The New England Independent Booksellers Association regional show, held in Providence, R.I., from Sept. 30-Oct. 2, was like a carefully abridged book. All the important elements were there: educational sessions, meals with authors, and exhibits. It’s just that the show’s footprint was a lot smaller and fit on a single floor of the Rhode Island Convention Center. Earlier in the year the board changed the name from fall “trade show” to “conference” to reflect a shift in emphasis away from the trade show floor. The number of booksellers declined slightly to 410 and the number of exhibitors to 285. Fewer booksellers could afford to attend the show much less dinner, breakfast, or lunch with authors. Attendance at the children’s opening night dinner, for example, was off by 25%. Still educational sessions on Google Editions were packed, as was programming on how to create large-scale author events, effective Web site communications, retail innovations, and working with sales reps.
The number of exhibitors this year was up by five from 2009, including a few new faces—Bauhan Publishing in Peterborough, N.H.; Vineyard Stories in Edgartown, Ma.; and Zoobies all-in-one plush toy, pillow, and blanket in Provo, Ut., among others. Even so the space devoted to displays continued to contract. Because no booths were allowed, only table tops, the exhibit area had a more intimate feel that encouraged conversations between publishers and booksellers. “I get discouraged [about business],” said Deborah Baker of Baker Books in North Dartmouth, Mass. “It’s a labor of love. But I’m reinvigorated by these two days.” “I always like coming here,” said Becky Dayton, owner of Vermont Book Shop in Middlebury, Vt. For Josh Christie of Sherman’s Books in Freeport, Mass., the show was “awesome” and the Friday morning author breakfast with Charles Cumming, Liz Murray, Simon Winchester, and Richard Peck “was probably the four best authors in a row.”
The conference kicked off with a luncheon with this year’s NEIBA Book Award winners, who included two former booksellers. Mo Willems was unable to accept the children’s award for City Dog, Country Frog, but illustrator Jon Muth read a note sent by Willems’s dog about the book, which made him laugh, cry, and bark. The president’s award went to 92-year-old Dahlov Ipcar, whose work is being reissued by Islandport Press in Yarmouth, Maine, which will release a never-before published boardbook this fall. Islandport founder Dean Lunt read Ipcar’s thank you in which she said that fine art is as necessary for a child as love.
Gail Caldwell, winner of the 2010 nonfiction award for Let’s Take the Long Way Home, spoke about being “a hippie girl” in Austin and helping a friend open a bookstore. They used a cashbox instead of a register and when it went missing one day, it took them two hours before they realized it was gone. “For everybody who doesn’t think they have what it takes,” she said, the store, Grok Books, went on to become BookPeople. Fiction award-winner Lily King, author of Father of the Rain, worked at Harvard Book Store and Schoenof’s Foreign Books in Cambridge, Mass., before heading to Menlo Park, Calif., where she took a job with Wessex Used Books & Records. She held up the two hand-written notebooks that became Father of the Rain and encouraged would-be writers to buy a notebook. “A book can be intimidating,” she said, “but a notebook from Staples is easily acquired and all you have to do is fill it.”
At the annual meeting, the fact that NEIBA and the other regionals are in transition in this difficult economy was readily apparent. “Whether trade shows remain a viable forum is up to publishers,” said NEIBA president Dick Hermans, owner of Oblong Books & Music in Millerton and Rhinebeck, N.Y. Over the past five years NEIBA’s income has declined 50%, and executive director Steve Fischer called shrinking revenue one of the organization’s biggest challenges. The other elephant in the room, he said, is e-books. Five years ago NEIBA developed a strategic plan, which it will begin updating this year through bookseller surveys, starting at the show. However, NEIBA remains committed to helping booksellers through its peer review project, the holiday catalog, education sessions like seasonal All about the Books gatherings in different parts of the region, and fighting for tax fairness. Despite the difficulties, said Hermans, “Everything I’ve seen [at this conference] has lifted my spirits.”
