The MPIBA (Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association) joined other regional bookseller associations that are shaking up their old formats and revamping them to fit the current needs of both bookseller members and sponsoring vendors. The MPIBA board of directors dubbed their Sept. 27--29 weekend gathering "Book Camp" because it was designed to recall both summer camp and boot camp by combining, according to v-p Neil Strandberg, a weekend that was "educational, fun, relaxing and engaging but also include discipline and training. We want our members to leave better, stronger booksellers and we hope that publishers will also leave better booksellers." Strandberg said the retooled show was changed in part after conversations the board, the executive staff, and several members of the organization's advisory committee had with publishers who made it clear they wouldn't support trade shows as they were currently operating. "I think there was valid criticism in pointing out that a sales rep who knows his line better than anyone can better serve their time doing other things than just standing in a booth for two days saying 'hello,' " said Strandberg.
To better utilize the publishers's expertise, Book Camp encouraged more interaction between booksellers and vendors. As a time concession to publishers traveling to the show, their participation was packed into the show's second and third day. Thursday was devoted to bookseller-to-bookseller educational programs. On Friday publishers conducted marketing roundtables that offered one-on-one interactions between booksellers and vendors plus two sessions (totalling five hours) of vendors presenting their "pick of the lists." (While most publisher/vendors promoted a half-dozen forthcoming or recent releases during their 15 minutes, a John Wiley & Sons rep managed to squeeze in more than 50 titles.)
The MPIBA decided to shorten the trade show to just one day, although at an extended length (9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.). Most of the vendors seemed pleased by the changes. "I like that the regional shows are mixing things up," said Charlotte Cooke of Komenar Publishing. "The two cocktail receptions the MPIBA holds are great for getting the community together. It's a much more relaxed and productive setting for talking with booksellers. Did you hear the trade show floor joke? Why did the chicken cross the road? To get away from the small publisher." Unbridled Books rep Caitlin Summie appreciated the bookseller-vendor roundtables that "allowed real dialogue with booksellers about what they need from me and what I can do to help them."
The two evening cocktail receptions offered dozens of authors a chance to sign books for attendees. It was at the Friday reception that the organization presented their annual Gordon Saull awards to rep and bookseller of the year. Gary Cate, who has worked for St. Martin's Press for 19 years, won Rep of the Year. He congratulated booksellers for surviving their competition. "If you took your talent and ingenuity to another industry, you could probably earn a good living," he joked. Neil Strandberg, who has worked at Tattered Cover in Denver since 1989, was named Bookseller of the Year.
A popular title at the show was Laura Dukstra and Karen Keesler's picture book I Love You More. The duo self-published the title and sold 179,000 copies before Sourcebooks bought it and will release it next week. While there were no galleys, fans of Pat Bagley's Clueless George comic books were happy to hear that Bagley's first comedic novel, Saddam I Am: Confessions of a Tyrant's Double, will be coming out in Spring 2008 from White Horse Books.
The MPIBA welcomed a whopping 17 new bookstore members to the organization, helping to offset the eight MPIBA bookstores closed since the last regional gathering. With all the changes in this year's regional show, there is still changes ahead....next year the convention will move out of the Denver Tech Center and to a new location (to be determined) in Colorado Springs.
