Every book fair needs a metaphor, since there is generally very little that rises to the level of big “news.” This year’s is “chill”–from morning temperatures in the 30s this morning (yes, we know it was in the 80s in New York) to a generally subdued outlook following last week’s agency lawsuits, continued negotiations with the European Commission and the prospect of new “neo-agency” contracts to be negotiated over the next few weeks. China is this year’s guest of honor, and in a show of force they are clearly the largest purchaser of booth space as well. The country’s exhibitors […]
Book Fairs
A Glimpse of Nook At LBF
Since Nook’s presence at the London Book Fair is an object of fascination for some, here is a picture of where they will conduct business on the show floor (still being set up on Sunday): a closed meeting room (adjacent to regular booths.
London Travel Advisory, and Deal Trends
For those heading to the London Book Fair shortly, note that there are planned tube closures this weekend that may effect travel to Earl’s Court and the conference center in Westminster. Most notably, the Circle line is scheduled to be closed entirely both Saturday and Sunday. The District line will be partially suspended both days, with no service from Earl’s Court to the east, including Westminster. Earl’s Court should still be serviced by Picadilly line and Westminster should still be serviced by the Jubilee line. You can check the official London transport site for more details. Meanwhile, per tradition we […]
People, Etc.
At Chronicle Books, Todd Presley has been promoted to executive director of human resources, McEvoy Group. Greg Mortimer joins Scribner Monday in the newly-created position of online marketing manager. He was formerly marketing manager of trade paperbacks for the Random House publishing group. Pulitzer Prize-winner Junot Diaz‘s new story collection THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE HER, “about the heartbreak and radiance that is love,” will be published by Riverhead on September 11, 2012. Diaz will appear at BEA as one of the author breakfast speakers on Tuesday, June 5, and he will do a national book tour in the fall. […]
BEA Looks To Open Show To Public For A Day in 2013
After years of resisting suggestions to incorporate the reading public into Book Expo America, fair organizers “are looking at 2013 to shift” the show to straddle the weekend, running from Thursday through Saturday, with that third day open to public. The Saturday consumer focus would be “built around author events, but [will] also allow them onto the show floor to look behind the curtain, see what new works from their favorite writers will be coming out like ComicCon does.” BEA show director Steve Rosato argues in a blog post that maintaining a third day of regular exhibits outside of the […]
DBW: Looking at Publisher-Author Relations
One fascinating if unresolved Digital Book World panel was Wednesday’s session on Changing Author-Publisher Relationships, moderated by Simon Lipskar at Writers House. It provided an update on various publishers’ efforts to engage more actively with their authors on a regular basis and better communicate the value that large-scale organizations bring to representing authors’ work in the marketplace. The financial aspects of the relationship were addressed only briefly. Random House president of sales, operations and digital Madeline McIntosh said that in a review of their “actual effective payout to authors” looking at a five-year set of their fiction lines, a range […]