Then I suggest this: your author platform needs to be like those burnt misshapen potato chips at the bottom of the bag. Here’s why…

Last week I bought a bag of potato chips from Trader Joes’ “Ode to the Classic Potato Chip.” This is how they are described:

“These are classic potato chips, plain & simple, a traditional combination of “chipping” potatoes, oil (sunflower, in this case) and salt. They’re not thick cut, or ridge cut, or cooked in a special pot. If you have a memory of potato chips from your childhood (assuming your childhood has passed), it is probably these chips you’re remembering. In fact, these chips were inspired by our snack food buyer’s memories of family beach picnics that wouldn’t have been complete without, you guessed it, potato chips.”

When I was eating them, I found something that did indeed remind me of my childhood: plenty of those burnt, misshapen or spotted or green chips – not a bag of identical “perfectly” shaped and colored chips. Here is a photo of some of them:

The sensation I got was: these are REAL potatoes. Not those homogenized, shiny, “perfect”, chips I get from well-known brands. That the science of food has not “innovated” these potatoes to make them all the same, all flawless. This was not a scientifically constructed potato like this: New Potatoes Developed to Make Better Potato Chips; Where the chips come out looking like this:

When you are developing your author platform, keep this in mind: endeavor to be the green, misshapen, burnt potato chip. That how you talk about your purpose, how you connect with your audience, how you develop your career should be a true reflection of who you are. It should be real, authentic. Photos of you should look like how you ACTUALLY look, not some airbrushed photo that is 4 years old, where ever line in your face is washed away by Photoshop. Where every blog post or Tweet or encounter with a fan is not a press release.

Where you are a person, not a commodity.

That how you communicate your purpose, create your platform online and off, how you connect with your readers reflects what you are about – the person you are. That there is the unexpected in engaging with you. Something welcome, something that others can relate to. That when someone opens the bag of chips, maybe every chip isn’t perfect, but they are the real deal, straight from the farm. That’s you.

I talk a lot about “developing your brand” and “building your author platform.” While these terms can seem foreign, seem as though the intention is to put a glossy sheen over who you really are, that is not he intention. To me, it is about effectively communicating your purpose and establishing trust with others.

It today’s world, there are too many perfect potato chips out there. Don’t be one of those. Be the only you in the world.
-Dan

This is a core part of what I offer publishers and media companies I work with, and today I wanted to talk about how I view analytics, and how to best leverage them. If you are a writer, don’t worry, I think this applies to your career as well. Let’s dig in…

Everything is Storytelling

Stories are all around us. Our minds are just WAITING for stories we want to hear. We tell ourselves stories to align to our worldviews. If we walk around a small town and see a bookstore that is closing, we may immediately say to ourselves “Amazon just killed another indie bookstore.” But that is just a story. Perhaps the reality of that indie bookstore is that they are moving, or the owner is retiring, or the landlord raised the rent 1,000%, or it was grossly mismanaged for a decade, or a combination of other reasons. But we wanted to hear the story of the evil behemoth (Amazon) crushing the little guy (the indie bookstore) because it aligns with a story we tell ourselves about the world, and our place within it. Perhaps we see ourselves as “the little guy,” which is why we immediate jump to blame Amazon if a small bookstore closes.

Stories are built into marketing, built into design, built into products, built into language, built into how we communicate with each other. The way an employee greets you at J Crew is different than the way they greet you at a skateboard shop because they are supporting different stories. A J Crew staff member may be preppy and upbeat and engaged, whereas the skateboard shop may be “of the streets,” jaded, untrusting of authority, having a contempt for fake pleasantries. And a customer walking into each store tells themselves a story about who they are, about which of these things they align to. This is why a parent could walk into a J Crew with their teenager who then rolls their eyes. To the parent, J Crew is just a clothing store; To the teenager, it is an affront to what is wrong with the world, it’s not “real” to them.  Two different stories for the same action.

Story is Wrapped Up in Identity

Those you hope to engage already have stories in their head. You simply need to find a thread – a path – into them. You are really picking up their story in the middle, and helping to resolve it.

Do you want more people to buy your book – you need to align to their existing stories. Do you want others in your company to change the way they operate – you need to align to their existing stories.

