Call me nutty, but I love a trade show

I’ll be coming in Thursday only – have a meeting with a UK distributor and that’s the reason I’m heading in. BEA is a bit pricey for us in comparison to a show like AWP. I’ll be on the lookout for at least one galley though – a visit to Algonquin’s booth is in the cards.

. . . be great to see you, dan! enjoyed our conversation on the floor in ’08 . . .

. . . here’s a panel i want badly to be at, featuring our friend richard nash:

Rights, Royalties & Retailers: What Works?
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
11:00AM – 12:00PM

Location: Room 1E03

Read any news surrounding the agency model, iPad, or Amazon, and one can easily conclude why rights standardization is so crucial today. The pie is only so big, and everybody wants a piece of it. Ebooks supplied the grist to the mill for revamping the business model; and everybody’s lunging at once. Authors are self-publishing (the really big ones and the really small ones); publishers are playing with rev-share models; both wholesalers and retailers are looking at the discounts they give publishers. And the line between royalties and retailers is blurred, and challenging for old channel partners. Join industry stakeholders as they talk candidly, and haggle, for their piece of the digital pie.

Moderator: Laura Dawson, CEO, LJNDawson

Panelists: David Marlin, President, MetaComet Systems

Richard Nash, founder, Cursor

Andrew Weinstein, VP & GM – Retail Solutions, Ingram Digital

Scott Waxman, Principal, Waxman Literary Agency

We’re hosting an event in support of Girls Write Now with some other indie presses — Featherproof, Exterminating Angel, Coffee House, Chin Music, Seven Stories, Small Beer, New York Tyrant, Unbridled, Tin House — on Tuesday, May 25 from 7 to 9:30 at Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn. Care Bears on Fire and Japanther will be performing, which I’m uncontrollably excited about. No RSVP or invite needed; just a donation to GWN at the door.

BEA is amusing as a spectacle, but I like it because it cuts you back down to size and helps you realize how broad the industry really is. Some of the gimmicks are entertaining, most are just sad. I think this year will continue to highlight how divergent the industry has become. Which, I think for us is a positive thing.

I’m looking forward to the Books Plus panel on Wednesday from 3:30 to 4:30, and the NBCC panel and the West of Here reading on Thursday morning. I’m excited to check out the Soft Skull, Tin House, and Unbridled booths, to stroll down the Consortium and PGW alleys, as well as visit any publishers who offer free alcohol.

. . . look forward to meeting you in person, eric– and hoping to make it out to brooklyn for the kick-ass party . . . oh shit, am i actually reading? i thought i was just doing panel . . .

Hey Jonathan,

I’m excited, too. I never imagined I’d ever be invited to a trade show. My father used to sell plastic shrink wrap machines at packaging conventions at the Javitts Center.

I’m signing BAD MARIE’s on Thursday, 1:00 at the Harper Perennial area, table 17 (where ever that is). I don’t think I’ll make it to the floor on Wednesday, but will definitely make it to the Algonquin table when I am there. I hope we find each other. There are promises of Wednesday night shenanigans…

Marcy

I may get a pass just to heckle you on the buzz panel. Maybe throw a shoe or something.

I’ll be hanging around the Unbridled booth (4241) on Wednesday and Thursday mornings – if you’re around, come by and say hello. (If I’m not there, it’s because I’ve slipped over to the Algonquin booth to swipe a copy of Jonathan’s galley.) I’ll also be at the Celebration of Bookselling Luncheon on Wednesday (table 19, I believe), and the ForeWord 2009 Book of the Year Awards Ceremony at 2pm that day (wish me luck.) And I’m also planning on crashing the Emerging Leaders party at WORD in Brooklyn on Tuesday the 25th, and I’m most likely going to the BEA Tweetup on the 26th.

Not sure that I’ll make it to any panels. The mid-week scheduling is frankly a complete nightmare — I’ll be leaving to go to my day job in the afternoons.

I’ll be floating around at a lot of meetings with the big pubs, but I’ll be making time to stroll the PGW, Consortium and graphic novel booths. I have a meeting with Workman, so I’ll be hounding them for a WOH galley. And I’ll be at the GWN party on Tuesday with at least one Powell’s compadre in tow.

I tend to dodge the parties; I’m not cool enough to be invited to the big ones anyway.

. . . what?!?!? gerry donaghy of powells isn’t cool enough . . .? you define cool, my friend . . . and i’ll make sure to save you a galley . . .

. . .emily, i was part of the emerging leaders party in ’08 in LA– great party!

Soft Skull will be representing. Come find us at booth # 4336. I’m also hoping to make it to the GWN event. Too many great publishers and bands to miss! My kind of book party.

. . . denise, i’ll make it a point to stop by the booth and hope i catch you!

I once got invited to a BEA party with Alec Baldwin (maybe because I have the smae last name as his character on 30 Rock), but I begged of, citing that if I went, I’d spend the whole night going up to him shouting “What’s my name? FUCK YOU, that’s my name!”.

Man, I really envy you guys getting to hang out with writers during work week or school week!

haha JE. I’m feeling some optimism as well. Not sure why. Could be the dust is finally settling after 2008, and people have adjusted to the new reality, or it could be that the writers and publishers I know (admittedly a small number) have decided to in a way keep playing as the ship goes down.

But who cares really. I’m just gonna keep on keepin on. Cheers