BookExpo America’s trade show officially kicks off today, but the annual industry gathering is already well underway. At one of the preliminary seminars on Thursday, indie publishing veteran Richard Nash, formerly the publisher of Soft Skull Press, unveiled the concept behind his latest venture, which he is putting together with Dedi Felmen, a former senior editor with Simon & Schuster. Drawing on social networking technology, Round Table promises to blur the line between writer and reader and will change the role of the publisher from that of a cultural gatekeeper to a partner on equal footing, Nash says.

From Publisher’s Weekly:

[U]sing a subscription system, Round Table will bring to the social networking platform not just finished content, but many aspects of the publishing process “ including, for authors open to the idea, peer editing. The idea is that feedback and crowd-sourcing can dramatically enrich the editing, authoring and reading process for all involved “ not to mention expose potential talent among members of the community…