BookExpo

Includes Shortened Midweek Schedule

On Tuesday, February 10, BookExpo America announced that the annual book industry trade show will be held at New York City's Jacob K. Javits Convention Center through 2012. The show was previously scheduled to take place in Washington, D.C., in 2010 and Las Vegas in 2011.

Beginning in 2010, BEA will also feature a shortened, mid-week schedule.

Key among the 2009 trade show innovations announced last week by BookExpo America and the American Booksellers Association is limited free convention attendance for ABA bookstore members.

New features include free attendance and coordinated education for booksellers

Today, the American Booksellers Association opens registration for Hotel ABA, accommodations exclusively for ABA bookstore and provisional members attending BookExpo America 2009. This year, Hotel ABA returns to the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge in Brooklyn, the popular home to ABA members during BEA 2007.

On Wednesday, October 8, BookExpo America (BEA) announced the formation of a Conference Advisory Board, composed of 12 to 15 executives from all parts of the book industry, which will meet at the end of the month in New York to discuss the trade show's past education programs as well as new programs and formats for 2009. BEA will take place at New York's Jacob K.

If any bookseller participating in ABA's Day of Education at BookExpo America had doubts about the market for graphic novels, they were put to rest at the panel "Buying, Merchandising, and Selling Graphic Novels, 101," featuring Jessica Stockton Bagnulo, graphic novels buyer and author events coordinator at McNally Robinson Booksellers in New York City; comic artist Scott McCloud; and John Shableski of Diamond Book Distributors.

"Managing Blockbuster Events: The Logistics of Events of 500 or More" proved to be a blockbuster event in its own right at the American Booksellers Association's Thursday, May 29, Day of Education at BookExpo America.

It was standing room only at ABA's Day of Education "Green Retailing" session on Thursday, May 29 at BookExpo America. Booksellers packed the room to hear panelists Suzy Staubach of University of Connecticut Co-op in Storrs, Connecticut, Natalie Freidberg of All Shades of Green in Los Angeles, and Ferris Kawar, vice president of sustainability at Greenopia, discuss strategies for lowering a retailer's impact on the environment using methods from the simple to the sublime.

ABA Board members and local business alliance activists Steve Bercu of BookPeople in Austin, Texas, and Becky Anderson of Anderson's Bookshops in Naperville, Illinois, were the featured speakers at the American Booksellers Association's panel "Independent Retailing in 2008: A Report on the Shop Local Movement," moderated by ABA COO Oren Teicher, at BookExpo America.

Kicking off with the unlikely -- but appealing -- combo of wine and cookies at the Egyptian Theatre and running straight through to the final hours on the trade floor four days later, BookExpo America 2008 was a mega weekend for independent booksellers.

The American Booksellers Association is asking every bookseller who participated in its programming last week at BookExpo America for feedback on the Day of Education sessions, special events, and bookseller lounge.

By Melissa Lion