Old habits are hard to break. With BEA’s switch to a mid-week show and just two days of floor exhibits, a number of veteran fairgoers were confused to learn this morning that the show floor does not open until tomorrow. Sufficiently so that BEA pushed out an e-mail reminder on this point. Today is for conferences only (though the Rights Center is open, and remainders buyers are allowed on the floor.) But the conference sessions are crowded indeed. With digital publishing very much top of the agenda, the realignment of the IDBF conference to run concurrently with BEA has been […]
Book Fairs
LBF Offers Discounts to Returning Exhibitors
The London Book Fair has contacted exhibitors and rights center table-holders with a “thank you”/”loyalty” package in consideration of the “unprecedented circumstances brought about by the volcanic ash in Iceland.” Customers from the 2010 show are being offered a 30 percent discount on the published 2011 prices for exhibition space and rights center tables, “in recognition of the disruption to the show, and to our 40th birthday in 2011.” Additionally, any pre-registered international visitor in 2010 who was unable to attend and did not transfer their ticket to someone else can attend for free next year.
LBF Attendance Down By a Third
London Book Fair officials estimated that total attendance for the ash-stricken show declined by about a third. Given that typically 45 percent of attendees are from overseas, if you presume that UK-attendance was down slightly based on cancellations, that means international attendance was likely down by two-thirds. Show director Alistair Burtenshaw sent a letter to exhibitors dangling a vague promise of making some kind of amends to exhibitors because of the impairments to the typical fair experience but no further explanation was offered for how. He wrote: “I would not want you to be under the impression that we have […]
BEA's CEO Panel Will Open Conference Day
BEA has rescheduled their “CEO Panel” discussion to make it the opening session on the morning of Tuesday, May 25 (the conference day before the show floor is open to all). For the first time, it will be the opening event for both the American Bookseller Association’s day of meetings as well as BEA’s own Big Ideas conference, bringing booksellers and the rest of the trade together in the room. Farrar, Straus publisher Jonathan Galassi will moderate a discussion of the Value of A Book, featuring: New Workman group publisher Bob MillerICM evp Esther NewbergIngram ceo Skip PrichardPenguin USA ceo […]
Looking Past the Ashes to BEA
Portions of Scottish airspace continue to open, though even with the newly-established flying zones London’s airports remain closed until at least 6 PM London time today. (Limited trans-Atlantic flights have resumed at other continental airports in such cities as Paris and Amsterdam.) The US Ambassador in London told the White House he estimates that approximately 40,000 Americans are stranded in Britain. When White House spokesman Robert Gibbs was asked if the US would follow the example of the UK’s Royal Navy and try to bring citizens home by boat, he replied, “We’ve got some big ships, but that would be […]
Quiet London Book Fair Opens As Those Who Made It Worry About Getting Home
The London Book Fair officially opened today to lighter crowds and many empty booths as a result of the extraordinary air travel restrictions due to the spreading cloud of volcanic ash from the eruption in Iceland. UK airspace was closed throughout the weekend, and according to the latest update it will remain closed at least until 1:00 am local time on Tuesday. For all those who were triumphant in getting over to London in time for the fair, now comes the substantial question of when they’ll be able to return home. (In the meantime, Bloomsbury Press publisher Peter Ginna recounts […]