Am so enamoured with this conference line-up I’m going to blog it!

Children’s Publishing Goes Digital

Presented by Publisher’s Launch Conference

The takeoff of tablets and the proliferation of smart phones are igniting opportunities for digital children’s books — interactive ebooks, apps, learning products and online communities — that are vastly different from both the maturing adult ebook market and traditional children’s board books and chapter books. A flood of new entrants is reinventing — and supplementing — children’s publishing, from classic illustrated story books through to middle grade and YA. Children’s Publishing Goes Digital looks closely at this disruption and how the marketplace for children’s content will change in the coming year, and what publishers need to know about this new continuum of content, games, animation and interactivity. This will be the first of a series of events created by Publishers Launch Conferences, in conjunction with Lorraine Shanley of Market Partners, to address digital publishing strategies for children’s book professionals.

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To Register for the Children’s Publishing Goes Digital – Click Here!

Children’s Publishing Goes Digital Program

8:45-9:30 am: Traditionalists Gone Digital
Though there are many new players entering the digital children’s market, traditional publishers are also innovating in the digital realm. What routes are publishers taking to develop digital content, and to market this and traditional print, online? What have been the challenges and successes through the transition into digital, and what do publishers see as being the future of children’s content—games, animation, or ebooks? Representatives from Macmillan, HarperCollins, and Alloy take on these questions and more in this discussion of what it means to be a traditional children’s publisher moving into the digital world.
Speakers: Josh Bank, Alloy Entertainment
Jonathan Yaged, Macmillan

Corinne Helman, HarperCollins

9:30-10:00am: Sizing up the Children’s Market
Kelly Gallagher, VP of Publishing Services at RR Bowker, will present findings from a study PubTrack and its UK partner, BML, on the current children’s print and ebook market.

Speaker: Kelly Gallagher, RR Bowker

10:00-10:45am: New Players, New Partners
Digital media companies developing apps and ebooks for children are using their skills in animation and gaming – and often new sources of content –to move into the “space” in the children’s market that publishers used to have for themselves. Who are these new players, and what impact will their products have on the established children’s book market? What role do they see their products playing in the future of book-like content, and how do they see themselves interacting with traditional publishers? Insight into new players will come fast and furiously as five companies will have five minutes each to pitch their new initiatives.
Speakers: Rick Richter, Ruckus Media
TouchyBooks

Lisa Holton, Fourth Story Media

10:45-11:15 am: Break

11:15 -11:45 am: Nook and Children’s Interactive eBooks and apps
Kevin O’Connor and Wendy Bronfin talk about Nook Color and its work with children’s interactive ebooks and apps. They will be joined by a children’s author in conversation about developing children’s books and apps for the color tablet and what the technical implications are of developing an interactive product to make the most of the development costs.
Speakers: Kevin O’Connor

Wendy Bronfin

11:45 -12:15 pm: What Trends Are Emerging for Children – and their Parents?
Two futurists talk about their analyses of where the market is going, and what the biggest influences are on children, and their parents.
Speakers: Amy Henry, Youth Beat

Ira Mayer, EPM Communications

12:15 -1:30 pm: Lunch

1:30-2 pm: Russell Hampton

Russell Hampton, president of Disney Worldwide, presents on Disney’s approach to turning its popular franchises into Disney Digital Books.

2:00-2:45 pm: Education Meets Digital
With the interactive capabilities of ebooks and apps, how are publishers and developers creating new
opportunities for education? What new innovations are emerging in the edutainment market, and how
are they accommodating new technologies as they develop their products? What type of interaction is
most effective to capture and maintain the interest of their target audience, and how do new apps and
ebooks grow with their readers? Developers explore these questions as they talk about new systems
and products that are combining the classroom with technology.
Speakers: Emi Abramzon, Panarea

Neal Goff, Egremont Associates (Moderator)

2:45-3:15 pm: Break

3:15 – 3:50pm: Jennifer Perry: How to Reach and Teach Preschoolers with Digital Books
Jennifer Perry, VP Global Publishing at Sesame Workshop, will talk about her organization’s qualitative research efforts with parents and children exploring how children use apps. Perry will also share Sesame Workshop’s experience creating 150 ebooks and 25 apps, and discuss its global expansion in digital media and how they will make it work with its 140 publishing licensees.

Speaker: Jennifer Perry, Sesame Workshop

3:50-4:40 pm: Marketing to a Community
Online communities and media that have already captured the attention of young readers constitute an important resource that publishers must employ. What sites and communities are most beneficial to children’s content developers, and to what extent do publishers need to customize their campaigns based on the communities they target? What are the ways in which publishers are reaching out to these communities/websites to make their books more visible? Panelists from the media will talk with a marketing executive about their experiences developing an audience among young readers and how they are working with publishers to promote books and apps.

Speaker: Laura Dail, Literary Agent

4:40 -5:00 pm: Closing Remarks