Don’t underestimate how often these stories are really about identity – about who each of us are. When we see a cat walk by, we think: another animal, one of many, all very similar. But when WE walk around, we carry a set of ideals, of experiences, of challenges, of hopes, of dreams. We define ourselves partly by our past, but also by our aspirations. Who we hope to become, what we hope to do, where we hope to align with.

A good story places the reader somewhere in the center.

When you tell your story that you hope encourages others to take action, ensure it is framed from the perspective of that person. Include them in the story, even if never stated directly. (or especially if not stated directly)

Stories Compel Action

In your career, as you work to identify what compels others to take action, stories are a core part of that.   Stories should ENCOURAGE action. And because of this, when you leverage analytics to reach your goals, they should compel action as well.

When I work with a large media company, they are often trying to create a behavior change within their organization or outside of it. They never say that directly, but that is the goal. They want their audience to grow, or get them more engaged. They want products to perform better, and more revenue added to the bottom line. They want their employees to rethink how they operate and adopt new practices.

The key is to encourage people to WANT to take action of their own accord by aligning them to stories they already believe in, not FORCE them to change because you pressure them to do so.

So when I work with these companies, a key thing I do is tell stories. This too, is never overtly stated. The phrase I found that works is “case studies.” I work with them on specific projects, aligned to specific goals, and create case studies to show the effects of our performance.

A case study project often works like this:

• Outline clear goals and measures for success.
• Create a small – SAFE – experiment. So if we are trying to increase engagement at a conference via social media, we will do so in a way that risks little, requires a subset of their resources, and will give us insight quickly.
• Measure before, during, after. This is critical, many only measure after which makes it hard to show progress or understand what worked and what didn’t.
• Track every step of the project, and interview key players before, during and after.
• Create the case study. This is a text document, often several pages long at a minimum. Create a narrative with clearly defined sections that illustrate the goals, process, results, and lessons. Be honest about what worked what didn’t, and what resources were expended. Use data selectively to show hard evidence.  When dealing with numbers, focus on a handful of things, not reams of spreadsheets.
• Identify key actions to take for improvement.
• Communicate this broadly within your company, with partners, with those who support your work.

Implicit in this is a process of iteration. Of running lots of small safe experiments, analyzing as I mentioned above, sharing it, and then doing it all again. I have done many of these case studies throughout my career, with different organizations and teams. They are a powerful way to empower change. If you are in publishing, media or a writer, you are neck deep in a time of change!

If I can help you as you navigate new waters, please feel free to reach out to me.

-Dan

973-981-8882

dan@danblank.com

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/wegrowmedia

I want to better understand your goals so that I can tailor my courses and services to meet your needs. If you have any additional feedback, always feel free to email me at dan@danblank.com

Thanks!
-Dan

Last week I took a walk around town and saw this: a new house being built next to an old one:

The lot that the new house is being built on used to have a small house on it, but last year, it sold for $750,000. That’s right, they bought that old house for $750,000 and knocked it down in order to build a dramatically bigger house. Once completed, the new house on the  will sell for more than $1.5 million (likely closer to $2mm), and taxes will easily be $30,000. This is a jump from $15,000 the smaller home paid before it was knocked down.

So let’s just say you win the lottery, you win $2 million. And you go and buy that house on the left once it’s completed. You now have a 4,200 square foot home on a half acre on a very nice street filled with other $million+ houses. Now, you may think: “I have arrived. We have no mortgage, I can just sit back and relax.”

But you can’t.

Because the scale of the house is so large that it requires a vastly larger expenditure of your resources:

• You have to keep the landscaping nice.
• You now have more rooms to furnish, and a feeling you must decorate them nice enough to fit into the stature of the house.
• You now have more rooms to clean. Perhaps double or triple that of your previous home.
• Every system is larger and will cost more to repair or replace.
• Your heating, cooling and electricity bills will be higher.
• With more room, more stuff, there is more upkeep and repairs.
• You will feel the pressure to buy a nicer car to align to the house.
• Because the neighbors all have very expensive homes, you will find yourself with a constant pressure to keep up.

This last point is something folks don’t factor in. Pride. Often called “keeping up with the Jones’,” we all think we are immune, but often aren’t. I saw this on another walk around town, two houses, side-by-side that each built ice rinks in their front yards:

I would be willing to bet that the ice rink in the second photo was built AFTER the other one, because it is bigger. That there is an element of oneupsmanship in it.

