Publishing veterans Diane Mancher and Karen Mender are launching Self-Publishing Book Expo, an event that will focus on self-published books and the companies that produce them. SPBE will offer attending authors a place to exhibit and sell their books to the general public–and agents and publishers–as well as offering representatives from self-publishing companies to showcase their services. The event is slated for November.

Mancher, whose publishing PR firm One Potata Productions, Inc. will promote SPBE, said, “Self-publishing is one of the fasting growing segments of the publishing industry, and the time is ripe to have a place where these authors can interact with the public, mingle with their peers, meet representatives of the media who are otherwise unfamiliar with their work, and expose their books to a much broader audience.” Mancher is working with Mender, a former v-p, associate publisher and marketing director at Atria Books, Dell/Delacorte and HarperCollins, to produce and develop the Expo. Mender said SPBE will include panel discussions and lectures on the challenges of self-publishing, and an “Open House” for would-be authors, which will be open to the public and hosted by representatives of self-publishing companies.

The first SPBE will be held in New York City on Saturday, November 7. Mancher and Mender said they hope to hold the event annually. Authors may register at www.selfpubbookexpo.com.

It’s finally happening! Blackwell, the UK’s leading academic bookseller, has unveiled the launch of the 2.0 Espresso Book Machine (EBM) at its flagship store, 100 Charing Cross London. It is the first bookshop installation of its kind within the UK, allowing any book to be selected from an inexhaustible network of titles and prints on demand in just 3 minutes from a digital file onsite, online at www.blackwell.co.uk, or uploaded in person from CDs or flash drives.

The new Blackwell EBM, created by On Demand Books (ODB), uses revolutionary technology that allows publishers to offer titles through a novel channel of distribution at point of sale to the customer. It is able to print, bind and trim library-quality paperback books at 112 pages per minute, complete with four-colour covers, identical to factory made copies. More from Webwire Press Release….

If you’re weighing the choice between the small selection of Readers available, you’ve probably narrowed it down. For me that choice would be between the Kindle from Amazon the Apple iPhone. I lean toward the iPhone myself.

I came across an interesting tid bid for consideration today as well. Apparently your Kindle can become something akin to a paper weigh should you piss off the Amazon powers that be and loose your account there. This would also mean you no longer had access to your Kindle download purchases. Amazon promises that you never have to worry about not having a copy of all your downloads because they keep a record and access for you there, except it seems when you no longer have an account with them.

Here,  you can read the full story for yourself: Amazon Can Ban You From Your Kindle Account Whenever It Likes

Recorded at the TED conference. Some of the best free educational videos are found at TED.com. This one is a great presentation given by Elizabeth Gilbert for other authors as she discusses creative genius and the creative writing process.