Tonight (immediately after my 5pm class) I went to the introductory part of a publishing conference called Publishing Now! The idea of the debates were to talk about the ways in which the publishing industry is changing and get out the pros and cons. Of course, the biggest thing to hit the publishing industry in the last decade (after JK Rowling) has been epublishing and everything that come out of that, from self-publishers, to changes and innovations to the industry.

I can’t lie, the debate was interesting. Talk about things that split a room in two. Someone asked if they members on the panel (three men, one woman) thought that self-publishing was devaluing books. Another question was should innovation be allowed in the publishing industry.

It was pretty cool because they had a big screen up with their twitter hashtag so that people could respond live to the answers given by the panel. I added a couple of ideas in.

The conference continues tomorrow so I will have more in-depth information then. Just so you know where I stand: I do not think that epublishing is devaluing books. If anything it’s adding value to books as people are able to gain access to ideas and materials that weren’t there before. The lady on the panel said she thinks it is because when someone self publishes they don’t have the all of the luxuries that come from traditional publishing like an editor, proofreader, all that. Her idea is that allowing authors to publish themselves will open the market to nothing but drivel written by people who don’t take the craft seriously.

To that I say, Twilight. Publishers make mistakes, too. Having financial backing from some publishing house does not make your story any better than someone who self publishes.

There was a guy on the panel who I really liked. I don’t know his name, but I’m going to find out and follow him. I will also let you know when I find out his name so that you can follow him. He’s someone I think I could hang out. He’s really cool.

That’s it for now.

Cheers.