[5]

Booksellers can register now for the American Booksellers Association’s exclusive programming for members who will be attending BookExpo 2018 [6] in New York City from May 30 to June 1:

• [7]The Celebration of Bookselling and Author Awards Lunch [8] will be held from noon to 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 30, in the Main Stage Hall of the Javits Convention Center. Voting is open now for the 2018 Indies Choice/E.B. White Read-Aloud Awards [9], which will be presented at the lunch; booksellers at ABA member stores across the country will choose the winners in nine categories in online balloting through May 2. The winners of Publishers Weekly’s Bookstore of the Year and Rep of the Year [10] awards will also be honored at the lunch.
• Meet the Editor [11] will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, May 30, at various publishing houses around the city. The structure of the editor meetings will vary by publisher and are meant to give a behind-the-scenes look at the philosophy and process of book editing.
• Publicists Speed Dating sessions will be held from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 30 [12], and from 9:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. on Friday, June 1 [13], at the convention center. These conversations are a chance for bookstore owners, managers, and event managers to promote their stores, as well as to discover what publicists look for when planning author tours. To prepare, booksellers can check out ABA’s webinar on “Creating a Press Kit [14],” which is available along with other educational materials on ABA’s Learning on Demand [15] page.
• The ABC/CBC Speed Dating Lunch With Children’s Authors [16] will be held from 12:15 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. on Friday, June 1, at the Javits Convention Center. Authors slated to appear include Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera, Nic Stone, Tami Charles, Sean Qualls, Deb Caletti, and more. The registration fee for the lunch is $35; however, the Children’s Book Council has generously offered to offset the cost by donating $10 per ticket (those who have already registered will be reimbursed by check from the CBC).

Tickets are also on sale for the Silent Art Auction [17] to benefit American Booksellers for Free Expression [18] (ABFE) and Every Child a Reader [19]. All BookExpo attendees are invited to attend the auction; tickets are $110 each. However, for ABC Children’s Group at ABA members, tickets are complimentary (contact ABC Group Manager Gen de Botton [20] for the promo code), and tickets for regular ABA member booksellers are $11 (log in to BookWeb to see the adjusted price). In addition, the deadline for art donations [21] has been extended to May 1. Watch upcoming issues of BTW for sneak peeks of the artwork to be showcased at the auction.

As part of a reimagining of BookExpo to deliver new value to attendees [22], the BookExpo team has worked with ABA to create additional programming to provide booksellers with more opportunities to meet with editors and publicists, including:

• In-Booth Editors’ Hours, which will allow booksellers to discover new titles to recommend to readers and opportunities to grow revenue. The Editors’ Hours will take place on the trade show floor on Wednesday, May 30, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.; Thursday, May 31, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.; and Friday, June 1, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.
• Publicist Meet-Ups, during which booksellers have the chance to plan engaging author events to drive new traffic to stores and spur book sales. The meet-ups will take place on the trade show floor on Friday, June 1, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Booksellers can register for free badges to BookExpo [5] by providing their ABA member ID number during the registration process. More information about ABA’s programming at BookExpo, including educational offerings, can be found on BookWeb.org [23].