Book Expo America is upon the epically embattled publishing industry once again. Things really heat up today and tomorrow-this is at the Javits Center, over at the ass end of Manhattan-with author signings and discussions like "Book Reviews 2010: What Will They Look Like." But the most attended event at the slower Thursday session was a panel of four publishing CEOs. It was moderated by former New Yorker editor, founder and editor of The Daily Beast, and ACTUAL BOOK AUTHOR Tina Brown. Elegant in pink, Brown's role was Emissary of New Media-"I now run an Internet site," she said helpfully-to the lovable but philistine Print Masses.

Brown was apologetic throughout; she had almost lost her voice, and her husband, Harry Evans, had to take over for the last ten minutes. Then: "I'm so sorry," as she rifled through her purse to turn off what she thought was her jangling cell phone. (It turned out not to be hers.)

Yet she charmed the pants off the crowd, at least at first. She was greeted by warm applause, the cell phone cameras silently clicking from the moment she took her seat. And at least one of the panelists, Perseus Books Group CEO David Steinberger, was intent on making her feel welcome. "I was intrigued by what you said about your experience" with The Daily Beast, he gushed. A bit later, "I think it's a really interesting point."

All was not strawberries and cream, however. Brown criticized the inability of the notoriously slow publishing process to speed up when warranted, to which Carolyn Reidy, the CEO of Simon & Schuster, shot back, "I don't know what you're talking about." And there were widespread grumbles when Brown referred to the "crash" technique, by which a publishing house can rush certain titles into print, as a "stunt."

There was no real news here for anyone who's read an article about publishing in the past five years. The CEOs are concerned about piracy; they're proud of the settlement of their lawsuit against Google; they can't make Amazon do anything; they're uncertain about the future. But they felt a bit newly out of touch. "How do you spend your day?" Brown asked, and Brian Murray, CEO of HarperCollins, said, "Thinking about exactly what you're talking about"-Amazon, Google, digitalization, and the like. The other three agreed.

That left out the elephant in the room: since last year's BEA there have been hundreds of layoffs in the industry, many in the four companies represented on stage. But neither "layoffs" nor "jobs" were mentioned once during the hourlong discussion. In her introduction, Brown mentioned "volcanic changes in the book industry" which necessitated "restructuring," but to listen to these executives, that restructuring could have been wholly conceptual.

That fits, though, with David Steinberger's motivational-speaking-inspired take on capitalism: "A market is not me selling you something. A market is a conversation." If all they have to offer is self-help bromides like that, it's no wonder that that's the only kind of book they can market.

Zachary Woolfe grew up on the South Shore of Long Island, tutors Upper East Side high-schoolers by afternoon/early evening, and enjoys opera and himself. He also writes about the U.S. Open for The New York Observer.

Previously: On Sophe Calle