NEW YORK - The 7th Annual Digital Book World Conference + Expo(DBW) is focusing on transformation as one of its key themes with numerous speakers offering first-hand accounts of how their businesses are succeeding through and beyond publishing's digital transformation. DBW 2016 is the premier event for book publishers and content providers of all sizes and business models. The event (@DigiBookWorld - #DBW16) takes place March 7 - 9, 2016 at the New York Hilton Midtown in N.Y.C.

 

Registration and program details are available at digitalbookworldconference.com (the best early-bird rates expire Dec. 15; the next early-bird registration deadline is Feb. 8).

 

DBW 16 features an array of visionaries and influencers --- both publishing leaders and pundits from outside the industry --- who'll share insights about transformation, as well as the digital-driven, global content market and how to capitalize on every opportunity.

 

Dominique Raccah (@draccah), CEO of Sourcebooks, will share her thoughts on transformation and how her company, Sourcebooks, has changed. Sourcebooks has built on its position as a general trade publisher to create two new direct-to-consumer business models and revenue streams: Simple Truths, which gathers a vertical community around the topics of inspiration, motivation and leadership, and Put Me In The Story, which builds and delivers customized children's books and other products based on bestselling titles licensed from all publishers. Raccah will describe how these new businesses have impacted the entire organization and how Sourcebooks is becoming an even more powerful publisher on its own, through the new capabilities it has built.

DBW 2016 speaker John Ingram, chairman and CEO of Ingram Content Companies(@IngramContent), has been leading the business for more than two decades. It was recently reported that Ingram derives half of its operating margin from businesses it didn't have or were not material even 10 years ago. Their transformation began with Lightning Source's print-on-demand capability, which John Ingram led his company to start in the late 1990s, and which over the past decade has become an important linchpin of many of the company's subsequent digital efforts. Lightning Source led directly to CoreSource, Ingram's digital asset management platform. Ingram truly has transformed its businesses while maintaining the core print wholesaling operation, which was its original foundation. At the upcoming conference, Ingram will talk about transformational change while maintaining core activities, a topic that the book publishing community needs to know more about.

Transformation at Rodale

Mary Ann Naples (@manaples), a DBW 2016 presenter and senior vice president and publisher of Rodale Books and Rodale Wellness, has been an editor, literary agent, and has overseen business development at tech start-ups over the course of her career. At Rodale, Naples is re-imagining how a modern-day book publishing division can stay relevant and competitive in an evolving publishing landscape. Naples has leveraged the power of the Rodale brands, while also creating new products, platforms and revenue streams in order to drive the business forward. This includes the introduction of webinars, e-courses and the recent launch of Rodale Wellness, a new brand within the books division that is a content, community and commerce destination, where visitors can find inspiration, life-changing products, and access to the world's best wellness influencers.

 

Other DBW 2016 speakers who will present on transformation include: Clay Stobaugh (@ClayStobaugh), executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Wiley, and Cheryl Toto, senior vice president, strategy and development, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt(@HMHCo). Stobaugh sees Wiley as an already-transformed company, now taking advantage of opportunities that they couldn't have attempted a few years ago when they were primarily a book publisher. Toto will show how Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has changed from a book publisher to a global learning company, providing pre-K to 12 education content, services and cutting-edge technology solutions.

 

In addition to transformation, DBW 2016 will cover the most pressing topics, including: data, discovery and SEO; tech vs. content; a fresh look at ebook sales, the indie-publishing market and a fast-changing publishing business; understanding SEO in a global, local and mobile world; monetizing relationships with consumers; investing in tech; how digital has changed our culture; ebook pricing in a changing ebook marketplace; copyright; antitrust, tech and book publishing; rights in a globalized world; content marketing; the changing realities for authors; self-publishing; and the book buyer's journey; among other relevant, strategy-focused topics.

 

Overall, DBW 2016 is packed with sessions offering a comprehensive overview of the big changes and new challenges of today's digital publishing landscape. The conference agenda offers the most practical, relevant and actionable programming on what's happening now --- and in the immediate future --- in the always changing digital publishing ecosystem.