PW: Second Denver New Age Show: In Search of More Publishers

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Second Denver New Age Show: In Search of More Publishers
Lynn Garrett -- 7/20/98
The second annual International New Age Trade Show (INATS) in Denver June 27-29 drew 250 exhibitors (up from 235 last year) and 1300 buyers (1037 last year) to a trade show that seems to be serving its niche and enjoying significant growth.
But once again only 51 of the exhibitors were publishers and only 13 were book distributors, and show manager and cosponsor Susie Hare of KJ Expositions told PW, "We were a bit disappointed by that, and we hope there will be more next year. We want to keep the number of gift vendors at the same level now [they rose to 148 from last year's 132] and increase books and music. We're going to start hand-picking exhibitors to achieve the right balance."

Like Christian Bookseller Association stores and other specialty booksellers, New Age stores must rely heavily on gifts, apparel, music and other nonbook items to beef up their profit margins. Jerome Germany and Lori Brdar, co-owners of two Delphic Bookstores in Cleveland and Warren, Ohio, did find INATS a valuable place to investigate sidelines. And although their inventory is now 45% books and 55% gifts and music, Germany told PW that three-quarters of their buying would be sidelines. "We've always carried them, but our inventory is starting to shift more in that direction. The sidelines complement the books," he explained.

Although most of the buyers at INATS represented small specialty stores, senior book buyer Larry Hollern of the 118-store Hastings chain was there with his gifts buyer. "We get to see a lot of people here who get dwarfed at Book Expo," Hollern noted. "It's a great place for us to find product, especially sidelines and music. We're just beginning to get into that, and are planning to boutique New Age books with sidelines in some of our stores."

The newly renovated Denver Merchandise Mart provided a comfortable venue for the show, and many attendees commented on how well run it was, with meeting rooms, food concessions and other amenities convenient to a show floor. Hare said that she and co-sponsor New Editions International, a marketing services firm headed by Sophia Tarila, are considering launching a fall show in 2000, to be held at an East Coast venue. "We think this market could support two shows," Hare said.

Much of the buzz at the show was about efforts to launch a genre tagged "visionary fiction," as publishers try to duplicate the success of such titles as The Celestine Prophecy and Mutant Message from Down Under. One publisher admitted that the line between fact and fiction in this market could be blurry: "A lot of these stories are true," said Barbara DeBott, editor and publisher at Book World/Bluestar. "People write them as fiction because they're afraid to do them as nonfiction," she noted, perhaps remembering the furor that greeted Mutant Message, first labeled nonfiction but later recast as a novel.

A Sunday afternoon panel took up issues such as the imminent creation of a new BISAC subcategory -- an effort that has been spearheaded by NAPRA founder and CEO Marilyn McGuire -- and working with general-interest booksellers to create visionary-fiction sections in their stores.

This year some traditional religion publishers, such as Jewish Lights, were at INATS for the first time, and others were scouting possible participation next year. "We're here to learn how we might be able to expand our reach," said Crossroad publisher Mike Leach, who expects to have a presence at next year's INATS. "Is this a shrinking market, or is it one we need to pay attention to?" he said.

Titles on alternative health -- especially yoga -- as well as psychology, the paranormal, UFOs and the like were of course well represented, and feng shui continues to be hot, with at least one title on the subject from seemingly every publisher at the show. Among the spirituality topics drawing retailer interest were the pagan religion Wicca (popularly associated with witchcraft), which is especially in demand by Gen-Xers and teens, many booksellers noted. Many publishers displayed titles on sacred spaces, including Harper SF's Altars Made Easy by Peg Streep.

Though HSF sales director Steve Hanselman was pleased with booth traffic and with the show overall, he told PW he was disappointed not to have written more orders. "Next year we may work through the distributors -- New Leaf, Bookpeople -- because that's how these stores like to buy." Although that sentiment was ech d by Chronicle Books marketing director Julie Chanter, Penguin Putnam associate marketing director Christine Caruso reiterated her company's intention to exhibit at next year's show and "talk to the smaller retailers," she said. Sterling Publishing's v-p for special sales, Marty Shamus, told PW he used his first year at the show to meet with authors and scout new projects. "We'll be back," said Shamus.
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