Announcing BookCamp Toronto
Comments(3) Tags: book events, bookcamp toronto, Publishing
Has Twitter completely warped your sense of time? BookExpo Canada was cancelled on Monday, and immediately after, quite a few people were twittering about what this meant for the book community and what sort of event should emerge from it’s ashes to replace it.
On Tuesday night, I had dinner with a few girlfriends and the big topic of the night was the cancellation of BEC. Well, it was for them. By then, it had been more than twenty-four hours since Reed made the announcement, BookCamp Toronto was taking shape and I was tired of talking about BEC.
But that’s an aside for another day.
Since entering publishing a little more than a year ago, I’ve been troubled by the fear-driven backwards-thinking happening (nearly) everywhere in publishing. Book publishing needed to move forward with confidence and gusto, needed to try new things, shake old things up and not to be afraid of failing. Clinging to the old way of doing things is a way to ensure its demise, but if we at least try to enter this brave new world, we’ll go down swinging.
I’m not the only one who feels that way. There’s a dynamic online community who is constantly chattering and sharing ideas and concerns about this. It’s amazing and I feel lucky to be (virtually) surrounded by and engaging with them.
Within hours of BEC being cancelled, the idea for BookCamp Toronto, an unconference modeled on the successful BookCamp in London and various other “camps” we’ve seen happening in Toronto over the past year, solidified. Hugh Mcguire of BookOven and Mitch Joel of Twist Image really took the reigns and created a community wiki for organization and secured MaRS as the location. Mark Bertils (whose blog, I think, has the smartest commentary on the state of Canadian book publishing I’ve ever read) and Alexa Clark (whose projects and ideas are always inspiring!) and myself are board too, and hopefully we’ll make this event a huge success. (It should be, I’m making buttons!)
So on June 6 at the MaRS Centre, BookCamp Toronto, the future of book publishing will be debated, discussed and challenged. Please join us by registering here (attendance is capped at 150 people. We learned from CupcakeCamp!) and be sure to share your seminar ideas and anything else you have.
Awesome Erin. Thanks for the kind words. And we got all this together without having met each other — which is kind of cool when you think about it.
Kudos to you guys for pulling this together
I’m no longer in the book industry but I’m always around to cheer you all on. I guess we’ll see how it goes … it is THE first time after all!
Mark–it is an amazing thing indeed! Have an awesome time at TOC. I really, really wish I could be there.
Ehren–it’s awesome having people like you in our corner! The publishing world will greatly miss you. I hope you’re learning lots and loving your new job. You’ll have to fill me in on the details one day!!