Editors, Publicists Look Forward to Meeting With Booksellers

Editors and publicists are preparing for two networking events — Meet the Editor and Publicists Speed Dating — open exclusively to the American Booksellers Association’s bookseller members at next month’s BookExpo America.

Carolyn O’Keefe, associate director of publicity at Henry Holt & Company, is happy to be participating in Publicists Speed Dating. “I love meeting with booksellers because their job is the same as mine — advocating for books and bringing them to the attention of consumers,” she said. “Since publicists don’t travel with authors the way they used to, we don’t have the opportunities we once did to talk to booksellers outside of our immediate area. It’s great to have a chance to meet with so many stores, and to get a sense of what’s working (and not working) for them, because their insight goes a long way toward improving our tours. Like the indies, we spend a lot of time, effort, and money on author events, and it’s helpful to talk with our counterparts at the stores about ways that we can make them as effective as possible.” 

Publicists Speed Dating will provide stores that preregister by May 11 with the opportunity to meet one-on-one with publicists for approximately 12 minutes each. The event is open to owners, general managers, and event managers who want to promote their stores and learn what publicists look for when planning an author tour. Meetings will be held on Friday, May 29, from 9:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. in the Javits Convention Center’s Galleria Hall.

Other publishers taking part in Publicists Speed Dating include Abrams, Bloomsbury, Candlewick, Chronicle Books, Consortium, Grove/Atlantic, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Random House, Perseus Books Group/PGW, Scholastic, Simon & Schuster, Sourcebooks, The New Press, and Workman/Algonquin.

Meet the Editor is returning for a second year based on feedback from booksellers who took part in last year’s inaugural event at BEA. Booksellers who preregister for this program by May 11 will meet in a small group with book editors at a publisher’s New York City offices for a behind-the-scenes peek at the editing process.

Booksellers will be assigned to a group prior to BEA. Publishers taking part in this year’s Meet the Editor include Bloomsbury, Disney Publishing Worldwide, Grove/Atlantic, Hachette, HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Macmillan, Melville House, New Directions, Penguin Random House, Perseus Books Group/PGW, Scholastic, Seven Stories, Simon & Schuster, Sourcebooks, The New Press, W.W. Norton, and Workman/Algonquin.

Meet the Editor visits will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, May 27, at the assigned publisher’s offices.

Space at each event is limited and sign-up is required by May 11. Booksellers can preregister for both Meet the Editor and ABA’s all-new Publicists Speed Dating online.

Information on ABA’s full BEA program is available at BookWeb.org. To reserve a room at Hotel ABA, visit the Hyatt’s dedicated page for ABA members.

All ABA member stores are eligible to receive free admission to the trade show and BEA conference sessions. To register and learn more about BEA’s conference program, visit BookExpoAmerica.com.