In the rush to fill the void created by the cancellation of BookExpo by Reed Exhibitions late last year, the American Booksellers Association is exploring the possibility of creating a national book conference and trade show, Shelf Awareness has learned.
According to sources close to the association, the board and staff are considering a multi-day event that would include a significant amount of educational programming for booksellers and the group's own annual meeting. The event would move around the country, with the idea that it would draw booksellers from different regions who prefer not to travel long distances for such events. The expectation is that publishers, distributors and wholesalers will exhibit at a show floor during the event to reach those booksellers, and other organizations will be encouraged to hold concurrent programs. The event would thus create what so many people say they miss about BookExpo: the sense of community in the book world and the chance meetings that foster networking and can lead to unexpected business deals and lifelong friendships.
The event would be called simply "the ABA" and take place on or near Memorial Day weekend. The ultimate goal, sources say, is to sell the show to Reed Exhibitions for $35 million.
Word is that the ABA has reached out to Eileen Dengler, executive director of the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association who once headed an apparently similar show, to head the new venture. The association wants to start small, beginning with an inaugural offering in the basement of the Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. Programming at the new event, one of the first to be held in person after many pandemic-related cancellations of book industry meetings, would feature an opening session called "the Hugathon" (with copious amounts of Kleenex), where booksellers and others can greet each other again for the first time in way too long.