(It should be noted that my wife and I rent a VERY reasonably priced apartment in this town. I didn’t want to give the impression we live in a house like any of these!)

Okay, back to your writing career…

It’s easy to look at other writers who have found great success, and think: “I want THAT!” But you have to consider the type of writing career that is the right fit for your life, for your goals and lifestyle. When you just go for scale, and don’t have the resources, success will be hard won, but quickly lost as well. Oftentimes, you may not even have the inclination for the type of maintenance that success of that magnitude requires. That to maintain your success, you are constantly expending resources and doing things you may not want to. We all assume that going on TV, doing big book tours, being interviewed are all wonderful things. And the validation of them is, as is the reach in extending your audience, and connecting with like-minded folks. But with this success comes hard work. Pressure. And perhaps even judgement from others.

Maybe that kind of success is a perfect fit for you. But maybe it’s not.

With building your audience for your work, too often people just want to get on the Today show (be exposed to a large audience), give a good performance, and then assume everything is on rails after that. You simply need to react to all the good offers, selectively saying YES.  But it’s a ton of hard work. Successful people work insanely hard. There is so much preparation, decisions, work to keep it going, and the pressure that goes along with it can be overwhelming.

Is that the writing career you want?

What resources do you have? How much time will you spend? Not IF you have a platform, but what TYPE of platform will you develop which aligns to your goals?

Next to that house I mentioned above sits this house; if this small, humble house represents an author platform, is it good enough for you?

Is it good enough to develop an author platform, a writing career, that allows room enough for time to other activities: your family, work, hobbies, friends? Big enough to support you and your writing career, but not so large that it overwhelms you?

That it is enough to matter, but not so much that it crushes you.

What is the right fit for you?

Thanks.

-Dan

Welcome to Book Camp! When you walk in you see more than 150 people gathered into a meeting space. This event was held at New Work City, a coworking space near Canal Street in Manhattan:

As you will see throughout these images, the tone is very down to earth, community-minded, and DIY. This is where you create your name badge. As with any modern conference today, including your Twitter handle is often recommended:

This event was organized by Ami Greko and Chris Kubica (with assistance by Kat Meyer who couldn’t be at the event itself.) Book Camp always starts with Ami standing on furniture, welcoming the crowd, and instructing us on how the day works.

Ami explains that there are two rules to book camp: “The law of 2 feet,” in which you should feel free to move from one session to another if you don’t feel you are getting value out of it; and “Don’t be a d**k, which means a session organizer should not make anyone feel bad for choosing to leave a session.”

The key thing about an unconference is that there is no set agenda. This is the schedule when you arrive: nothing but empty time slots and room numbers.

The day is broken out into a series of sessions and breaks:

The attendees themselves suggest topics for discussions. Here, we go round the room (from left to right), and people raise their hands to pitch an idea for a session. Here Emily Williams suggests a session called “Who will keep the flame alive?” which I believe discussed the idea of who will promote the idea of reading and value of books in a world where bookstores and libraries are disappearing.

Kirsten McLean pitches a session that discussed key issues in publishing, cleverly titled “Magic Eight Ball.” You will notice that each session leader writes down their idea on a piece of paper.

Bethanne Patrick suggests a session:

Chris Kubica suggests a session:

As these sessions are pitched, they are added to “the big board” – assigning them to time slots and room numbers:

Another attendee pitching a session. It’s nice to star the day this way because it gets people used to speaking up so that 150 others can hear you:

The session is added to the board:

As the board fills up, another session is pitched:

Everything about the day is inherently social. It’s a tight space, so you are forced into close quarters with others, which often encourages lots of interaction:

The session pitches continue:

Katie Dunneback suggests a session:

Once all of the ideas are shared and the board is filled up, people get to review the day, and choose which sessions they want to attend. Four sessions run at once, and there are four time slots throughout the day. Each session is 50 minutes long.

The event had quite a few sponsors (listed later in this post), who helped provide copious amounts of food and beverage:

Here are two sessions in action (one in the very back, and the circle right up front.) As you can see, this is unlike most other conferences. This is “borrowed space,” and the organizers have to create distinct areas out of the existing offices.

While there is a session leader, the idea is that every session is truly a discussion. While one person may be leading the session, their role is to keep things on track, and frame the conversation, not overwhelm it.

