Ebook Basics

Bringing Product to Market

The big publishers have IT departments to help them deal with the technical problems of getting ebooks made, marketed, and distributed. But most books don’t come from big publishers and part of the benefit of the book revolution is supposed to be that the playing field gets leveled a bit. It has been pointed out that with ebook retailing, every title gets the same amount of “space”; there are no stacks of the “big titles” that the big houses can afford to promote in prime retail locations. But, of course, that is only true if the ebook gets made and professionally delivered, and for small companies, that can require skills they never needed to make printed books.

Of course, many international publishers are also small and will be coping with these challenges without robust internal support. That’s why we’ve put together a panel called “Ebook Basics” to focus on what has to be done to bring content to market. There are a variety of service providers offering the help small companies need, including our global sponsor, Constellation, as well as Ingram, BookMasters, codeMantra, and others.

But rather than put big companies on stage to describe their services, this panel presents small to mid-sized independent publishers who enlisted outside service providers, or internal tech savvy, to get it done for themselves. Four publishers from companies that couldn’t rely on an internal IT department will tell our audience how they’ve developed and built their ebook programs, how their support companies helped them, and how they approached finding the right help without tech sophistication within their own shop. This panel will provide invaluable insight for companies that haven’t been able to get started with ebooks because they didn’t know enough.

David Wilk
Owner, Booktrix

David Wilk has broad experience in book publishing, sales, distribution, marketing and digital technologies.He operates Creative Management Partners, providing content creators and owners with a range of publishing services, including editorial, print and digital production, sales and marketing strategies, website development and consulting services. Websites include booktrix.com, livewriters.com, writerscast.com, prospectapress.com.

Wilk writes and speaks about the book industry. He is Director of Marketing for Good Business International (www.good-b.com) and a partner in Aerbook (www.aerbook.com) creating next generation ebooks for tablets and smartphones.

Current and recent clients include publishers, authors, thought leaders, corporations and nonprofits.

Maria Jesus Aguilo
Director of Subsidiary Rights, Berrett-Koehler Publishers

Maria Jesus Aguilo, a native of Spain, moved to California in 1993 after completing a professional publishing course at the University of Barcelona. In 1996 she joined Berrett-Koehler Publishers, where she is in charge of its subsidiary rights program. She attends several international book fairs a year, including Frankfurt, London, and Guadalajara, and over the years has negotiated and signed over 1,000 subsidiary rights contracts. Since the year 2000, she has been deeply involved in Berrett-Koehler’s transition to digital formats.

Elizabeth Kramer Gold
Consulting Editor, Guideposts

Elizabeth has worked at Guideposts for over a quarter century and has witnessed publishing change from hot type to cold type to no type. She’s worked in various positions, including subsidary rights, editorial, and production. She has an M.S. in Publishing from Pace University. She loves her Kindle.

Adam Salomone
Associate Publisher, The Harvard Common Press

Adam Salomone oversees The Harvard Common Press’ digital strategy, from ebook and mobile platform applications to development of new business partners online for the benefit of content distribution and acquisition.

He holds a BA in Communications, with a specialization in writing and publishing, from Emerson College in Boston.