As printing technology becomes more advanced and more easily accessible, book design and book production have come to play a major role in making books appealing to readers. With this in mind, a panel discussion on ‘The Art of the Book’ will be organized at the forthcoming Publishing Next conference. This panel will bring together the makers of illustrated books, visually-rich books, and coffee- table books, to talk about how design, production, and printing, combine with the editorial, to produce books of the highest quality. The panel will also discuss business strategies that these publishers adopt, to be able to keep such books visible in an increasingly electronic-content environment, and the modern printing technologies that are aiding them in the process. While Ajay Mago of Om Books and Bipin Shah of Mapin Publishing have confirmed their participation, two other publishers are also likely to confirm their participation.
The fifth edition of Publishing Next will be held on 19 to 20 September at the state-of-the-art Krishnadas Shama Goa State Central Library in Panaji, Goa. Sponsors of the
conference include HP India, Springer India, NewsHunt, Netex Learning Solutions, Ingram, among others. Vishal Anand of NewsHunt says, “We are excited to be associated with Publishing Next conference this year. The conference has done a great job of bringing together publishers in India, and we admire the effort that the conference puts in to highlight Indian language publishers and content.”
Panel discussions
The conference features panel discussions, ‘how-to’ workshops and experience-sharing insight talks. In addition, it is structured to encourage networking among participants.
Panel discussions on topics such as the business of graphic novels; open publishing and copyright issues; publishing in Indian languages; and, ePublishing in India, will bring together CEOs, editors, authors, managers and professionals from the industry. There will also be discussions on whether there are enough good books for children, and about the state of poetry publishing. Yet another panel, entitled ‘A Pulse on Publishing,’ will examine the current situation of the publishing industry and its future.
Noted author and columnist Paul Zacharia will deliver the keynote address. Workshops on ‘Physical distribution in a global world,’ ‘eBook development and distribution’ and ‘Publishing translated literature’ will provide expert advice to publishers exploring newer opportunities and ways to improve their businesses. A face-to-face interaction with a representative from the ISBN issuing agency will also be held.
