Preview of Society for Scholarly Publishing and BookExpo
Next week in the US, two big annual events will take place — The Society for Scholarly Publishing Annual Meeting in Chicago and BookExpo in New York.
The focus of the Society for Scholarly Publishing’s Annual Meeting is “Scholarly Publishing at the Crossroads: What’s working, what’s holding us back, where do we go from here?” and, as they celebrate the organization’s 40th anniversary, the meeting will focus on past and future practices, technology, establishing and reaching new markets, and how publishers keep up with the changing needs of researchers and academics as both authors and users.
This year’s BookExpo is “Reimagined,” according to parent company Reed Exhibitions, BookExpo will become the “first end-to-end business solution for the global publishing industry,” with attendees experiencing “how content creation, rights trading, retail strategy and consumer behavior will increase profit and give you the tools to succeed in today’s shifting marketplace.”
The two events highlight how far scholarly and STM publishing have come in embracing technology in the workflow and address user needs as they are in today’s world, whereas trade publishing continues to focus on print vs. digital, metadata, and predominantly on adapting an existing system rather than creating something entirely new.
Below are our highlights from both events’ programs, a selection of the events which will help publishers improve their business structure.
SSP Annual Meeting
Wednesday, May 30th
AI represents a suite of technologies that are already supporting and assisting human decision-making in a whole host of settings. In this seminar, we’ll discuss some of the ways in which publishers and institutions are using big data, semantics and analytics to make smarter strategic decisions.
Thursday, May 31st
10:30–12:00 pm Artificial Intelligence: How Publishers will Benefit from Artificial Intelligence?
Smart publishers are beginning to embrace AI and are weaving it into the core of their business — to source new content, to inform and improve content and for new product development. Publishers are also using AI to reduce costs in their editorial processes.
3:30–4:30 pm Strange Bedfellows: Integrating Editorial and Sales to Maximize Success
The scholarly communications landscape is increasing in complexity. Publishers can no longer afford to allow departments to operate in silos. Sales colleagues at a publishing house need to understand the goals and objectives of their Editorial colleagues — and vice versa — in order to make the most of market conditions and partner effectively.
Friday, June 1st
11:00–12:30pm New Tools and Trends in Discovery Technologies
With over 2.5 million scholarly articles published each year — more than 8,000 each day — the glut of available scholarly content poses challenges to researchers, authors, publishers, and libraries. For authors and publishers, getting their work discovered and read, and ultimately cited, can be a career-defining challenge. Libraries compete with the open web by providing enhanced discovery services which they hope will be valued by their users. No single solution has emerged to satisfy all of these needs.
BookExpo
Thursday, May 31st
9:45am Leadership Round Table: Publishers on Publishing
This roundtable will feature CEOs from top publishing houses, including Markus Dohle, CEO of Penguin Random House; Carolyn Reidy, President and CEO of Simon & Schuster; and John Sargent, CEO of Macmillan in a powerhouse presentation that will surely be a highlight of BookExpo. Together, these leaders will reflect on industry trends, market highlights, and the power and responsibilities of publishers as global, corporate citizens. Maria A. Pallante, Association of American Publishers President and CEO, will moderate.
11:00am The Content Liberation Movement
Even well into the digital age, publishers have persisted in maintaining processes that confine their businesses to a specific format (usually, the book) and to a single business model. Forward-thinking editors today demand freedom to reuse and repurpose content in innovative, high value ways, especially on mobile devices. Content management systems, though, aren’t fast enough at identifying assets and don’t go far enough when assembling new products.
1:00 pm The State of the Publishing Industry Today
Join Jonathan Stolper, the President of NPD Books, as he breaks down the latest outlook for the US book market. Drawing on data from NPD’s BookScan, PubTrack, and Books & Consumer platforms, this presentation will deliver essential insights into the latest trends from book publishing’s most authoritative source of industry information, including:
• A recap of key industry performance in 2017/2018
• The significant trends in content and platform
• The outlook for digital versus print in the next few years
• The opportunities (and risks) for publishers and retailers in 2018 and beyond
Friday, June 1st
12:00 pm Keywords — Enhance Discoverability and Increase Sales on Amazon
Hear from technology experts & publishers how they are using the latest machine learning and AI technology tools to increase discoverability, drive sales and help make effective marketing decisions.
