Viral Marketing & Going Digital Now Part of Day of Education Lineup

This week, the American Booksellers Association announced the addition of two new sessions to its Day of Education lineup at BookExpo America. "Viral Marketing in Our Viral Culture" and "Going Digital: An Industry Discussion on Selling E-Content" have been added to ABA's full day of educational programming on Thursday, May 28, at New York's Javits Convention Center.

"Viral marketing and e-book sales are two subjects that are so timely, and so important to our members, we would have been remiss in not including them on this year's schedule," said ABA Chief Program Officer Len Vlahos. "We have been very fortunate in having Bill Wasik, senior editor of Harper's Magazine, inventor of the flash mob, and author of And Then There's This (Viking), agree to be the featured speaker at Viral Marketing. We'll be announcing our Going Digital panelists, as well as other session presenters, in the coming weeks."

At "Viral Marketing," which will be held from 10:45 a.m. - 12:15 p.m., Wasik will discuss how online content that begins as a ripple can turn into a tsunami. And at "Going Digital," from 1:15 p.m. - 2:30 p.m., a panel of experts will focus on trends in digital content, including e-books, audiobooks, and more, as well as their impact on independent bookstores.

The new sessions have necessitated a shifting around of parts of the previously announced Day of Education schedule, and the "Budgeting and Monitoring" session has been dropped. The revised Day of Education schedule and all session descriptions are available on BookWeb.org.

Registration for the Day of Education, sponsored by Ingram Book Group/Ingram Publisher Services, is open to all BEA registrants via the BookExpo America website, www.bookexpoamerica.com, or the BEA registration booklet.

All ABA regular bookstore and provisional members are eligible for free admission to the 2009 trade show. To take advantage of the free badge offer, members must authorize ABA to share relevant information about the number of badges they are entitled to receive with BEA show officials.

The 2009 Hotel ABA, exclusively for ABA bookstore and provisional members, is once again the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge in Brooklyn, New York. (See this week's story about new benefits for Hotel ABA guests.)