BookExpo America Has New Tricks Up Its Booksleeves

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Parent Category: Expos and Conventions

Category: Previews

Published on Wednesday, 12 May 2010 22:18

Written by Laura Blum

From May 25 to 27, 2010, BookExpo America (BEA) will once again reclaim its position as North America's leading publishing fair, drawing between 20,000 and 30,000 industry hands to the Jacob Javits Convention Center. Apparently, its organizers and attendees didn't make it to Macworld Expo 2008, where Apple CEO Steve Jobs reportedly said, " …the fact is that people don’t read anymore."

Besides its roughly 500 authors and 1,500 exhibitors, the show also serves book sellers, distributors, marketers, editors, literary scouts and agents, librarians and publicity professionals.

Opening on a glamorous note, Barbra Streisand will headline the New York event on the evening of May 25. Though the iconic actress, singer and director won't be cracking a tune, she will be interviewed about her upcoming book, My Passion for Design, to be published November 16 by Viking.

With more than 75 educational confabs planned, BEA 2010 offers plenty of other chances to catch live interviews with established and emerging authors. For the first time, it will add "Midtown Author Stages" to its Uptown and Downtown platforms.

Other new arrows in its quiver include the "DIY Authors Conference & Marketplace." Here writers seeking to self-publish or get published can score handy information and meet with do-it-yourself service providers such as Amazon, Author Solutions and Blurb.com

The DIY gathering will be jointly presented with the Gotham Writers' Workshop and The Writer magazine. It will take place on May 24, the start of Book Week and a day before Expo officially launches.

This year, the American Booksellers Association will bring its Opening Plenary session to the BEA, on the morning of May 25. Its focus, the "Value of a Book," was partly inspired by a recent New York Times Op-Ed piece by Jonathan Galassi, President of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, titled "There’s More to Publishing Than Meets the Screen." The CEO Panel, moderated by Galassi, will tackle critical issues of "value" in books facing diverse segments of the industry – who will be strategically assembled in one room.

Speakers include:

• Bob Miller, Group Publisher, Workman
• Esther Newberg, EVP, International Creative Management
• Skip Prichard, CEO, Ingram
• David Shanks, CEO, Penguin Group (USA)
• Oren Teicher, CEO, ABA
• Scott Turow, author,  incoming President, Authors Guild

That 2010 is a pivotal year in the evolution of electronic reading – as more and more consumers seek out eBook gadgets, apps and content – hovers over many if not most of BEA 2010's events.  

"Digital Book 2010" is but one more example. Jointly organized by the International Digital Publishing Forum and BEA, this May 25 conference will present panels, demos and case studies where digital content publishers and device manufacturers will catch the latest trends in the digital publishing industry. Sessions will consider the ePUB standard, eBook production and eBook piracy as well as best practices for digital newspapers, magazines and interactive content, among other topics.

On May 26 and 27th, IDPF will debut the "Digital Book Zone" on the pavilion floor. Among the exhibitors are Sony, E-Book Systems Inc, Aptara, BookRix, Entourage Systems, Hanwang Technology Co. Ltd and iScroll.

"The New Title Showcase" will reprise its worn groove as a favorite sneak preview of upcoming releases. Bookworms can browse to their eyes' content along the seemingly endless shelves of this Showcase co-sponsored by the Combined Book Exhibit and Reed Exhibitions (which acquired the EBA from American Booksellers Association), including its London Book Fair.

As definitive proof that someone still reads, this year, BEA planners took to heart visitors' feedback, and moved the exhibition from its weekend slot to mid-week.

Some new and returning Expo features include "Digital Book Stage" and "New York Book Week." And once again, to serve the ever-expanding Latino market, the "Global Market Forum Spanish Publishing" will operate its entrepot.

For devoted networkers -- or merely the weary -- the Librarian Lounge and the Independent Publishers Lounge will provide sanctuary from the Expo onslaught. Listen up and you'll hear the words of Dorothy Parker, written more than a half a century ago " ...I have gone down under the force of numbers, under the books and books and books that keep coming out and coming out and coming out, shoals of them, spates of them, flash floods of them, too blame many books, and no sign of an end."  

The more things change...

For a comprehensive roster of the Expo activities including a list of all the authors doing the signings go to: www.bookexpoamerica.com

BookExpo America
May 25 - 27, 2010
Jacob K Javits Convention Center
635 West 34th Street
New York, NY
800-840-5614

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