A speech and a sad demise.

Yesterday I went to Birmingham to the BA's independent bookseller conference do a speech on Online Social Networking. No, I don't really know what that means, either. In it I advised people not to bother with Facebook, Bookrabbit, Flickr, Second Life and everything and to focus on blogs. I also said don't bother doing anything at all if you don't enjoy it, or are dedicated to it. The slides I used are here. It was lovely to catch up with some old friends, some of whom blog, some of whom don't. What I was rather alarmed at, though, was the handful of people in the audience who actually didn't know what a blog was. A steep learning curve is ahead of them, I feel. If you were in the audience and want clarification on anything I said, do drop me a line - emma [@] snowbooks.com.

Secondly, Publishing News is to cease publication. This is deeply sad, and since the fine editorial team there are to be made redundant, traumatic too. Deep sympathy to them. Aside from the personal sadness, I think this is the first instance I have witnessed where *not* having an online strategy has possibly resulted in the demise of a business. PN's website has not been a patch on The Bookseller's, and since they cite ad revenue moving online as a key reason for their problems, they have not been in a position to switch the ad revenue to a strong online offering. Question is whether having an online presence of a trade mag is sufficient - diversification of revenue streams is probably necessary, although of course PN did that through their sponsorship of the Nibbies and ownership of BML which will continue in business. It's awfully sad, anyway, and fondest wishes to the team.