Porter AndersonWriting and publishing were once all authors or editors ever concerned themselves about. In 2015, the new worry is over reading – with all the books now written and published, are readers an endangered species?

In the UK, “Super Thursday” is the day in October when publishers announce books expected to head up holiday wish lists; in 2015, according to The Guardian, there are a record 404 such titles.

“What does a reader make of that many titles dumped into a bookstore on a single day? How can anyone comprehend all this content?” wonders journalist and conference organizer Porter Anderson, who urges his book industry colleagues – authors, publishers and technologists – to face up to this “Wall of Content” in order to find a way over it, or around it, together.

Futurebook LogoThe digital curator of TheFutureBook.Net  is now also Programme Director for Author Day, a new single-day session coming to London on November 30, ahead of the fifth annual FutureBook conference convening on December 4.

“Throughout Author Day, delegates will be asked to send via an email address and/or Twitter handle, as well as even on paper their brainstorms, proposals, dumb thoughts, bright ideas, observations, criticisms, hallelujahs and concerns,” Anderson tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally. “My colleagues at The Bookseller will be listening, as I will, for the trends, throughlines and contours of this big debate. And from that, we will work towards a statement to be delivered at FutureBook, Europe’s largest publishing industry conference.”

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