Pasadena Book Fair

This erstwhile IOBA member was, after the fact, pressed into service as Pasadena Book Fair Correspondent by the Standard’s pugnacious editor, Shirley Bryant. Having recently celebrating a 51st birthday, one can easily imagine the Correspondent’s difficulties in recalling events that transpired yesterday, much less at a book fair 2 months ago… yet, duty calls. So, if not specifics, impressions can be provided for all the many readers of the Standard.

GOOD FRIENDS.

GOOD BOOKS.

GOOD TIME.

And pictures are available, albeit primarily of yours truly for, not having this commission prior to the event, my camera-woman was more interested in Moi & my booth, rather than the many other worthy exhibitors one found at this event.

Stay-tuned. Santa Monica is next July, and I’ll turn camera-woman loose on the entire event.

Vic Zoschak

vjz@tavbooks.com

25th Annual Colorado Book Market Seminar

The 25th Annual Out-of-Print & Antiquarian Book Market Seminar convened in scenic Colorado Springs this past August 3-8th. Thirty-six participants from all over the United States and Canada found their way to the foot of Pikes Peak for an intense week of lectures, discussions, networking, and hands-on learning at the unofficial “Boot Camp for Booksellers.” As coordinator, I had been working at my job since early in the year; gathering and organizing information, answering queries, sending confirmations and encouraging interested people to register. It is always a great pleasure for me to meet and greet participants as they arrive on the Colorado College campus where I can finally put a name to a face! At registration on Sunday afternoon, we armed participants with notebooks, t-shirts, book bags and maps to prepare them for the busy week ahead. Later that evening we all gathered at a reception and Keynote address, which is a wonderful opportunity to meet faculty and fellow students, and begin “networking.” In addition, the Keynote address and reception is the only portion of the seminar open to the public, so we invite local booksellers, librarians and even former seminar participants who have stopped by on the way home from the Denver Book Fair to join us for the evening. Of course after introductions, the highlight of the evening is always the Keynote address. This year’s talk was delivered by Dan DeSimone, Curator for the Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection of the Library of Congress. In addition to stories about his experiences in the book trade, Dan outlined strategies and practical advice to booksellers for developing professional relationships with libraries as customers. One enthusiastic participant commented that DeSimone’s speech was worth the total price of the whole seminar!

“The Faculty was beyond outstanding.” 2003 participant.

In addition to Dan De Simone, who stayed for the week after his Keynote presentation, this year’s faculty included experts in many areas of the book business. Michael Ginsberg, the seminar director, is a businessman, consultant, appraiser and past president of ABAA who led discussions on appraisals, book scouting, the mail order book business and directed the “Auction.” Ed Glaser, a veteran of all past book seminar faculties as well as noted specialist in rare and important books in science and medicine and another ABAA past president, is our expert on producing catalogs and on ethics in the trade. Jennifer Larson guided students through bibliographical description, an exhibition of binding and printing and led discussions on the Library as a market. This year, Jennifer was joined on the faculty by her husband and business associate Jeffrey Marks, a lawyer and bookseller. Jeff along with friend and partner Rob Rulon-Miller acted as Specialist Dealer describing adventures and experiences in high end book selling. John Townsend, owner of Town’s End Books, mail order specialist and our computer “wizard,” was our technology professor covering many aspects of this new and very important tool in the trade. Mary Ciletti and Lois Harvey, our outstanding Colorado business owners, taught practical lessons on owning and running a bookstore and on book fairs. Last, but certainly not the least, of our faculty members was Jim Canary, book conservator, repair specialist and Head of the Special Collections Conservation at the Indiana University Libraries. Jim ran several very popular and well-attended tutorials on the nitty-gritty of book repair and conservation.“I’m not sure how so many long days can make up such a short week!” 2003 participant.

The schedule was jammed packed from 8:30am Monday until the closing luncheon on Friday. Classes ran until 6pm most days and Tuesday and Wednesday included evening tutorials. Even lunchtime was used for casual discussions and individual one-on-one with faculty.

“Loved the time staff devoted to teaching, even at lunch.” 2003 participant Of all the special features of the seminar, the Auction Demonstration is one of the favorites and most fun. Items are donated by faculty, our friends in local book shops, and supportive businesses from all over the country. All proceeds are donated to the libraries that loan us reference books for the week.

At our final session on Friday, we said goodbye to our new friends and colleagues with hugs and certificates.

