Another day has passed at this year’s IPG Spring Annual Conference – and what a wonderful day it was! So many engaging and insightful talks and sessions, with much live-Tweeting on my part for the Society of Young Publishers (@SYP_UK). There’s also been much excitement whenever I mention that I’m working for a brand new imprint, Periscope (@periscopebooks), which has been just so lovely to experience – thank you everyone for being so supportive and interested. I can’t wait to bring out this year’s books!
The second day has been chock-a-block with sessions, even more so than Wednesday as it’s been a full day of events, so there is definitely too much to cover in one post! Nevertheless, here are some personal highlights from each of the sessions I attended:
1. The morning’s keynote speech from Sandy Grant of Hardie Grant, the key motto of which was: “Transform or die.”
2. Ziyad Marar of SAGE Publications, whose words were just all of the wisdom. He pointed out that the blocks to innovation were both ‘Knowing too little’ and ‘Knowing too much’, and that our unique offering as independent publishers was that we can provide personalised, trustworthy and reliable guidance to our authors.
3. Phil Ollila from IPGSC Gold Sponsors, Ingram Content Solutions, discussed the importance of using reliable, forward-thinking service partners to allow companies with a low infrastructure environment to reach a wider audience.
4. Meeting the booksellers with James Daunt of Waterstones and David Prescott of Blackwell’s: James Daunt emphasised the importance of getting your data right!
5. Dave Fletcher from digital agency White October stood up and gave an instructive talk on how to create digital products that meet consumer needs without breaking the bank. Turns out the trick is not to build it – yet! Do your research, keep it simple, and make sure you have backed up all of your assumptions with empirical evidence.
6. From here on, we were divided into smaller sessions. The first one I attended was on creating good marketing copy, with Tony Attwood of Hamilton House. The man is clearly a genius, a creative machine, but he says there are three simple steps: first, get your creative juices flowing; second, grab attention and third, work with the psychology of perception. Also, bear in mind, no horseman will call!
7. On to ‘From Book to Screen’ with Adam Bishop of Information TV and James Woollam of F+W Media. Turns out television doesn’t have to expensive – and that’s the crucial part – F+W Media started out with an iPhone and an external microphone!
8. Back together as one for ‘Meet the Innovators’ with with David Bass of Inkubate and Chris Robson of the Proagator Group. The most important thing – and the thing Publishers are still tending not to do – is to have mobile optimised websites. Mobile optimised everything, in fact.
9. Mary Elliot of Fox Williams LLP ran us through the legal year ahead for 2015. I am not even going to attempt to summarise all her wisdom, but definitely check out the Twitter feed from #ipgsc for some helpful hints and tips on avoiding pitfalls this year!
10. Last but certainly not least, Euan Semple, who asserted that love really does make the internet go round. <3
In the evening it was on to the IPG Awards 2015, masterfully hosted by Mr John Mitchinson. Congratulations to all of this year’s winners and nominees, especially Search Press who won the 2015 Fox Williams Independent Publisher of the Year Award. What a fantastic day, very much looking forward to seeing what Friday brings – don’t forget to keep following along on #ipgsc!