NAIBA Plans a 'Sea-change by the Seashore'

The New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association (NAIBA) Annual Fall Trade Show and Convention, titled "Sea-change by the Seashore," will be held Sunday, October 16, and Monday, October 17, at the Tropicana Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

"We have a strong lineup of workshop seminars," said NAIBA Executive Director Eileen Dengler. "A lot of thought and preparation went into the schedule of topics [to ensure] everyone will walk away from the show with lots of ideas."

Approximately 500 booksellers, 100 authors, and 500 publishers are expected to attend the two days of events.

Among the program highlights noted by Dengler was Sunday's Annual Book & Author Luncheon. "We have two great authors -- Jonathan Safran Foer [Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Houghton Mifflin] and Suzanne Fisher Staples [Under The Persimmon Tree, FSG]," she explained. "[Foer's] movie is coming out soon, so there will be lots of buzz at the time of the show. And ... Fisher Staples has a very interesting story." The evening's Movable Feast, featuring more than 25 authors, is another highly anticipated event. "Everyone always enjoy that one," commented Dengler.

The show kicks off on Sunday at 8:00 a.m. with NAIBA's morning "Beach Stroll," followed by a continental breakfast and informal roundtable discussions at 9:00.

Betsy Burton, owner of Salt Lake City's The King's English and author of the book of the same name (Gibbs Smith), will present the keynote address, "Adventures in Bookselling," at 10:00 a.m. Publishers will then present the best of their upcoming adult lists at 11:00, followed by a luncheon featuring Foer and Fisher Staples.

As part of Sunday afternoon's programming, ABA is sponsoring "Outside Sales" and BookSense.com Director Len Vlahos will be presenting NAIBA's session on "Electronic Marketing." Beginning at 2:00 p.m., "Electronic Marketing" will include a demonstration of how to set up a store website and a discussion about online shopping carts and e-mail newsletters. Other NAIBA sessions beginning at 2:00 include "Children's Pick of the Lists," "Four Non-Author Events Using Co-op," and "Sales Reps & Bookseller Relationships."

At 3:15 p.m. ABA Editorial Director and Book Sense Picks Editor-in-Chief Dan Cullen will moderate "Outside Sales: Selling Outside the Store and Selling to Corporations," where a panel of experienced booksellers will discuss how to identify prospective corporate customers, school sales, and more. The panelists will also explain how they manage outside sales.

After the late afternoon Reading Room with Larry Kane (Lennon Revealed, Running Press); Ben Mizrich (Busting Vegas, HarperCollins Publishers); and John T. Halliday (Flying Through Midnight, Simon & Schuster/Scribner), will be NAIBA's opening reception and Moveable Dinner Feast. Scheduled authors include L.A. Banks, (The Damned, St. Martin's) and Robert Bausch, (Out of Season, Harcourt). A Post-Feast Party and Poker session with author Peter Fornatale (The Poker Aficionado, Random House/Doubleday) caps the evening.

On Monday morning, at the "Breakfast With Champions," booksellers will be treated to a complimentary breakfast and the presentation of the NAIBA Book Awards. They will also have the opportunity to applaud the Helmuth Sales Rep of the Year, Sue Flynn of Scholastic; to meet NAIBA's board of directors; and to attend the NAIBA annual meeting.

The Trade Show Exhibit will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. ABA will have a booth on the trade show floor, where the focus will be on education and information. Booksellers are encouraged to stop by the booth to meet with ABA staff. Visitors to the booth can drop off their business cards for a chance to win airfare and hotel accommodations for ABA's Winter Institute to be held on Thursday, January 26, and Friday, January 27, 2006, in Long Beach, or an inkjet printer. ABA is encouraging booksellers to contact ABA staff members, Vlahos, Cullen and ABA's associate director of programming and constituent groups liaison, Kristen Gilligan, at [email protected], prior to the show if they have questions, suggestions, or comments.

Author autographing in the exhibit hall will take place from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

For more information about the NAIBA trade show, including programming details, registration information, and a list of featured authors, go to http://www.newatlanticbooks.com/contact.asp or e-mail [email protected]. --Karen Schechner