A Whirlwind of Ideas from BookExpo America

As the events coordinator at Village Books, I oversee most aspects of our Literature Live event programming. Each year, Village Books hosts more than 300 author, community, kids’, and book/writing group events. While the majority of my job entails overseeing all the details that make events happen, from scheduling, to book orders, to displays, to managing hundreds of weekly emails from publicists and authors, I do occasionally have the opportunity to do something exciting. A week and a half ago I had the chance to travel to New York City for BookExpo America (BEA) to meet, and woo, potential authors (or their publicists) to come to Village Books. Here are some of the highlights from this year’s BEA.

Wed., May 29^th:

-Learned the importance of using Twitter to help promote books and events. I especially like the idea of live tweeting events.

-At the American Booksellers Association (ABA) plenary session, a comment that resonated with
me was the idea that independent bookstores have to continuously adjust and change in order to continue connecting with the community. I think Village Books does this well.

-Keynote speech about “shaping the future of the book,” touched on multiple platforms for reading (audio, print, ebook), and emphasized that what readers really want is a good story, regardless of how they read it.

-Some good books to watch out for in the fall from the “editors buzz”: Hitler’s Furies: German Women in the Nazi Killing Fields by Wendy Lower; The Facades: A Novel by Eric Lundgren; The Affairs of Others: A Novel by Amy Grace Loyd; Five Days at Memorial: Life & Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital by Sheri Fink; Knocking on Heaven’s Door: The Path to a Better Way of Death by Katy Butler; and All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood by Jennifer Senior.

Thurs., May 30^th:

-The morning starts with a funny and inspiring breakfast with Chelsea Handler, Uganda Be Killing Me; Ishmael Beah, Radiance of Tomorrow; Doris Kearns Goodwin, No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt; and Wally Lamb, We Are Water. Look out for their great new books this fall and winter.

-The showroom floor opens, which means that hundreds of publishers, vendors, authors, and sideline retailers talk up new products and answer questions. I had the chance to meet publicists to promote our event programming. I also met some of my personal faves like YA/fiction author David Levithan and children’s illustrators Emily Winfield Martin, David Brown, Jerry Pinkney and Oliver Jeffers.

-ABA Awards Luncheon honors authors, chosen by booksellers across the country, as well as the winning recipients of both the 2013 E.B. White Read-Aloud Awards and 2013 Indies Choice Book Award winners. Some of the authors who graciously accepted awards (both live and via video): Cheryl Strayed, John Green, Eowyn Ivey, Richard Russo, Vaddey Ratner, Wiley Cash, Jan-Philipp Sendker, Louise Erdrich, Geraldine Brooks, Jon Scieszka, Terry Tempest Williams, Jon Klassen & Mac Barnett, R.J. Palacio, and many more. I tried luring Richard Russo to come participate in our Willows Author Getaway series, and also talked up David Levithan (has connections in the NW) and Jon Klassen & Mac Barnett (fun/goofy guys).

-Met seventeen children’s authors at a Random House event at the Lincoln Jazz Center. Amazing
views of Columbus Circle & Central Park. Amazing authors and illustrators too. I’m hoping a few might make it out on tour, like Tad Hills for Rocket’s Mighty Words, Matthew Cody for Will in Scarlet, and James Dashner for The Eye of Minds (author of the Maze Runner series).   

Fri., May 31^st:

-Listened to an interesting discussion about self-publishing, which helps inform me on the current trends, especially since we are seeing more self-published authors interested in events.

-Learned a few tips about “surviving the public” that will come in handy for improved customer service.

-Spoke with Matthew Inman, aka The Oatmeal, and tried to persuade him to come up to Bellingham for an event for My Dog: The Paradox, since he’s Seattle-based.

-Met with Workman Publishing to look at fall books, and a few potential event ideas, hopefully bringing Maggie Stuckey for her cookbook, Soup Night and possibly Sarah Swanson & Max Smith for Must-See Birds of the Pacific Northwest.

-Listened to a panel of children’s author/illustrators, including Jan Brett, Loren Long, John Bemelmans Marciano, Judy Schachner and Oliver Jeffers talk about their work. Super fun!

-Attended a Random House party and chatted it up with Jamie Ford, Songs of Willow Frost; Nancy Horan, Under the Wide and Starry Sky; and Diana Gabaldon, Written in My Own Heart’s Blood.

Sat., June 1^st:

-Excellent author breakfast with Chris Matthews, John Lewis, Diana Gabaldon and Helen Fielding. Look out for John Lewis’ graphic version of the civil rights marches, called March: Book 1. He is hoping to inspire the next generation of young people to keep fighting for our rights. And Helen Fielding has a new Bridget Jones story on the way.

-Roamed the showroom floor once more and met “Bad Kitty.” Checked out some of the Abrams and Artisan cookbooks. Picked up catalogs for Canadian publishers, Greystone Books and Simply Read Books, for cross-border event ideas.

-Ended the BEA weekend with an excellent talk by Neil Gaiman about “Why Fiction Is Dangerous” (because it lets you into other peoples’ minds and creates other possible/different worlds to imagine).