At the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association trade show on Monday, attendees browsed the exhibit hall and schmoozed with authors galore. Breakfast included 11 “Authors on the Map” doling out advance and finished copies, the Signature Dish dinner featured 18 authors holding court in tall chairs at the dining tables, and the evening wrapped up with an amiable reception at Dystopian State Brewing Company, a converted warehouse space where 16 “Authors on the Town” signed and networked.
Enthusiastic readers queued up for independent presses and Big Five houses alike and for works in genres across the board, from historical fiction to lifestyle to picture books to thrillers. Spokane writer Lora Senf shared her creepy tween novel The Clackity (Atheneum BYR/S&S), while Neverending Bookshop owner Annie Carl debuted with her speculative Nebula Variations (Extra Solar Press/Vertvolta). Seattle lawyer Amanda DuBois signed her mystery debut The Complications (Girl Friday Books), and Marilyn Morgan touted her nonfiction Trailblazing Women of Washington State (Arcadia). Seattle children’s author Suzanne Kaufman shared A Friend for Ghost (Neal Porter/PRH), and Stephanie Clifford signed ARCs of The Farewell Tour (Harper), in which a country musician revisits her Pacific Northwest roots.
Booksellers voted L. Bundrock’s novel Where Rivers Change Direction their BuzzBooks title of the year. Published by Blue Cactus Press in Tacoma, Wash., Rivers is a love story between two Montana women, one white and the other a member of the Blackfeet Nation. “I am so excited to amplify this incredible story about love, queerness, and personal growth,” Blue Cactus publisher Christina Vega said.
PNBA’s BuzzBooks program enables presses to promote top titles and encourages booksellers to seek out sales reps—a win-win for making connections on the show floor. Attendees receive a punch-card list of titles and must visit each book’s rep to complete the card. Once the card is complete, it can be submitted into a drawing for three $100 cash prizes, and booksellers cast a ballot for their favorite book on the list. The winner is announced at PNBA’s Signature Dish author dinner, with word-of-mouth publicity the ultimate prize.