Much like regular camp, Book Camp does include sitting on the floor and chatting:

But like a more formal conference, there are loads of details organizers need to attend to. This is one that is often overlooked by larger conferences: ensuring there are power outlets for attendees to plug their laptops and phones into. Power strips were snaked around the sessions:

There was one regular room available for sessions as well:

Because it is hard to gauge how many people will attend each session, it is not unusual for folks to be standing in some sessions:

Another session:

And yet another:

There is an incredible intimacy to an event like this. Since every attendee is helping to construct the value of each session, you can’t help but meet new people and feel truly a part of something:

It always amazed me WHO was there as well. Everywhere you looked, there was an expert from somewhere in the publishing world or a passionate advocate for reading:

In the final session of the day, Guy LeCharles Gonzales lead a session on business models in publishing:

The day ends much as it began, with Ami standing on furniture, thanking everyone for their contributions:

A cocktail hour ends Book Camp. There was a large crowd still chatting for more than an hour after the official sessions ended:

Wine, cheese, and fruit was served:

More informal conversations:

After the event ended, a group of volunteers and attendees helped clean up.

A sea of chairs that need to be put back in their place:

Here is a final look at “the big board,” filled with critical topics in publishing and reading:

And a nice shout out to sponsors of the event, without whom this day would not have been possible:

In all, an incredibly impressive event by any measure. Because every attendees is encouraged to participate, you get a bit more of a workshop feel to many sessions. It also underscores the idea that the audience is the expert – this is not an event structured around one speaking to many, but rather, the community speaking to each other.

Kudos to the organizers, attendees, volunteers and sponsors for an amazing event!
You can also see a recap of a Book Camp meetup from December 2010.

-Dan

@DanBlank

But today, I want to address what success can look like in your writing career, without becoming a bestseller. That there is value in your contribution to the world, even if at a smaller scale.

Motivation

We often strive for greatness as a primary motivation to move past barriers. That, if we aim too low, then we already limit our own capabilities. One of my all time favorite movies, Chariots of Fire deals with the topic of motivation in describing greatness. It tells the story of two men, reaching for greatness in the 1924 Olympics in track. One is motivated by “overcoming prejudice,” as Wikipedia calls it; the other, by celebrating his faith. Both have astounding capabilities on the track and are complex and admirable men. But when each achieve their goal, only one seems to find solace – the man whose motivation was that of celebration.

The lesson I take away here is about core motivation of how we each achieve our own personal greatness. Are you fighting to prove something to others, or are you celebrating your own capabilities and your potential effect in the world? There is no right answer here.

Many are competitive, in that they find a focus and motivation in outselling others. But I do feel there can be a hollowness in valuing ONLY that type of success. It is not a hollowness of a bestseller list itself, but in considering WHY your goals are set where they are, and the means by which you measure and value your own achievements.

Is your motivation to truly affect the lives of others? To move our culture forward? To achieve greatness in your own terms, pushing yourself to places you have only dreamed?

Or, is it to be a name on the top of a list? Quick: name the bestselling author  in 1972.

Quick: tell me about the writer who has shaped your life in a profound manner, someone who you are eternally grateful for.

Is there a difference in those two names? It is not that both aren’t great books, written by great authors. But the measures for success may be different because of how one author shaped your life, not whose sales numbers topped a list.

How to define greatness

If you are a kid playing basketball, you dream to achieve the level of greatness of Michael Jordan. But the question I have is: as that child grows into an adult, builds solid skills and measures of success, but DOES NOT reach the level of Michael Jordan, is he or she a failure?

How do you cope with this when Michael Jordan is not just the top 1%, he is an anomaly in the universe? Every field has their Jordan somewhere in it’s history books. The outlier whose abilities are so unmatched that it is hard to consider them human.

What if this child “merely” becomes a good team player, assisting in scores that propel his team to victory, winning some awards in mid-level leagues. What if he “merely” makes his hometown proud, wins the affection of his sweetheart and admiration of his friends, and perhaps garnering a few nice mentions in the regional newspapers? Failure?

As a writer, what if you “only” create a body of work that is meaningful to several hundred people? What if you hold a book signing, and “only” 4 raving fans come up for autographs and to chat you up about the intricacies of the world you have created, and the characters that feel like friends to these people? Failure?

