On May 24 I put out a desperate plea to anyone attending the BEC Writers to Readers conference at BEC to please, please, report back.

Well here are some reports:

From Kiley Turner on the Work Industries blog:
“Conferences can be among the dullest events out there. But once in a while, a conference comes together in a way that is truly excitingóreinforcing ideas you might have been contemplating, jumpstarting thoughts that were percolating, and introducing new ideas that stimulate your whole outlook. I attended such a conference earlier this month in Toronto. It was called Writers to Readers: Linking the Content Creators to the End Users, and it was organized by Humberís School of Creative & Performing Arts.”

Kiley talks about not being a techie but finding inspiration nonetheless in the presenters’ words of wisdom. Her rough notes are also posted.
Check out the Work Industries posting.

From John Maxwell on the SFU Thinkubator website:
“In Toronto Friday (June 9) I attended the above-titled conference day [Writers to Readers], which was more interestingly subtitled “Linking the Content Creators to the End Users”óparticularly provocative wording for an audience of book industry people. The day was evidently run and set up by Don Sedgwick and Shawn Bradley; if anyone can talk to book people, it’s them.”

John points out that for a tech audience Michael Cader and Kevin Smokler didn’t add anything new to the ongoing conversation, however, for a publishing audience of several hundred people, it seemed like the book industry might finally be taking the web seriously.
Check out the Thinkubator posting.

Did you attend? Were you a speaker? Do you have notes to add to the conversation?

Post them here in the comments.

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UPDATE:

From Kate’s Book Blog:
Check out Kate’s Book Blog and her 2-part post on the conference.

Part 1: highlights and lowlights, “Guest speaker Kevin Smoklerís assertion that the book is only the beginning was very much the party line throughout the day.”

Part 2: Small press spotlight focuses on the sessions on branding. “There was a lot of talk at the BookExpo Canada Conference about the branding of books and the branding of authors. But there appeared to be general agreement among the various panellists that, at this point in time, the branding of publishers is a dead end.”

Kate goes on to comment that this may be true for large, mainstream publishers, but that there may still be an opportunity for small presses.

I couldn’t agree more. I think book publishers are similar to film production companies. It’s as likely that a book buyer can tell you the publisher of the last book they read as it is for a movie goer to tell you the film company that produced the last movie they saw. (I know the film addicts will pick apart my comparison, but I’m talking in general terms here.)

There are exceptions, of course. People will go to see a Pixar film because it’s Pixar and there’s a built in expectation. I think if publishers can find one element of their company to build as a brand, then they’re doing a good job.

In promotion of small/indie presses, Kate is starting a new feature on her blog called “Small Press Spotlight.” Once per month she’ll profile a different small/indie press. I think that’s an awesome idea. Again here’s the link to Kate’s Book Blog.

From Siobhanís personal notes
ìAll the speakers stressed how important all of this is [understanding online marketing], and how you really have to listen to and invest in the people who know about this stuff … There were 235 people in attendance for the talk (and a previous Humber seminar got 63 ppl) … they were publishers, booksellers and authors óa mix of people who agreed with the speakers and those who remained very reticent to embrace or accept technology.

Like Kate, Siobhan has some really sound opinions about the speakers that she heard at BEC. Her session notes are incredibly detailed and offer a further perspective on the day’s events.

I posted an trimmed down version of the notes in a separate blog post found here.

Again, if you have thoughts to share, please do so here.