Notes on Book Expo America

I just returned from BEA in New York late last night. For the company, the show was excellent. We received many congratulations for the fortieth anniversary; we took some good orders, met buyers from new bookstores (which we always like), saw old friends, and gave away pretty much all the promo material we brought down. And I must say that, all things considered, BEA was good for me as well: I met some great media / review people and happened upon a couple of bloggers I wanted to meet. There was plenty to complain about logistically, but then again there always is (the $4.00 waters in particular). Three items of note.

First, BEA this year was much smaller than it seemed. The show floor was packed from the already-crowded gates opening at 9:00 am right through until about two hours before the show closed the next day, but: it was one show floor instead of two as usual; two days instead of three as in the past; and held in the middle of the week instead of the weekend, which emphasized New York media professionals over book buyers.

The second thing of note was extra-professional. I attended the NBCC panel on The Future of Book Reviews, which was held in a standing-room-only room. It was disappointing, to say the very least. They regurgitated the same tired, inane conversation about book reviews, PDF galleys, and blogs that this industry has been chewing over for a decade. The audience was either so out of touch with the internet that they had no clue what the hell was being discussed, or too young for such a simplistic, remedial conversation. A telling anecdote: when I came in, there were about fifteen people standing in the back and sitting on the floor; but, in the last row, there was a chair with an empty box on top of it. I moved the box to the floor and took my seat. The people left standing glared. This is what I'm talking about in the book industry.

The final thing is mostly personal. I stopped by the Unbridled Books booth to grab their catalog, and it was mentioned by the publicist that Emily St. John Mandel would be there the following day. You may recall that Emily's first novel, Last Night in Montreal, was reviewed unfavorably in the first issue of The Critical Flame. This, folks, is the book review editor's dilemma, and the first time I'd been faced with it — but I went over to say hello the next morning. We talked about the review, and Emily was completely gracious and extremely nice. And she resisted what I'm sure was an intense urge to throw hot coffee all over me.