I have 11 bookcases in my apartment and it never ceases to amaze me how quickly they get filled. Is there a bookshelf that is infinitely expandable? Could my cobbled together collection one day look like these libraries of beauty?

From Hot Library Smut…

From WebUrbanist…

Or maybe I should go for this ceiling…

Or this modern version…

8h8fzirab4

Hello Publishing Friends! SFU has a workshop coming up Digital Publishing: Connecting Publishers to New Media Consumers.

July 23 – 24 | Thursday – Friday | 9 – 5 pm
Fee $275 CDN (all course materials provided)
Details on the Course
Registration info.

Digital Publishing: Connecting Publishers to New Media Consumers
Formats. Futures. Channels.

While most publishers are beginning the process of digitizing their back lists, digital technology has gained a toe hold in helping publishers market their front lists as well. No longer are titles digitized and pushed through select channels to have the process stop there. Content can be moved, indexed and combined with other publishers or books.

This two-day workshop, presented in conjunction with the Association of Book Publishers of BC, will consider success stories such as Japan’s $220 million in sales with Manga. We will also learn from some of the less successful initiatives.

And we will consider channels of distribution and the markets that are not being fully explored and developed, such as India where a significant majority of those attending universities speak English and whose market is primarily digital. Publishers need to have a defined digital strategy, much like their business mandates and business plans.

This workshop will provide answers and prompt questions to get the information you need to create your own digital roadmap. If you are not doing something, you may find you will soon be playing catch up. By the end of the two days you will understand the phrases and definitions and identify what kinds of formats best suit your needs. Some key points you will learn:

• Determine which formats can best deliver your content
• Determine business objectives for an initial foray into digital publishing
• Determine your requirements from third party service providers
• Understand XML
• Discuss the pros and cons of DRM
• Hear what the future of publishing may look like

This is an excellent workshop for new publishers, smaller publishers, or larger more established publishers who are past the thinking stage and want to begin to implement a digital strategy for their companies.

Remember when we blogged the opera?

Ling Chan of the Vancouver Opera and Capulet Communications have been doing a couple of sessions for business groups on blogger outreach and twitter. Vancouver Opera’s success and Capulet’s expertise are written up in the Victoria Times Colonist, and the story went out on the Canwest wires and has been picked up by the New Brunswick Telegraph Journal.

Hooray for Vancouver Opera, and congratulations to Capulet for being such superstars.

http://www.timescolonist.com/News/Social+networking+boosts+bottom+line/1734727/story.html

http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/search/article/719627

The opera’s blog is used to make it more accessible to people, educate them, increase awareness and make connections, Chan said. Other organizations have approached the opera about its social networking methods, which only started in spring of 2008.

Warmest regards,

BookCamp Vancouver 2009 Unconference : Exploring New Ideas in Books, Publishing and the Future of Reading.

Join Us on October 16 at SFU Harbourcentre for a day-long exploration of books, book-like technologies, and the future of the publishing industry.

We want to bring together the technologists and the book publishers, marketers, writers, librarians, media, and anyone else interested in reading, writing, publishing and gadget geekery.

Become a Fan on Facebook

Follow Updates on Twitter

Registration details to come.

Is Amazon Taking Over the Book Business? is a great article by Lev Grossman and Andrea Sachs in TIME on Monday, Jun. 22, 2009.

As I’ve said before, Amazon isn’t just a bookstore.

Quote: As numerous publishing journalists and bloggers have pointed out, Amazon has diversified itself so comprehensively over the past five years that it’s hard to say exactly what it is anymore. Amazon has a presence in almost every niche of the book industry. It runs a print-on-demand service (BookSurge) and a self-publishing service (CreateSpace). It sells e-books and an e-device to read them on (the Kindle, a new version of which, the DX, went on sale June 10). In 2008 alone, Amazon acquired Audible.com a leading audiobooks company; AbeBooks, a major online used-book retailer; and Shelfari, a Facebook-like social network for readers. In April of this year, it snapped up Lexcycle, which makes an e-reading app for the iPhone called Stanza. And now there’s Amazon Encore, which makes Amazon a print publisher too.