By Joseph T. Sinclair
There are three trade shows coming up in the Bay Area in which authors and publishers of book apps may be interested. These conferences tend to be very expensive, as they present many educational sessions over a multiday show.
I’ve found that one can learn a substantial amount just by getting into the trade show floor (“Expo”) and visiting the vendors. The admission is often free or a nominal price. By talking with vendors until you understand what they offer (not always easy), you can learn a huge amount—potentially more than attending the educational sessions.
You need to decide whether these conferences are relevant to what you’re doing before you attend. Otherwise you may waste your time. The conferences are:
AnDevCon (http://www.andevcon.com/AndevCon_sanfrancisco/index.html), November 12-15, Hyatt Regency Burlingame, Expo free
Appnation (http://appnationconference.com/an5/), December 3-4, Moscone, Expo $20
Appsworld (http://www.apps-world.net/northamerica/), February 5-6, Moscone, Expo free
San Francisco (Silicon Valley) continues to be the app center of the universe, and as a result, we get many of the trade conferences. Eventually the conferences will migrate to other cities. Digital publishing seems to have its epicenter in NYC but focuses on ebooks, an antiquated platform.
San Francisco is the second literary capital of the US behind NYC. The literary scene here is very robust and substantially ahead of third place (probably LA). Because of digital publishing, the literary gestalt of San Francisco has been leveraged as never before. Take advantage of the potential edge it can give you while you can. In five years this window of opportunity will pass as digital publishing technology penetrates the hinterlands.
