NEW YORK, April 26, 2010 — Generation Y. Generation Next. The Echo Boom. Whatever you call them, the 75 million Millennials (born between the mid 1970s and late 1980s) in the United States are now—or will soon be—working adults. The tremors they generate as youthful consumers are felt across the economy and culture, and now the workplace. For publishing, a tradition-bound industry finding its way in a digital world, the influence, opportunities and challenges these tech-savvy, social media-fluent professionals bring to the industry are as significant.
To give the Millennials’ view of publishing—present and future—at Book Expo America 2010, the NYU-SCPS Center for Publishing and the Book Industry Study Group are hosting “Millennials and Publishing: Meet the Next Generation.” This event will feature NYU publishing students and recent alumni discussing their vision and goals for the publishing industry—and their impact. The panel will take place Thursday May 27, 2010, from 2:00 – 3:00 pm, in Room 1E02 at the Expo’s venue in the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City.
The panel will be moderated by Peter Balis, director of digital content sales at John Wiley and Sons and co-chair of the AAP's Digital Issues Working Group. Balis is also an adjunct instructor within the NYU-SCPS M.S. in Publishing program.
The panelists will be:
- Charity Delich, an author and lawyer, is currently a new student within the NYU-SCPS M.S. in Publishing program. Delich is also interning at strategy+business, a media outlet that produces a line of business books and a quarterly magazine.
- Lauren DeSimone, a special markets sales associate at Penguin Group (USA), is in her final semester in the NYU-SCPS M.S. in Publishing program. DeSimone began her career with editorial internships at Hippocrene Books, Inc. and her undergraduate university's literary journal.
- Jessica Wells, also in her final semester in the NYU-SCPS M.S. in Publishing program, works at HarperCollins Publishers in the sales administration department. Wells has been on the task force for both Harper's digital catalog and digital galley initiatives.
- Till Wirth, a 2008 alumnus of the M.S. in Publishing program at NYU, recently joined the Children's Book division at Random House, Inc. as manager of digital content and product development. Previously, he was online marketing manager in the Crown Publishing Group at Random House.
This event is open to all attendees of BookExpo America 2010 (www.bookexpoamerica.com) happening from May 25 – 27, 2010 in New York City. For more information about the “Millennials and Publishing: Meet the Next Generation” panel, to read biographies of the panelists, and about other BISG educational events, please visit the BISG website: www.bisg.org/events-0-532-bisg-educational-sessions-at-bookexpo-america-2010.php.
MEDIA ONLY: The NYU student and alumni panelists and Andrea Chambers, academic director of the NYU Center for Publishing, are available for interview.