Ladies and gentlemen, start your crystal balls.

Digital Book World, a conference devoted to exploring the future of publishing both digital and conventional (if there is any such thing anymore) begins today with guru Mike Shatzkin as its driving organizer and master of ceremonies. It will take place at the Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers in New York City, January 26th and 27th.

The schedule is studded with publishing notables who have led the industry’s charge into cyberspace, but it will be attended by professionals who have to apply the thrilling advances in technology to a business still mired in another century, arguably the 18th.

But “Digital Book World isn’t just about strategies, it’s also about the network,” says the event’s website. “Because of our focus on consumer publishing, our speakers and attendees represent publishers of all sizes and niches – from HarperCollins, Penguin and Random House to Tor, Chelsea Green, National Geographic and Ellora’s Cave – as well as literary agents and other allied professionals, and vendors with an interest in the future of consumer publishing.”

Among the highlights are:

  • An overview of Google Editions
  • “Back-Loaded Book Deals” with Roger Cooper, Bob Miller and several agents
  • “The Next Generation of eBooks”
  • “Tomorrow’s Book Contract: New Language and Provisions to Reflect New Conditions” hosted by yours truly

A big draw on Wednesday will be “The Changing Agent-Author Relationship: How it Will Affect the Business Model” moderated by Sara Nelson of Oprah’s Book Club. Her panelists will be agents Gail Hochman, Scott Waxman, Brian DeFiore, and Wendy Keller of Keller Media.

A spectral but influential presence will be Apple, which will be announcing details of its tablet on the afternoon of the conference’s second day, and not a few attendees will be glancing at their blackberries to learn details of the breaking news. Ironically, that will happen around the time of a concluding statement by Guy LeCharles Gonzales of Digital Book World entitled “The Future of Publishing is Bright”.

You can click here to visit the conference website and here to view the schedule.

Richard Curtis