“"The real revolution is always concerned with the least glamorous stuff.” -- Alice Walker

This event was all about Scribd: everyone read from a book newly available through this cutting-edge publishing technology. Tamim Ansary read from his thrilling novel of 1840s Afghanistan, The Widow's Husband. Laura Shumaker read from her heartwarming memoir about raising an autistic son, A Regular Guy. Kemble Scott read from The Sower, a mind-bogglingly perverted and controversial thriller he described as “not a cosy.” Joe Quirk read from Exult, a novel that will convince you all novels from now on should be about hang-gliding. Ransom Stephens read from The God Patent, a wry, knowledgable story of heartbreak, science, desperation, and the eternal American struggle between faith and reality .




“Though the role of publishing has not changed - connect readers to writers - the revolution will not be led by an established publisher. To date, no established player has prospered through, much less led, the transition to the digitally-based economy. What's left of the recording industry is still pursuing the fascinating how-to-best-prosecute-our-customers business model. No one was better positioned to profit from the web-based economy than Sears, with its legendary catalog, but Amazon all but killed it. Even IBM barely survived the computer revolution...” -- Ransom Stephens, “Booking the Future”

l