Great Lakes Booksellers Association

Trade show meets Thurs., Sept. 20—Sat., Sept. 22, at the Indiana Convention Center and Indianapolis Marriott Downtown, Indianapolis, Ind.; Heartland Book Festival scheduled on Sat., Sept. 22, at the same facilities.

"It's Cool to Love Books!" is the theme of this year's show, which is really two shows in one. In a bold experiment, show organizers are opening the show to the general public for a half-day; events designed to draw consumers will follow the regular show programming aimed at booksellers. This aptly named "Heartland Book Festival" could draw large crowds, given the publicity that already surrounds the trade show.

Pre-festival activities start on Tuesday with the Workman-sponsored BrainQuest bus making stops at area schools and libraries to select qualified children for their contest finals on Saturday. There will be over $500 worth of BrainQuest materials up for grabs. On Wednesday at 8 p.m., all manner of poets—alive, or dead, near and far—gather at The Fountain Room in the historic Fountain Square district to celebrate their craft in a "poetry slam." This unique event is sure to turn literary Indiana on its ear. Audience participation is mandatory. The slam is sponsored by Sourcebooks, in partnership with the Indiana Writers Center, Butler University Writers Program, and other local groups.

On Thursday, GLBA member booksellers get down to business—a full-day PMA Publishing University is scheduled from 8 a.m.­6 p.m. at the hotel. Staffers from BookSense.com will be on hand at 8 p.m. to answers users' questions about the ABA Web site. GLBA board members and staff hold a brief orientation program for first-time show-goers at 8:30 p.m. Two bookseller schools developed by Paz & Associates—"Bookselling Behind the Scenes" and "The Business of Selling Books"—round out the day's agenda. These sessions begin at 9:15 a.m. and close at 4:30 p.m.

If total immersion isn't your cup of tea, then GLBA offers a variety of workshops and panels throughout the day. All educational programming takes place on Thursday and Saturday at the hotel. Thursday's sessions start at 9:15 a.m. Round one begins with a discussion led by Terry Whittaker of Viewpoint Books on "Ideas That Work." Then there's a presentation by Terry Hudson on sidelines. Round two begins at 10:30 a.m. During this session, Carl Lennertz and Oren Teicher introduce ABA's new relationship marketing program. Then Mystery Booksellers Association president Jim Huang conducts a panel on finding lesser-known genre publishers to satisfy customer requests. At the 11:45 a.m. annual meeting, booksellers are invited to join the GBLA board, meet its new officers and vote on proposed amendments to the bylaws. Teicher returns at 1 p.m. with an update on the ABA's five-year strategic plan.

Sessions resume after lunch. At 2:15 p.m. Carl and Oren present the second installment of the program that began in the morning, while Jen Marshall of Anchor Books moderates a panel on reading groups. During this discussion, authors and book group veterans Chris Bohjalian and Elinor Lipman give members of the audience ideas on increasing readership and building sales. In the final segment of the afternoon, Dave Kaverman of Little Professor Book Company moderates a panel on the effective use of co-op monies, and Christian Waters, director of event marketing at Random House, leads an exchange of views on successful author-event planning. This session ends at 4:30 p.m. An autographing session will run from 4:40—6 p.m. Shuttle buses leave the hotel at 6:45 p.m. bringing revelers to the official 7 p.m. kick-off party at the historic Fountain Square Theatre. Indiana University Press is the reception host, honoring two of its books: Best Restaurants of Indiana by Reid Duffy and Indiana Wines by James L. and John J. Butler. Terrific foods and vintage wines from the region's best restaurants and vineyards will be served. Booksellers can meet the authors of these two books as well as the winners of the Great Lakes Book Awards, which will be presented with fanfare at 8:15 p.m. The evening will then be given over completely to socializing, with live music and dancing under the stars. At around 9:15 p.m., everyone will go up to the Rooftop Garden Cafe with Ken Davis, author of the Don't Know Much series and the evening's official guide to stargazing.

Friday is the only day for exhibits; hours are 9:30 a.m.—5 p.m.; no educational programming or autographing sessions are planned. Exhibits will be held at the Indiana Convention Center, Hall C. The children's book and author breakfast at 7:45 a.m. features author Kate DiCamillo (The Tiger Rising), illustrator Mark Teague (The Great Gracie Chase), creative team David Small and Sarah Stewart (The Journey). The silent auction runs from 3—4 p.m.; this annual event benefits the GLBA First Amendment Defense Fund. Refreshments at the informal 6:00 p.m. reception are funded by Baker & Taylor; readings will be given by favorite authors including Joe Meno (How the Hula Girl Sings), Thrity Umrigar (Bombay Time) and Sarah Willis (Rehearsal). Dinner is served at 7:30 p.m.; Naomi Wolf (Misconceptions), Doug Stanton (In Harm's Way) and A. Manette Ansay (Limbo) are guests.

