By Dennis Abrams

IfBookThen (IBT), organized by the Italian-based Bookrepublic, is described by its organizers as “the conference about the future of Publishing.”

In February 2011, it looked at changes in the reading experience, how to help preserve digital culture, events in the American and European markets, and how digital publishing is changing the way we think and imagine books.

In 2012, it kept its focus on the Author/Publisher/Reader relationship, examining the ways in which publishers and device manufacturers can help to assure the best possible reading experience. In addition, talks were held on what publishing can learn from music, the issue of piracy, and 40k Books presented its experience as a native digital publisher.

Later that year, Bookrepublic offered its first summer edition of IfBookThen, dedicating the conference to Academic, Scientific and Professional publishing, with the goal of gaining an understanding of how technology is influencing the access, cataloguing, filing, and distribution of academic digital contents.

This year IfBookThen opens to a new European synergy, thanks to a partnership with Sweden and Spain.

IfBookThen Milan will be held on March 19, with talks on such subjects as Scenario-Europe-Italy; 5 Business Models; Publishing is Entertainment, Publishing is Education, Publishing is Technology; as well as a keynote address on Publishing is Data from Publishing Perspectives’ Editor-in-Chief, Edward Nawotka.

IBT Stockholm will be held on March 23, covering five major themes: Stories at Heart; Letters by Numbers; Book of One; Reaching for the Reader; and Keep it Up. Panelists include Evan Ratliff, CEO and Founder Atavist, Nille Svensson, Co-Founder and Creative Director of Publit, and Marco Ghezzi CEO and Co-Founder of Bookrepublic.

IBT Spain will be held in Barcelona on September 31 and in Madrid on October 1.