If I were better organized, I’d be giving you firsthand reports from this week’s Book Industry Study Group conference on “[making] information pay” and the International Digital Publishing Forum, but I’m lucky that Jim Milliot of PW Daily has created a summary of the two seminars, where publishers were told over and over they need to brace themselves for “the eventual arrival of a tipping point when publishing’s digital dreams turn into a real business.” Nestled at the very bottom of the article comes this little tidbit:
“Just how seriously publishers are taking the need for standards was underscored during the meeting when it was (unofficially) announced that the [Association of American Publishers] and the BISG will soon work together to develop a common standard for searching for online book content that is not entirely dependent on using Google. An official agreement could come during BEA.”
We shall see!