I have been obsessing about Bruce Springsteen’s 1978 album “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” fueled by the incredible 3 cd and 3 dvd box set.

The story of creating the album is powerful in and of itself. Facing a legal battle with his manager, Bruce couldn’t record a new album. So he holed up in a house with his band, and wrote 70+ songs. Once the legal battle ended, he went into the studio and made some seemingly bizarre choices. His previous album, Born to Run was his biggest success, and featured a big sound of songs such as “Thunder Road,” the title track, and others. But for Darkness on the Edge of Town, Bruce recorded many songs that were uplifting songs that would surely have been hits. And he threw them in the trash.

Instead, he released an album of understated songs that adhered to a theme: coping with the limits of adulthood. Of what happens when adolescent dreams of greatness and freedom turn to the challenges of adult relationships, work, and living within boundaries. The “darkness on the edge of town” is the feeling of something keeping you in. Of the horizon not being an open road that promises new dreams to come true. That we are not all immortal and destined for greatness as we all may have believed in high school.

The album is ultimately hopeful, finding empowerment in facing these limitations. About redefining what it means to be a person living by principles in a world that is full of limits and challenges. It is an adult view of the world that does not rely on vague promises of success. The photos of Bruce on the album cover and within the sleeve were meant to portray the character in the songs.

How do you define greatness as you juggle the other obligations in your life? Is your writing career merely a lottery ticket, meant to solve your problems by propelling you to the top of the charts? Or, is it a passion that you balance with the many other obligations of family, work, finance, time, and mundane tasks such as laundry and mowing the lawn.

Is it something you are making a bet on, or something that represents who you are, regardless of your name appearing on a bestseller list?

Measuring success

How you measure success will define the type of writing career you have. While we all dream of being bestsellers, of having the world validate our work on a grand scale, the fact of the matter is: many of us will not be number 1 New York Times bestsellers.

But that doesn’t mean we won’t be great.

Sometimes, it’s not about being a bestseller – it’s about being a writer, putting your work out there, and affecting peoples lives. Of creating meaning for others, one person at a time. Of building a legacy for your work that extends beyond your own lifetime.

That you work to improve your craft, and live a life filled with the people and experiences that matter to you as a writer. That this is about the process – the journey – not the name on the top of a list.

In the end, your goals are your own. How you find motivation, define greatness, and measure success are deeply personal decisions.

If I can help you in your journey, just let me know.

-Dan

973-981-8882

dan@danblank.com

Today, I want to talk about one simple strategy to do just that. Okay, here it is: interview people.

That’s it. So simple, yet so powerful. Why? Well let me show you an example…

I spent the past two years building my company, We Grow Media. I have worked plenty of 7 day weeks, plenty of long days, and have put more passion, thought, and work into this than anything else I have ever created. So, let’s see what happens when you search for “we grow media” in Google:

Even with all of my effort, two other people have ranked well for my company name just by posting interviews with me. This means that when someone looks up We Grow Media, their websites come up as relevant sources – encouraging people to venture over.

The first “interview” link above is a video interview that Joel Friedlander did with me for his website TheBookDesigner.com. The second interview is one I did with Arielle Eckstut that she reposted on her website TheBookDoctors.com. Each is a simple interview format that used Skype to record the video, and YouTube to host it.

So what is the benefit of all this? There’s quite a few actually:

• SEO value – as illustrated above, simply by posting an interview, Joel and Arielle now rank well for my company name. As I work tirelessly to build We Grow Media, they benefit more and more by those who many try to find my site, and end up on theirs. I think that is awesome  - something that benefits everyone involved.
• Exposure to new audience - when you interview someone, they tend to tell their friends about it. Doing so exposes you to their audience in a positive and personal manner.
• Backlinks from social media and other websites – as the interviewee shares links to your site on social media, their own blog, and elsewhere, this builds valuable backlinks to your website from a variety of relevant sources.
• Be seen as a topic expert – by interviewing topic experts, you are viewed as a topic expert. Are you writing a childrens book? Interview other writers who have been down that road; interview librarians who constantly work with kids and parents and books; interview illustrators; interview teachers; interview readers!
• Learn how to interview well – this is a skill that will pay off again and again. It helps out in small conversations (eg: meeting your favorite authors) or in larger ways (being interviewed on television.)
• Unending source of content – tired of thinking of new content to post to your blog or website? Interviews provide fresh content that didn’t require you to write it from start to finish.

