The future of book publishing is no longer in the hands of traditional publishers. Technological innovation is creating opportunities for partnerships between diverse industries from broadcast and film to games and mobile.

New players entering the publishing market are creating fresh challenges and possibilities. Innovation is flourishing in this space, with a proliferation of platforms, new services, storytelling using diverse media, new ways of interacting with narrative, and the enhancement of traditional books. How can people interested in publishing and media take advantage of this potential?

Documentation

Please visit the event page on the Media Futures site.

Discussion participants

Our discussion participants will consider how people from different industries can collaborate to create new products, services and revenue streams by realising the potential of digital innovation.

Kate Pullinger, a writer whose novel The Mistress of Nothing won the Canadian Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction, and whose digital fiction projects include Inanimate Alice and Flight Paths: A Networked Novel [@katepullinger]

Eric Huang, Publishing Director, Media and Entertainment, Penguin, a publisher with a background at Disney, and experience of digital partnerships, including Penguin’s collaboration with Moshi Monsters creators Mind Candy [@dinoboy89]

Peter Usborne, founder and Managing Director, Usborne Publishing, whose Usborne Foundation supported the development of the Teach Your Monster to Read learning game with designers and developers Jumped Up Games and a creative team lead by producer Antonio Gould.

Chris Book, Chief Executive, Bardowl, a technologist with a background creating mobile products and services at Orange who has recently launched a subscription audio book service described as ‘Spotify for audio books’ [@bookmeister]

Show and tell presenters

To illustrate some of the exciting activity currently taking place, we are also hosting a series of quick-fire presentations from publishing innovators.

Alyson Fielding, Managing Director, Pyuda, and Dave Addey, Managing Director of Agant [@daveaddey], which created the Timeline World War 2 app in partnership with British Pathé, Windmill Books and Ballista Media, and works with story-teller Alyson Fielding [@alysonf]

Alexis Kennedy, Chief Narrative Officer, Failbetter Games which is developing StoryNexus, a platform for playing and building ‘storygames’ such as Fallen London, and publisher and retailer of Varytale interactive books [@alexiskennedy]

Trevor Klein, Head of Development, Somethin’ Else which collaborated with Richard Dawkins and publishers Transworld to create The Magic of Reality app [@trevoridge]

Antonio Gould, a digital producer who worked with the Usborne Foundation on the development of the Teach Your Monster to Read learning game with designers and developers Jumped Up Games [@antoniogould]

The event is produced in association with The Media Society and the St Bride Foundation.

Payment can be made via debit or credit card using PayPal or Google Checkout. You do not need to register with either service.