The Publishing 3.0 panel was moderated by the LAT’s David L. Ulin. Panelists were Sara Nelson formerly of Publisher’s Weekly, publisher Richard Nash, goodreads.com founders Otis Chandler and Vromans’ blogger Patrick Brown.

First off, Nash clad in a tie, sporting a British accent, speaks only in sound bites. It’s kind of awesome.

When talking about the media meltdown crisis. “Writing and reading are doing just fine.” Which met applause. “It’s the intermediaries that get these two together [that are struggling].” And,”The 20th century was about supply and the 21st century is about demand.”

Nelson, whom we last saw at BEA hosting the Lewis Black fundraiser concert, agreed with Nash,”The supply chain is broken.” She added,”In 20 years of covering the publishing industry every year someone will say, ‘Last year was the golden era of publishing’.”

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Publishers Weekly suffered a painful round of cuts in January that included editor-in-chief Sara Nelson. Yesterday the magazine lost three more- managing editor Robin Lenz, associate editor Craig Morgan Teicher; and senior editor Dermot McEvoy. The layoffs were part of the 7% company-wide downsizing by parent company Reed Business Information, which also owns Variety.

On the LAT’s book blog Jacket Copy, Carolyn Kellog examines the upheaval at the book industry trade magazine.

The publishing industry may be smaller, but it’s facing challenges that are even more complex than Hollywood’s, what with questions of electronic publishing, e-readers, declining readership and inefficient models of distribution.

“The publishing industry needs an on- and offline forum where it can confer about strategy and direction,” said Richard Nash, former publisher of Soft Skull Press. “But it doesn’t appear as if [Publishers Weekly] is going to supply those needs.”

With these layoffs, Publishers Weekly has lost some very Web-savvy staff, particularly associate editor Craig Teicher. He was a go-to guy for electronic publishing and the Web; as a bonus, he also covered poetry. Firing him, Nash says, “does seem like a counterproductive development.” The staff cuts throw the company’s commitment to new media into question.