free admission to the BookExpo America trade show and exhibit hall, including the Digital Discovery Zone by IDPF.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
