BEA -- more of the same?
I love BEA. It always leaves me excited, exhausted and footsore. But I find that I can't remember half of what I have seen or said. This isn't the effects of a toxic substance, but rather an example of my brain on overload. Fortunately, many things remain the same from one BEA to another. That means less work for my poor memory.
Which wonderful things were the same?
--The number of exciting titles soon to be released.
--The thrill of being with tens of thousands of other people who GET why we love working on books.
--The buzz of new ideas, or old ones being approached differently.
--The pleasure of meeting old friends from in-house and renewing ties.
--The fun when you meet someone you know on-line face-to-face.
--The presence of new publishing houses that are doing everything right.
What depressing things remained the same?
--The dreary location and low traffic to be found in the small and premium small press sections.
--The only a little less dreary location and traffic levels in various specialty sections (black publishers, for example).
--The clogged aisles, and confusing layout.
--The difficulty of getting to food or caffeine, and the low quality of what was (relatively!) easily found.
--The presence of new publishing houses, or self-publishers, or authors, who are clueless.
So, what was different? What actually stuck in that overworked brain? Of course, there were meetings with particular friends and clients, but I should probably be discreet and gloss over most of that.
My BEA includes these edited-for-public-consumption memories, in particular:
Teaching at PMA-U is always a blast. I truly enjoy helping people publish more successfully, and being able to be in the same room with them, and getting feedback is very rewarding. I say this even though my topics are usually not particularly congenial to publishers. (I mean, really, what editor LIKES spreadsheets?)
This year, I had been a little worried about whether or not the new classes I was debuting (on building and using a budget, and on using a single title P&L to make your company more profitable) would be quite ready for public consumption. I'm still not quite sure that they were as well-done as they will be in the future, but I don't feel the need to beat myself up over them, either.
Every year, the members of the 4 big yahoo groups/listservs get together for the "list dinner." And every year, it is a great experience. This year was no exception. Fern Reiss and Sharon Goldinger did an exceptional job of organizing it, and of seeing that we entertained each other. (In a stunning development, it seems that half of us are actually Al Canton.)
More small publishers seem to be finding ways onto the main floor. I do believe that this is a good thing, if you are going to go at all. There's not much point, as far as I can see, in having a booth off in Siberia. These hard-chargers also seem to have lists with promise, and a realistic approach to the business. I thought that the extent to which this was true was greater than at some prior BEAs.
There also seems to be a slightly greater awareness in the industry that small presses can be interesting and dynamic, as well as occasionally profitable. I saw heard a lot more people who were familiar with this part of the publishing world, and beginning to make mental room for it. The best sign of this? That there were a lot more publicists, designers, editors and other professionals planning to make small presses part of their customer base, and looking for ways to make it economical for all concerned.
I can't really say much about the big houses, and the big buzz books. I don't find them quite as exciting, perhaps because it seems that they remain the same, even as they change.
So, was your BEA a good one? What was the same-ol', same-ol', and what was surprising?
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mariongropen) wrote,
