Seconded! Great talk by Seth Godin to The Publishing Point.
If you are in book publishing, PLEASE watch this video of Seth Godin (via @qotdblog ). I can’t believe I just discovered this. Going back to watch the rest now.
A Whole New Ballgame?
Yesterday saw the launch of the Publishing Point, an industry group—originally called the Digital Publishing Group—dedicated to bringing together forward-thinking people in the book industry for education and interaction. The first Publishing Point event also took place yesterday, with Hanny Hindi, a Clickable Guru, speaking to the group about SEM.
I’m lucky enough to have been able to learn about SEO/SEM basics through my job, but nevertheless Hanny’s talk gave me lots to think about. One of the best nuggets I took away from his talk was this statement, roughly paraphrased:
This isn’t totally new. This is still Don Draper stuff—the same marketing questions, the same need for quality campaigns. It’s just a new way to ask those questions, do market research, find and connect with buyers.
With SEM there are terms to learn and new concepts to cover, but fundamentally it’s just marketing—what we’ve been doing for years.
It seems to me this is also an apt and helpful way to think about massive changes that are transforming publishing. So often we—and the press—get taken by hyperbole: we hear that the “death of publishing” is nigh; that the Kindle is a “book-killer.” I don’t think the book will ever die, nor do I think publishing will die.
But what we can—and must—change is how we think about the role of the publisher. People will always want quality content to read, and they value publishers to find that content for them (and they also value “real,” physical books, too). As Craig Newmark said today, it’s about trust and curation, which are the heart of the publisher’s mission. The rest of it—formats, production, returns, pricing—is details, and clinging to the details as we’ve always known them is slowing us down. I don’t mean to downplay how important these “details” are to our industry, nor how big—and sometimes painful—their evolution will be. But they’re not, to return to Hanny’s comparison, the Don Draper stuff. They’re just the packaging.
The name of the game has changed. But it’s not a whole new ballgame. (Plus 10 points for the timely baseball metaphor!)
So let’s stop “being distressed” over digital and figure out how to make publishers’ most valuable asset—their knowledge, taste, and expertise—work in today’s market.
Announcing the Publishing Point
I’ve been working with Susan Danziger and DailyLit for almost two years now (eep!) and today’s one of the most exciting days in all of that time. We’re announcing the formation of a new industry group that seeks to bring exciting thinkers in publishing together, online and in-person, to discuss rapidly changing future of our industry. Here’s the official announcement, including links to our community’s site.
We’re excited to announce the next stage in the evolution of the Digital Publishing Group. Since we launched it six months ago, the group has grown to 300 members from all over the publishing industry, and we’ve received great reviews from such talks by bestselling author Seth Godin; head of digital for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Gail Horwood; the CEO of Lexcycle/Stanza, Neelan Choksi; HarperStudio’s Debbie Stier; and the founder of Tumblr, David Karp. We think the time is now right to build on our success, expand our core mission, widen our range of programs, and build in community tools. Inspired by members’ ideas, we have big plans ahead, plans that we believe make it appropriate to change the name of the group. So say a fond farewell to The Digital Publishing Group and join us in giving a warm welcome to The Publishing Point.
We’d love all of you who’ve joined The Digital Publishing Group via MeetUp (and any of your colleagues/friends) to now become part of our expanded community on Ning. You’ll benefit from being able to communicate with fellow members and learn about all the cool stuff we’re launching. It’s easy to join, and best of all, it’s completely free. You can also follow us on Twitter—@publishingpoint—and tweet about us using the hashtag #pubpt. So here’s our new and improved mission statement:
Publishing today is being transformed. Whether we’re authors, agents, publishers, or booksellers—everything about the way we create, publish, distribute, market, and sell is changing. A transforming industry demands a new type of organization, an organization that supports, encourages and enables change. The Publishing Point is that organization.
What is The Publishing Point? The Publishing Point is a community excited about change, a community that empowers professionals and inspires innovation. The Publishing Point is a forum that recognizes that change comes from all directions—from the bottom, top, inside, and outside our industry. The Publishing Point is a conversation where we share and debate the issues that shape everything we do.
The Publishing Point is about information, education, training, and news; it’s about the ideas and resources for our changing industry. But it’s more than that. The Publishing Point is a movement. A movement for those passionate about change—the changing reader, the changing book, the changing opportunities, and the changing industry.
Be part of the transformation. Be part of the future. Be part of the movement. Be part of The Publishing Point.
