Your Tools Don’t Matter (Or, Why I Love My Job!)

Hammer birds by andy castro

Why is it that with over 60 years of improvements in cameras, lens sharpness and film grain, resolution and dynamic range that no one has been able to equal what Ansel Adams did back in the 1940s?

Ken Rockwell, Your Camera Doesn’t Matter

First, disclosure: this post is primarily about the day job and is a total sales pitch for Digital Book World. If you follow me on Twitter, you’re probably already aware of my connection to it, but this is the first time I’m explicitly writing about it here.

As I’ve noted before, I’m very optimistic about the future of what I call the community service of publishing, and the underlying mission of Digital Book World is to get past the hype surrounding the digital toys du jour and provide real strategies for consumer publishers to transform their business models and thrive in the digital age. It’s not about eBooks or Twitter or any other tree in the forest–it’s about the fundamental strategies publishers need to profitably maximize their assets in the short term while developing and executing a digital strategy for the long-term.

I’m very excited about this Conference for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that I’m playing several roles, from Audience Development and Sponsorship Sales, to managing the DBW blog, to programming our series of free webinars that kicked off with last month’s The Truth About eBooks: Devices, Formats, Pirates (Oh, My!).

But the main reason I’m excited about it is so much simpler: I’m getting to work on something that I’m truly passionate about and fully believe in, and am in on the proverbial ground floor.

When the opportunity arose over the summer to become involved with my company’s newest initiative, I didn’t hesitate. I was already thrilled about its mission, so being a part of it in any way was exciting since I figured it guaranteed I could attend! It was initially a side project, focused on sponsorship sales, but as I jumped in with both feet and got more and more involved, it became my primary focus, with some really exciting plans for the future in the works… but I can’t talk about those just yet. 🙂

I can mention our next free webinar, Marketing in the Digital Age: Batteries Not Included (11/11 @ 1pm EST), and can also announce that I’ll be speaking on one of our panel sessions in January, How Publishers Can Build Their Own Communities: Using Social Media Tools. I even have a special registration code that offers a significant discount if you sign up before November 20th: DBWspeaker.

The program is strong (and there’s several great presentations we haven’t announced yet), the speaker lineup is impressively diverse, and I’m especially excited about our keynote speaker, Shiv Singh — Ad Age Media Maven, and VP and Global Social Media Lead for Razorfish. I’d tapped Singh for our shortlist because I believed his expertise in integrating social media into multi-channel marketing programs, and his understanding of what it takes to engage and empower communities, would make him the perfect speaker to set the tone for our inaugural conference, and I’m glad we got him.

Obvious bias aside, if you work in consumer publishing in any manner — and that includes my business-savvy indie author friends — I firmly believe this is going to be THE conference to attend in 2010.

Hell, I’ve bet my job on it!

Written by Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez is the Chief Content Officer for LibraryPass, and former publisher & marketing director for Writer’s Digest. Previously, he was also project lead for the Panorama Project; director, content strategy & audience development for Library Journal & School Library Journal; and founding director of programming & business development for the original Digital Book World.

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