Did you know that Harlequin, the romance novel publisher, is one of the most innovative when it comes to embracing and developing Web 2.0 technologies? And did you know that their readers are driving early adoption of ebooks and social networking? Brent Lewis, Director, Internet & Digital for Harlequin Enterprises Ltd., is in the midst of discussing many of their bold experiments, including their global online community, impressive author outreach and engagement, social networking in Facebook and SecondLife, including a huge costume party held in-world. On top of that they’re one of the few publishers who realizes that the phone is a major platform for book publishers. (Hello, publishers! As one Nokia exec told me, “The US is a Third World country when it comes to cell phone use.” And he didn’t mean just for yacking.)
An truly impressive talk, and I hope we can convince Brent to speak at the next TOC. Do yourself a favor and visit eharlequin.com. Study what they’re up to.