From Carl Lennertz, v-p, independent retailing, at HarperCollins whose blog is publishinginsider.net:
I have every reason to dread the fall regional trade shows.
First, they consume seven beautiful fall weekends.
Next, the planning consumes a lot of time all summer long.
Last, dozens of people here in the office and in Scranton are packing
and tracking books to go hither and yon, checking schedules for 75 or
so authors, and scrambling to get galleys hot off the press for
signings Fed Ex'd to reps at hotels. And that's happening at every
publishing house, small and large.
And guess what--IT IS WORTH IT!
I confess I was pretty down on the shows about 10 years ago, feeling
the model had grown tired. But to the credit of the regional execs and
their boards, they reached out to their members and to publishers, as
well as conferring with each other, for ideas to revive the shows.
Result: We now have a truly interesting, changing and highly productive
string of meetings around the country, one that leaves all concerned
jazzed for the fall, up on the best gift books, set with essential
backlist, and also primed for the winter lists in order to get next
year off to a good start.
There have been some wonderful adjustments to the schedule for every
show, from author signings not up against booth time to cutting back on
the second day of the booth, both pet peeves of mine. We also asked for
more rep pick sessions, and the regional execs have rearranged many of
the seated meals to be more interactive receptions and movable feasts.
To Hut, Susan, Jim, Eileen, Steve, Lisa, Wanda, Thom and
Jennifer--thank you. (And for every person at a publishing house
sweating the details, each show has a person or two sweating just as
much; thank you Kyle, Larry, Nan, Joyce, Katie, Rita and others!)
There are other cool new things this year. NAIBA's Joe Drabyak and his
"regional show as sales conference" push. (To paraphrase: "Tell us more
that we can use when we go back to our stores book and theme-wise.")
SIBA's 5-10 p.m. booth time, with food, wine and authors. (I am a
little worried about the 9-10 p.m. part of that!) MPIBA's Editorial
Panel. (Editors at regional shows are one of the next evolutions.)
NCIBA's Cookbook Celebration and a second booth day with a children's
book emphasis. And PNBA, NEIBA, GLBA and the Show Formerly Known as
UMBA (sorry, Susan, I had to) have either new locations or the new
author reception format, as well as Book Award Ceremonies . . . and
those award-winning books ARE selling, which is not always true of some
national awards. And all the shows are making efforts to attract more
floor staff, which is my No. 1 wish for the future along with digital
education.
I didn't feel it was just up to the regional execs to make things
better. With our reps' guidance, we have been sending more galleys of a
midlist nature and of the reps' choosing. We also make a special effort
to rush out copies of any art/photo/gifty books fresh from the bindery,
sometimes stuffed in suitcases. We have had some planned and
spontaneous author signings at the booth, and we added raffles;
anything to add some extra serendipity and zest to the proceedings.
But there are three even more important things than those key activities noted above:
- Talking books and business trends face-to-face; absolutely essential.
- The day of education at each show continues to give booksellers the latest tools to be better booksellers, which keeps more stores thriving, selling more books. The seeds of innovations for next year are planted this year, and it is easy to think back 15 or more years to the first discussions of reading groups, cafes and staff pick displays! There isn't an aspect of bookselling today that one bookseller didn't bring to the fore at a regional show years ago. (I am still in awe of retail competitors sharing ideas, giving away their best stuff! So cool.)
-
And the big kahuna: AUTHORS! I know that's assumed, but it should not be taken for granted by anyone, nor undervalued.
I can't say this more emphatically: Booksellers meeting authors and
authors meeting booksellers is THE most important aspect of the fall
meetings. Each need each other and should understand each other better
for the long term careers of both, as well as the pragmatic short-term
benefit of the book of an author at the show getting read and handsold
over one not there.
In a world of digits, bytes, terms, sidelines, turn and all other
necessary matters of efficient business, it is still the human element
that matters most. The seller and the writer coming together. We help
plan the party and watch the partygoers mingle, talk, rant about the
written word and more.
A closing note: This fall is the first season without our friend Rusty
Drugan. I can still see him smile at the beautiful chaos of a trade
show, knowing full well that good things happen when smart people meet
to talk about good books.