The Saturday book and author breakfast promises to be a salute to the red, white and blue as Lynn Sherr (America the Beautiful) joins Michael Martone (Blue Guide to Indiana) and Michael Moore (Mad Cow, Mad Dow) at the podium. More workshops follow, including a "kids pick of the lists" presentation by Lisa Dugan of Koen Kids, and a "jump-start your business brain" session with Doug Hall of Richard Saunders International. Carl Lennertz wraps up this portion of the program with a plenary session on "visionary bookselling." Tim Huggins of Newtonville Bookstore plans to join them.

The flavors of good old-fashioned home cooking will fill the minds and the plates of weary show-goers as they make their way to the midday cookbook sampling. Autographing hours are 12:45—2 p.m.; the trade show closes at 2 p.m.—just in time to check out the seminars and exhibits, food [more food!] and activities, contests and competitions at the public-welcome Heartland Book Festival.

The festival doors open at noon and close at 5 p.m. A good time is guaranteed, with everything from the BrainQuest finals to the Scholastic Geography Bee. There will be plenty of authors attending, including Mawi Asgedom, Andrew Clements, Ian Falconer, Denise Fleming, Margaret Haddix, James Alexander Thom, Margaret Willey and Sarah Willis. The whole idea is to celebrate books and reading and make new friends!

Contact: Jim Dana, 208 Franklin, P.O. Box 901, Grand Haven, Mich. 49417; (800) 745-2460 or (616) 847-2460; glba@books-glba.org or tradeshow@books-glba.org; www.books-glba.org; www.heartlandbookfestival.com.

Upper Midwest Booksellers Association

Trade show meets Fri., Oct. 5—Sun., Oct. 7, at the RiverCentre, St. Paul, Minn.

Once again the Twin Cities welcome booksellers to the annual UMBA trade show. Aiming to beat last year's record-breaking attendance figures, the show's organizers have put together a weekend filled with activities for frontline professionals. The educational programming starts on Friday with two day-long seminars. At 9 a.m., Sue Griepentrog of The Little Read Book and Janet Grojean of The Bookworm draw on their years of experience to present "Merchandising in the New Millennium." This is a hands-on session designed for prospective booksellers or store managers with limited skills in an important but often neglected part of the profession. At the same time, Bud Gaston of Butterfly Books, Marian Fleischman of Sedalia Book & Toy and Joci Tilsen of Valley Bookseller get down to brass tacks in "The Business of Bookselling," a refresher course on productivity and profitability intended for bookstore owners and managers. The full day of study will be rewarded with a reception at The Bookmen across the river in Minneapolis. The affair starts at 5 p.m.; all show attendees are invited. Then it's back to St. Paul at 7:30 p.m. for a tour of The Red Balloon Bookshop and Ruminator Books. Pre-registration is required for this three-hour romp through the city.

Bright and early on Saturday morning, the annual UMBA Book and Author Breakfast features regional talents Leif Enger (Peace Like a River), Jim Heynen (The Boys' House), Richard Horan (Goose Music) and Cheri Register (Packinghouse Daughter). Exhibit hours: 1—5:30 p.m.; autographing hours: 1:30—5 p.m. Educational presentations and panel discussions are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Concurrent sessions will cover long-range topics such as: buying and selling a store, establishing and maintaining store value, creating and increasing bookstore visibility, and developing and implementing out-of-the-box promotional ideas. Highlights include a presentation on local business initiatives given by Stacy Mitchell of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, and a seminar on local market intelligence led by Carl Lennertz. A BookSense.com workshop conducted by Scott Nafz is also on the agenda. Roundtable discussion groups will be open from 10:15 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. Attendees are invited to pull up a chair and join the conversation. Some of the topics open to discussion: women's fiction, children's books, college bookstores and small stores. Noontime is marked for the hour-long general membership meeting. As in previous years, there are no afternoon presentations—just time set aside for booksellers and vendors on the show floor. The Radisson Riverfront Hotel is the site of the book and author dinner, with a reception and cash bar at 5:45 p.m.; dinner at 7:30 p.m. Authors on the guest list include Terry Brooks (The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara, Book 2: Antrax), Sue Miller (The World Below), and Kathleen Norris with Tomie dePaola (The Holy Twins, Benedict and Scholastica).

At Sunday morning's 15th Annual Children's Book and Author Breakfast, award-winning authors Kate DiCamillo (The Tiger Rising) and Richard Peck (Fair Weather) share anecdotes with author/illustrator Graeme Base (The Water Hole), teen author Chris Crutcher (Whale Talk) and illustrator Brian Selznick (The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins). Exhibit hours: 10 a.m.—3 p.m.; autographing hours: 10 a.m.—1 p.m. Pre-signed books will be given to those persons attending the book and author breakfasts and dinners. These are all paid, ticketed events with advance registration required.

Contact: Susan Walker, 5520 Park Place, Edina, Minn. 55424; (800) 784-7522 or (952) 926-5868; UMBAoffice@aol.com; www.abookaday.com.