But there is so much more value here beyond just “marketing” stuff. You get to promote the work of others. This is your way to be a part of a community that truly gives back. I am happy that Joel and Arielle may get more traffic because of me. Each are passionate and smart about the publishing world, something I have such respect for.

By bringing others into your blog or website, you share new perspectives. This benefits your audience in so many ways. Would you go to a conference where only one person spoke for 2 days in a row? Most of the time, you go because you will hear from a dozen or two qualified people – and know you will walk away with a variety of perspectives and experiences.

But perhaps the biggest reason to interview others is because of the relationships you build. I like long-form interviews, 30 minutes or 60 minutes. When you speak to someone for that long, you fall into a rhythm, you explore a variety of topics, you get to know each other. That is so powerful not just because it is a professional connection, but because this is someone who shares a passion for the same thing you do.

If you want to learn exactly how I do video interviews, check out this article I wrote: How to Record and Online Video Interview.

Thanks!

-Dan

“An effective content strategist is part editor, part marketer, part business analyst. With knowledge of the principles of content strategy, you can adeptly use audience data to drive creative decisions and build a revenue model that sustains a digital media business. ”

“This course will help you define and expand your audience by creating a roadmap for your editorial content that integrates with larger business goals. This strategy will consider brand identity, audience habits, cultural trends, and revenue initiatives.”

Registration is $350. Full details can be found here.

I’m thrilled to be working with Mediabistro, and expanding the number of online courses I am teaching. I also teach two courses for Writer’s Digest (Blogging 101 and Social Media 101), as well as Build Your Author Platform through this site.

I have added a few more speaking events to the 2012 calendar. Here is where I will be this year:

• Book^2 Camp – February 12, 2012
• Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCWBI)– I’ll be speaking at a chapter event. March 2012
• National Association of Memoir Writers – I am speaking at the NAMW Telesummit Memoir Writing in the Digital Age. March 2012
• American Society of Journalists and Authors Annual Conference: “Finding Fame and Fortune with Facebook and Google+”  April 27, 2012
• Backspace Writers Conference – May 2012
• The Writers’ Conference at Hunter College – June 9
• Thrillerfest July 14, 2012
• Self-Publishing Book Expo – Oct 2012

More is in the works, I feel so fortunate to work with so many wonderful individuals and organizations.

Thanks.

-Dan

The locales sound exotic to American sensibilities. But the efficiency of a one-day publishing conference? This has to be taking place offshore.

The IfBookThen 2012 Conference, compact and focused, is set Thursday at Milan’s Nhow Hotel in the Via Tortona. The special workshop on rights issues that follows it on Friday is being held at the publishing-cultural center Fondazione Arnoldo e Alberto Mondadori  in the Via Riccione.

And there’s not much subject matter that our US colleagues flying over for #ibt12 won’t recognize all too well in the program’s lineup of topics. In fact, many of the speakers are familiar Stateside, as well. They’re the lucky ones getting a chance to look back at themselves, if you will – always the best part of traveling, working, and living overseas.

While the conditions and customs of Europe’s evolving markets are, in some instances, clearly distinct from ours on the Yankee side of things, sometimes those differences seem more about timing. Our smarter European colleagues are extremely good at noting when various pressures are felt, and then looking about for which tough moments can be avoided by heeding what “the Americans have just put themselves through.”

On the program

Here is Nielsen Book president Jonathan Nowell, who just spoke to us at the Digital Book World Conference + Expo in New York. It’s his job to start the day Thursday with “Some Numbers about the US and Europe.”

I can’t resist quoting Curtis Brown literary agent Ginger Clark here, from #dbw12 when she heard Nowell speak and tweeted with her inimitable subtlety: “Summing up Jonathan Nowell’s talk: BETTER DATA MEANS MORE MONEY ARE YOU PEOPLE LISTENING TO ME? MORE METADATA MORE MONEY.”

And who better to follow Nowell at Milan than Mike Shatzkin? He’s the architect of #dbw12 and our leading go-to sage on the publishing industry’s decidedly undecided stance on many things about literature, most things about distribution, and all things digital. Shatzkin will address the conference on “The eBook Market: What’s Going on in the US.”

