BEA: Who Was There, and What Happens Next As anticipated in our show preview last week, registration for the recent BEA in Los Angeles as announced yesterday was down considerably from the convention in New York last year but a little ahead of the last Los Angeles show in 2003, at 28,494. In a slight change, this year the show did not “verify” all attendees by scanning badges; instead they focused on tabulating key attendees as they collected their badges at the center. “Verified” book buyers comprised 5,539 people, both a low number in general and a decline from the […]

Borders Makes Cuts Per yesterday’s report and BEA rumors/expectations, Borders announced today “a corporate payroll reduction that includes the elimination of 156 corporate positions spread across virtually all departments of its Ann Arbor headquarters.  Employees at the company’s headquarters were informed of the job eliminations this morning. In addition, Borders Group has eliminated 118 corporate posts that are based outside its headquarters, impacting primarily corporate employees in distribution centers, the field marketing organization, and the corporate sales division. These employees were informed yesterday.” The cuts are almost entirely focused on corporate employees (and not store employees), reducing corporate staff by […]

It’s a Wrap Sunday was a travel day rather than a show day for many East coasters, after a BEA Saturday on which even the help wanted out, an unfortunately a propos metaphor for the show at large, as hundreds of catering staff at the LA convention center staged a multi-hour walkout. (Apparently it was part of a labor dispute with the company that has the catering concession at the center, though it’s unclear how this would serve as an effective tactic). Show management gamely picked up the ball at Saturday’s traditional author lunch, with Lance Fensterman leading his staff […]

Setting McClellan Free Public Affairs moved up the release date of Scott McClellan’s book WHAT HAPPENED: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception following the media storm earlier this week and Perseus ceo David Steinberger says the point-of-sale movement on Wednesday and Thursday was as strong as he has seen for any title from the company. The first printing of 65,000 copies is quickly being supplemented with another 100,000 copies delivering in two installments. Flat and What Else? With Thomas Friedman’s morning keynote appearance at BEA it would be poetic to characterize BEA as HOT, FLAT AND […]

BEA Begins In keeping with the mellow image of Los Angeles, activity in the LA Convention Center proper is low-key today, with a full roster of educational programming playing to a rather light group of attendees, as the ABA’s educational day convenes off-site at their official hotel. Most of our coverage will focus on forums that we’re videotaping to play on Publishers Lunch TV, but right now I’m sitting in an interesting interview between Wired contributing editor and author of Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd is Driving the Future of Business Jeff Howe, and Clay Shirky, author or […]