Similar to the reaction in the U.S., where many attendees called BookExpo America the best show in some time, many exhibitors said BookExpo Canada was the busiest, most upbeat in several years. At the conference preceding the opening of the trade show, which ran from June 12—14 in Toronto, Friday's attendance jumped by 75%, and seminars held on Saturday rose 50%. The increases were attributed in part to the addition of the first Writer's Conference, with seminars on such topics as how to find, pitch and land the right agent and pitching books to editors. Saturday featured the Editor and Bookseller Buzz Forum, where high-profile editors Phyllis Bruce (HCC), Patrick Crean (Thomas Allen Publishers) and Louise Dennys (Random House of Canada) shared personal perspectives on their upcoming titles.
At the BookNet Canada information session, CEO Michael Tamblyn unveiled plans for the coming year for the industry standards organization, including launching an industry-wide sales data analysis system (still looking for an appropriate vendor), and getting publishers and booksellers into the EDI Certification Program. Sales data analysis and the switch in 2007 to a 13-digit ISBN ('our industry's Y2K') were the hot topics of the day.
There was also buzz about Chapters/Indigo CEO Heather Reisman's recent announcement that the stores will be carrying more nonbook products and aim to become 'cultural department stores,' and about Humber College's plans to launch a book publishing program, to be headed by former Penguin Canada publisher Cynthia Good.
Reed Expositions show manager Jennifer Sickinger said that while BEC's audited figures will not be confirmed for a few weeks, attendance seemed to be up marginally. 'There was a sense on the floor that attendance was way up, but I attribute that to the fact that people were staying longer because there were more authors, and they were exciting authors,' Sickinger said. Among the authors at the show were Canadian historian Pierre Berton (Prisoners of the North), environmentalist David Suzuki (Tree) and Fumiko Ishioka, the Japanese curator whose research is at the core of the runaway hit Hana's Suitcase.
'I was very pleased with the turnout this year; certainly in our booth, we had a capacity crowd most of the time,' said Harold Fenn of H.B. Fenn, echoing the comments of many other exhibitors. As a veteran of many shows, he added that the BEC floor is no longer about sales ('orders, what orders?') but connecting with customers. 'I'm enough of a veteran to remember when the success of a show was always determined by the value of orders that you wrote,' Fenn said. 'Now, it is customers coming by and they certainly are interested in hearing about the fall releases, but with electronic ordering so prevalent now, people go home with their lists, put their orders through, and we start seeing those come in right after the show.'
The Floor
BEC dedicated floor space to Picture This!, a graphic novel pavilion, with two days of free panels and presentations by cartoonists such as Chester Brown and Seth. The latter, designer of the new Charles Schulz Peanuts reprint series (Fantagraphics), joined popular syndicated cartoonist and longtime Schulz friend Lynn Johnston for a revealing discussion on the life and work of the late cartoonist.
Meanwhile, the Kindness Crew took a page from their new book Cool to Be Kind: Random Acts and How to Commit Them (ECW Press) and wandered around the show dispensing hugs, compliments and urging attendees to 'pay it forward.' The crew completed a coast-to-coast kindness revolution tour in 2002, and a U.S. tour is planned for 2005. 'Sometimes, the stars align and you get the authors, the buyers and the sales reps all together in one space, and all go 'that's pretty cool,' ' said their publisher, Jack David, noting that the buyer from Costco and its internal magazine writer both loved the concept. 'Something like that can have a lasting effect—it's kismet,' David said.
Throughout the weekend, the distributor Literary Press Group created its own media empire with a total convergence event called Storming the Stage: it hosted on-site interviews with 40 authors from its member publishers, including poet Di Brandt (Coach House Books) and Nino Ricci (Lives of the Saints, Cormorant Books). The interviews were filmed and broadcast live during the trade show, streamed over the Internet via the LPG Web site (lpg.ca) and broadcast on more than 30 campus and independent radio stations across the country.
Booths, events and the books themselves reflected both Canada's quirky sense of humor and its role as upstart on the world political stage. At Login Brothers, there was a Canadian BookExpo Idol karaoke contest; at Fairmount Books, there was shuffleboard and a cruise theme, as the cast dressed as the crew from the Love Boat. In an election year (in Canada next week and this fall in the U.S.), panel presentations were peppered with political asides, and a social consciousness luncheon featuring David Suzuki and award-winning journalist Linda McQuaig drew a capacity crowd. Many attendees sported 'It's the Crude, Dude' buttons—the title of McQuaig's sure to be provocative fall book, dubbed by some as the Fahrenheit 9/11 for readers, examining the intertwined roles of big oil with the U.S. government and the war in Iraq (Doubleday Canada). Former Heritage minister Sheila Copps signed Canadian flags at the M&S booth in support of her upcoming book Worth Fighting For, and there were also major titles on Greenpeace (both Raincoast and Arsenal Pulp Press) that drew bookseller interest.