(He has 30 minutes. Good thing Mike knows how to produce a truly clean PowerPoint.)

And then here’s the ATKearney team we heard from at #dbw12, as well, to report on their global study of e-reading adoption. Conveniently, it’s the Milan office of ATKearney, represented by Giovanni Bonfanti, that’s doing the research with Marco Ferrario of conference producer Bookrepublic Research, also based in Milan.

It falls to Sascha Lazimbat of A2 Electronic Publishing, a digital book distributor, to take up the intriguing title, “The Canary in the Digital Coal Mine. What Can Publishing Learn From a Decade of Digital Music?”

And a panel on new relationships between authors, publishers, and readers features Richard Nash of Cursor, Small Demons, and Red Lemonade; David Miller of the literary agency Rogers, Coleridge & White; and Penguin’s Molly Barton, with whom I spent a little time at #dbw12 discussing the nature of “high snark.” Barton will be speaking at O’Reilly’s Tools of Change (TOC), as well, in a presentation titled “Traditional Publishing Steps Outside the Box.”

The panel is moderated by our friend Philip Jones, deputy editor of The Bookseller and blog czar at TheFutureBook.

Four business models are on tap in the afternoon session.

• Rochelle Grayson talks about Bookriff
• Valla Vakili presents the already-popular Small Demons
• Henrik Berggren from Berlin goes over Readmill
• Justo Hidalgo makes a presentation on 24Symbols

TheFutureBook’s Sam Missingham was to have moderated the panel, but may be detained in the UK by a broken leg. (We’re all demanding she make it to #toccon in New York in mid-February.)

In a conference trifecta, Peter “Breaking the Page” Meyers – seen at #dbw12, now at @ibt12, and scheduled for #toccon – will no doubt prove why his expertise in the “Reading Experience” of the digital age makes him a get for one of IfBookThen‘s three Hot Topics.

Another Hot one, analytics (as made clear for platforming authors by Jane Friedman earlier this week), is the focus of publisher Peter Collinridge.

And Timo Boezeman of The Netherlands will present on the issue of piracy.

A final, short session with Giuseppe Granieri has a particularly interesting conceit. Granieri is editorial director with 40k Books, a Milan-based publisher covered by Rachel Aydt for Ed Nawotka‘s Publishing Perspectives, Italy’s 40K Books: No Paper, No Attention Span, No Problem.

In his pre-conference article, Granieri writes, “In a near future (or relatively close), when paper books sales numbers will no longer justify publishers investments, digital-only publications will become a standard and will raise a number of concrete problems, often very different from those faced by working both with paper and digital editions. In a year-and-a-half – being only digital – we have experienced on some of these problems (from book promotion to pricing strategy). We will try to share ideas and experiences in order to make them a useful starting point for the discussion.”

This should be an interesting presentation.

And on Friday, the daylong workshop on digital rights goes to the Fondazione Mondadori. If you’d like to know more about that program, here is a piece from Camilla Querin, a Q&A with Luisa Finocchi of the Fondazione with a Q&A, #ibt12: Workshop on digital rights

How to follow the IfBookThen conference.

The hashtag for the conference is #ibt12.

As usual, breaking that off into a stream is one way to follow along. You may also check the home page of PorterAnderson.com, where I’ll switch my incoming Twitter feed to track that hashtag for you – a way to avoid having to change your Twitter client’s configuration, if you like.

One of our good colleagues, Don Linn, will be there – a great handle to follow.

Remember that Milan is on CET, Central European Time, and thus is six hours ahead of Eastern (New York), nine hours ahead of Pacific (Los Angeles), one hour ahead of GMT (London).

Therefore, the 9:15 a.m. start of the conference in Milan on Thursday will come at 3:15 a.m. in New York.

See you then.

Porter Anderson ( @Porter_Anderson )  BA, MA, MFA, is a Fellow with the National Critics Institute and a journalist formerly with three networks of CNN, The Village Voice, Dallas Times Herald, Dallas Observer, and other media. His weekly column on publishing, Writing on the Ether, is seen on Thursdays at JaneFriedman.com . He also writes on social media and the industry as a regular contributor with Writer Unboxed. He will be live-tweeting Tools of Change (#TOCCON), the Association of Writers and Writing Programs’ Conference (#AWP12) and other confabs in 2012.