Buxton Books and the Charleston Library Society present a two-day Publishing Symposium with John Ingram! This is a ticketed event with multiple ticket options. Find out more and purchase here!
Buxton Books, in partnership with the Charleston Library Society, is thrilled to announce an exclusive two-day Publishing Symposium featuring John Ingram. This lifelong learning program will dive deep into the past, present, and future of book publishing, and offer a rare opportunity to engage with and learn from an industry icon whose family legacy is rivaled only by his own impressive vision for the future.
About The Symposium:
The Symposium begins Thursday evening with an up-close-and-personal discussion led by Julian Buxton. The Buxton Books co-founder is not only an expert interlocutor and publishing insider; he’s also a longtime friend of Ingram’s—they met as undergrads at Princeton—with a unique perspective on what drives Ingram personally and professionally. (There’s also that Charleston connection, courtesy of Ingram’s mother, Martha Rivers Ingram, who grew up here.) With such strong ties, theirs is sure to be a candid and insightful exploration of Ingram’s career choices, how those decisions fit into the shifting balance of new and old media, and the lessons learned along the way.
On Friday, we’ll tighten the circle a bit to continue the conversation with a more intimate group of attendees. Over the course of the morning, we’ll examine the current state of publishing, the supporting forces that comprise the publishing ecosystem today, and the factors that will shape the next wave of innovation.
We’ll bust myths, expose hidden truths, and share on the ground insights from all corners of the publishing world—from editorial perspectives on the power of reviews and bestseller-list placements, to the way that same data affects author tours and event destinations, to the importance of independent bookstores and the experiential and distribution data they provide.
About John Ingram:
Ingram understands the past, present, and future of publishing as few people can. A media pioneer who not only anticipated the advent of on-demand printing, but also created a set of innovative software and digital infrastructure solutions to support independent authors, audiences, and booksellers, Ingram built his family’s wholesale book distribution company into a revolutionary force that would ultimately transform the book publishing landscape. Labeled an “intrapreneur” for his ability to forge a unique identity through his family’s established empire—which, in its impressive diversification, offered many professional avenues beyond publishing—Ingram found his calling from within even as he brazenly blazed his own trail.