Go West, young show!
BookExpo America heard the call after the country's largest book fair was held in Chicago for five years -- much to the dismay of booksellers and small publishers on the coasts, particularly the West Coast. Of course, the only problem was that to get space in another city on relatively short notice (at least for trade shows), BEA, staging just its third show following its purchase from the ABA, had to move from its traditional dates. Now a month earlier than usual -- April 30 to May 2, to be exact -- the timing has some exhibitors fretting, mainly because most of them don't usually have their fall lists in place by this date.
Nevertheless, the change in venue is having the intended effect of reinvigorating the show. There are more than 1500 exhibitors (more than 1750 if you include those sharing booths), a record, and many of them are West Coast publishers who haven't been to Chicago recently. More West Coast booksellers will be in attendance than in the past several years.
Besides being held earlier than usual, the show has changed from its traditional Friday through Monday schedule. This year it opens on a Thursday, April 30, and runs through Sunday, May 2.
The show is being held in the Los Angeles Convention Center, where the last ABA show before moving to Chicago was held in 1994. The Center is largely the same, although the small North Building across the street, which five years ago featured food and sidelines products, is gone. The South Hall, the largest exhibition space, contains many special sections, including sidelines; art; remainders; general; professional, technical and scientific; travel, maps, globes; international; publishers services; audio/video; religious, spiritual and inspirational; children's; and educational.
Most other exhibitors are in the smaller northern hall, West Hall. The small press area and autograph areas are in Kentia Hall.
The BEA has dedicated each day of the show to a specific group: the first day remains Bookseller Day; Saturday is Independent Publishers Day; and the last day is Authors Day. To celebrate Saturday's subject, BEA is sponsoring a contest to boost attendance at independent publishers' booths, and the AAP will offer independent publishers a membership at discount.
Some events that were successfully introduced in recent years are being held again. The Author Improv, a benefit for the Book Industry Foundation, will take place Saturday evening.
Authors will be able to participate in the traditional author autographing program on the first two days and will again be able to sign in their publishers' booths on the show's last day.
An opening night welcome reception will take place at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday. The ABA's Celebration of Bookselling will be held 5 p.m.-6:30 p.m. on Friday, the first day of the show. This celebration is one event not to be missed. Not only will the ABA be announcing ABBY awards for bookseller's "handselling favorites" of the year, but this will also be the first showcase for the new national branding program, Book Sense.
The introduction of Book Sense (Bookselling, Mar. 29) and BookSense.com (News, Mar. 22), the online bookselling site for independent booksellers, will be featured in a number of seminars and panels explaining aspects of these programs. Also high on the agenda of the American Booksellers Association, which holds its annual convention during BEA, are a series of bylaw changes intended to slim the board.
For its part, the Association of American Publishers will introduce its consumer reading campaign called "Get Caught Reading," which features Whoopi Goldberg and Rosie O'Donnell. The program is aimed at 18-34-year-olds and includes the designation of May as Get Caught Reading month. Baker &Taylor and HarperCollins are sponsoring a cocktail reception at 6:30 p.m. on Friday to launch the campaign.
Ingram's All-Convention Reception is scheduled for 6:30-8:30 p.m. on Saturday.
This year's daily book &author breakfasts are stocked with favorite speakers. Friday's Children's Book &Author Breakfast will feature Naomi Shihab Nye, author of What Have You Lost? (Greenwillow Books); David Wisniewski, illustrator of Workshop (Clarion Books) and Tough Cookie (Lothrop, Lee &Shepard); and Mem Fox, author of Sleepy Bears (Harcourt Brace). Saturday's breakfast features Bill Murray, author of A Cinderella Story (Doubleday); Julia Child, author of Julia and Jacques Cooking At Home (Knopf); and Frances Mayes, author of Under the Tuscan Sun (Broadway Books). The Sunday breakfast will feature Elie Wiesel, author of And the Sea Is Never Full (Knopf); Iyanla Vanzant, author of In the Meantime and Yesterday I Cried (both S&S); Frank McCourt, author of Angela's Ashes (Scribner); and Jane Goodall, author of Reverence for Creation: The Spirit Ties That Bind Us to the Earth (Warner). The BEA will again offer a literary luncheon on the final day, featuring readings by Robert Stone , author of Damascus Gate (Scribner); Nikki Giovanni, author of Blues: For All the Changes (Morrow); Jorie Graham, author of Swarm (Ecco Press); Ward Just, author of A Dangerous Friend (Houghton Mifflin); and David Guterson, author of East of the Mountain (Harcourt Brace).
Many seminars address major industry issues. For example, at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Day 1, Peter Olson of Random House, Michael Lynton of Penguin Putnam, Avin Domnitz of the ABA and Phil Pfeffer of Borders will discuss "Bookselling in the New Millennium."
Other notable seminars include "De-Mystifying Hollywood" (Wednesday at 2 p.m.), for those who want to better understand the relationship between the publishing industry and the film industry; "E-Commerce and Territorial Rights" (Thursday at 10 a.m.), which should help explain the impact of e-commerce on book publishing; and "The Future of E-Publishing" (Thursday at 1 p.m.), which will explore how the "Web lifestyle" is changing the roles of authors, publishers, distributors and booksellers. No educational programming has been scheduled for Friday so participants may fully concentrate on the trade show floor.
The Rights Center has been expanded and opens two days before the trade show floor, i.e., on Wednesday, April 28. For the first time this year, registrants who sign up early may have their own tables in the center.
Another popular mainstay is the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression's Silent Auction, featuring products and services donated by participating exhibitors. All proceeds raised benefit the activities of ABFFEE.