The Oxford Media Works team spent last week at BookExpo America 2006 — an eye-opening experience for more than one reason. We’ve heard rumors that approximately 25,000 people attended BEA, and if you spent any time at all trying to fight your way through crowds in the exhibition hall, you’d probably say that number is low.

There were two aspects of the conference that created a big impression on us. First, he sheer number of books being pitched to book buyers (as opposed to consumers), reviewers, and anyone who slows their pace or catches someone’s eye. Second, the rather last-century relationship the publishing industry has with new media, including, oddly, the Internet.

With sessions on exploiting RSS technology (which was more of an RSS 101 class), basic podcasting (we heard from one attendee — a long-time literary podcaster — that she had to stop herself from grabbing the microphone and telling it like it is), and basic blogging, it felt a bit like a conference being held five years ago. The so-called “2.0 Revolution” seminars — which should have been required — were sparsely attended.

RSS, podcasting, and blogging are key components of building online buzz, but they are foundations. What is needed in the publishing industry is a willingness to step outside the traditional venues (ads in the New York Times for bestselling authors? Not the best use of limited advertising funds) to try new things. For example, the folks at Unbridled Books are experimenting with a serialized novel and will be launching a series of podcasts later this year.