The Canadian Booksellers Association (CBA) is meeting for its fourth annual national conference from June 3 to 5 in Toronto. The timing is unfortunate because it overlaps with BookExpo America, which many Canadian publishers and booksellers attend, but otherwise the CBA event was in danger of not happening at all this year, says senior manager Jodi White.
Dovetailing with the Retail Council of Canada’s national conference, which is always in the first week of June, was the only option, says White. “We weren’t sure if we were going to have a conference because CBA can’t afford to do it on its own.” She explained that the CBA lost money on last year’s conference, after the federal department of Canadian Heritage, responsible for promoting Canadian culture, promised funding before the June event and then informed the CBA in August that there would be no funding. Nor is there government funding this year, so the CBA will save money by sharing cost of the Toronto Congress Centre location, outside the city near Pearson International Airport, with the retail council.
The timing of the event, in addition to other economic pressures on publishers and booksellers and the relatively short-notice promotion of the conference, may be challenges to attendance this year. In 2011, booksellers from about 65 stores attended, but White hopes more booksellers will attend this year because while the CBA has about 325 members, she says the retail council has another 300 bookstores that are not part of the CBA, and she is encouraging them to attend.
White also hopes the possibility of more and new booksellers attending will be an added incentive for more publishers to participate. Instead of offering a publisher-bookseller speed-dating lunch and a few hours for publishers to man display tables as it has in the past, the CBA will give publishers the opportunity this year to have a 10-foot by 10-foot booth in a section of the hall with the other retailers for two full days. “I’m trying to get more bang for their buck,” said White, noting that the cost of the booth is included in publishers’ sponsorship of the event. Random House of Canada and Penguin Group Canada are both major sponsors. Thomas Allen Publishers, BookNet Canada, Login Canada and Books for Business have already booked booths, but much of the registration and organizing is still ongoing.
CBA members will be able to hear any of the retail council’s speakers and attend its sessions, but there will be bookseller specific sessions. A bookseller-publisher panel will discuss “how to work together and avoid competing against ourselves.” Other panels will advise on ways to market and display sidelines, the pros and cons of e-books, and tenant leasing issues. There will also be a members forum and a session with retail business coach Barbara Crowhurst.
The CBA will present its Libris Awards, nominated and voted on by its members, on the evening of June 3. This year’s ceremony has the added luster of a lifetime achievement award being presented to Margaret Atwood.
The CBA's annual gathering and AGM used to coincide with BookExpo Canada but that trade show was shut down in 2007. The creation of CBA's national conference offered a much smaller-scale opportunity for people across the Canadian publishing industry to gather, but it has not gained traction as hoped so far.
