The SYP Conference 2011

It’s conference time! And the biggest* one in the publishing calendar is just warming up here in Oxford. Since flares were fashionable and landing on the moon was still a pipe dream, the SYP Conference has been bringing the best and brightest of the publishing industry face to face to discuss, theorise, project, argue, learn, teach, ponder and answer the ultimate questions that are facing the trade. 

We call ourselves the Society of Young Publishers, not because we still get our IDs checked in Sainsbury’s but because we are young at heart, in our careers or in our attitudes and because we are still striving to learn and grow. Spending Friday nights in your slippers with chocolate Hobnobs does not disallow you from our society, not sharing your Hobnobs however, that may. Note November 19^th in your diary, with all this at our core, this year’s SYP Conference shall be one to remember.

And so, let me introduce Press Forward: Updating an Outdated Industry. This year’s conference is focusing on ‘modernisation’, looking at the ways in which the publishing industry is changing and updating and our role in its transformation. Our opening debate is called Foreword to the Future: What next for publishing? and in it we will enlist the crystal balls and tea leaves of industry game changers to predict where publishing is headed. Our closing debate pitches creative commons versus DRM in a copyright death match, entitled, Piracy is a Crime: Do we accept it? . Looking under the covers and magnifying the prelims we will investigate how publishing is dealing with the new contenders in the digital era.

The seminars are: 

Authors and agents, from Rowling to Wylie, are reclaiming rights in the digital era, but what gives them the right? As the nature of a book becomes less defined, can its contract stay rigid? This seminar will move beyond intellectual property and copyright to face the digital demons of lost clauses and loopholes that have shaken the modern world of rights.

Tweet this! Who’s listening? You’ve been tagged. Who’s looking? RSS. Who’s feeding? These are the tools but how will you use them… This seminar will brief you on the various aspects of the social network and how you can use them most effectively to build a brand, promote a product or connect with customers.

Press Alert! Get Richard and Judy to read your book on TV. Be reviewed by The Guardian. Have your praises sung by Radio 4. This introductory seminar will show you how to get attention for your book by making modern media your friend. Learn how to use contacts, press releases and media packs in order to build an effective publicity campaign from scratch.

6. Digital Devices: A Future Format for Past Content

What can digital offer that print is lacking? This seminar will move beyond the jargon of XML and ePub and look at the capabilities that innovative digital formats can offer. The successful reinventions in app form of TS Eliot’s  The Wasteland and Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland show that even classic texts can have a new future. Come view these apps in our Digital Device Playground and see how publishers are pushing the boundaries of what is considered a ‘book’. Let’s get digital! 

With all that on offer, you’re probably weak with excitement and with all those references to biscuits and sandwiches, you’re likely to be feeling a tad peckish. Fret not, the conference will provide morning and afternoon refreshment breaks and a buffet lunch with a glass of wine or juice depending on how you like to get your creative juices flowing. So, if you are curious about what is happening across the publishing industry at the moment, and would like to meet and talk to other publishing types, why not come along to this year’s SYP conference.  

Location: Gipsy Lane, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, OX3

Date: 19 November 2011

Time: 10am-5pm 

How can I sign up? 

Please visit our website at www.thesyp.org.uk/conference, for details of the events, speakers and instructions on how to register. Also see SYP Conference 2011 on Facebook or follow @SYPConference2011 on Twitter. 

Warmest regards, 

*Ahem, biggest in enthusiasm and other unquantifiable attributes.