We eagerly collected evaluation questionnaires (submitted anonymously so we know they are going to be honest and critical) to begin work on improving the experience for our next seminar. It is always a pleasure to hear that we did a good job!

“Basically, this was one of the best weeks of my entire life! Not only did I get what I came for– a new direction for my business as well as better skills, but I was able to get to know people I would never have had the opportunity to meet and make friends with who will be a part of my life for years to come. It was an incredibly invigorating week.”

I look forward to Book Seminar 2004!

Kathy Lindeman, Book Seminar Coordinator

Pictures courtesy of Sue Gallagher, of Denver’s The Gallagher Collection, our great friend and perpetual volunteer!

Kathy Lindeman klindeman@ColoradoCollege.edu

BookExpo America Draws Excellent Crowds in L.A., Wows Your IOBA Reporter

As a first-timer at BEA, my initial reaction was: “This is great!” Coming on the heels of the L.A. Times Festival of Books (see Vol. 4, No. 2), held at UCLA a month earlier, it reinforced the feeling that reading and books (and selling them) still matter to a great many people.

This euphoria quickly gave way to panic. How on earth could I, even with help from my wife/photographer, cover this huge event in the single day that circumstances allowed? “You can’t,” I told myself, and resolved to take in as much of the Expo as possible, and report as much as I could for The Standard.

Now in its 103rd year, BookExpo America offers a showcase of books in all formats, plus gift items and music CDs and DVDs, as well as new technology and services. It is an educational forum that looks at the business of books from many viewpoints and provides a meeting place for the entire book industry, from sellers and publishers to agents and authors.

Total attendance for all industry professionals was 27,143, about 4,000 fewer than attended BEA 2002, which was held in New York City, traditional heart of the book publishing industry. The total number of book buyers who attended was 6,684, compared to 7,049 last year in NYC. All in all, it was a very respectable showing of support for the West Coast event.

One complaint we heard from some publishers was that holding the Expo a month earlier (this was the earliest BEA in history) created problems for them. “We’ve had to prepare promotion and marketing material for some books due to be published in the fall without having seen the manuscripts,” was an off-the-record lament from one marketing rep for a major publisher. The same gripe may have simmered below the surface during the show but participants were careful not to let it spoil the generally upbeat tenor of the event.

The Show Floor featured more than 2,000 exhibits, including the new Graphic Novel/Comic Pavilion and e-Book Experience area. The latter was prime evidence that the publishing industry takes electronic books seriously. Expanded areas included larger Children’s Book and Spanish Book Pavilions. Show representatives pointed out that there were more Show Special HOT DEALS offered by exhibitors than ever before. – and even a special HOT DEALS directory you could pick up on-site to help you find these Show Specials.

Various educational programs were offered during the show. The American Booksellers Association (ABA) put together a comprehensive array of sessions and events for independent booksellers “covering all aspects of the business.” (“All aspects,” that is, for brick-&-mortar store owners. I guess IOBA should do something similar for independent online booksellers in the future!) Other events focused on children’s books and other specialized areas.

The BookExpo America Program featured a record breaking 650+ authors in the traditional autographing and in-booth program. The Author Photo Center, where you could have your photo taken with one of 30 well-known authors and receive a press release for your local paper, drew big crowds. (Unfortunately, we learned about this too late and came home sans photos and press releases.)

There were a lot of Special Events this year, many of them new or expanded. They included:

1. ·Special Evening with Emmy-winning writer and comic, Ellen DeGeneres

2. ·Variety magazine’s – Hollywood: Books to Blockbusters

3. ·Children’s Books Too Good to Miss with Barbara Park, Robert Sabuda, Christopher and Walter Dean Meyers

4. ·Author Breakfasts/Teas with Toni Morrison, Madeleine Albright, Michael Moore, Anita Diamant and Jonathan Lethem

5. ·New MediaTalk Lunch with Molly Ivins, Tucker Carlson, Bill O’Reilly and Al Franken (I hated to miss a possible confrontation between Ivins and O’Reilly, but the timing was wrong.)

6. ·New Graphic Novel Author events featuring Neil Gaiman and others

7. ·New Spanish/Latino Author events featuring Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez and more

8. ·New Emerging writers programs highlighting the book world’s up and comers

There was lots more but we left after nearly eight hours, tired but happy, and weighed down with bulging bags of Show Specials, newly autographed books and stacks of catalogs for our reference files.