In my musings about BEA, I forgot to state
one thing. For us librarians, the truth is,
ALA is better (though if you can do both, don't
let me stop you)! BEA is a huge affair,
with 25,000 people at the Javitts Center,
all clamoring over books at the publishers' booths,
drooling over authors doing signings (500 of them!),
collecting free books and galleys (see, that's one
place you can get some galleys), meeting with
editors, and doing major amounts of schmoozing.
It was exciting, but here's the rub. There were so
many people cramming the aisles, it was hard to
work your way from one booth to the next. Though
there was a children's area in the basement--
can someone explain why we always get relegated
to the nether regions, even when there aren't any
actual children making noise there?--where many
of the publishers were, and it wasn't as crazy there.
I went specifically to look at all the new books on
display so I could see what review copies I was
missing, what was coming out in Fall, what the
trends were, and talk with editors and publicists
about what they were touting as the Next Best Thing.
Quite a few of the publishers I wanted to see were not
exhibiting at BEA. Too expensive, maybe. And then I
walked into the mega-Random House booth. I looked
around, bewildered. They had lots of space, tables,
posters, and a line of people waiting to get a book
signed. "Where are the children's books?" I asked a
disinterested looking exhibitor. "We didn't bring any
actual books," she said, offhandedly. "And why wouldn't
you bring any actual books to a book show," I asked
incredulously. "Well, our surveys show people don't
care about looking at our books. They just want meetings
and autographed books," she said.
Are these people insane? Who exactly were they
polling? Not the thousands of librarians who were there.
Not reviewers like me. Not people who come to shows
like this because they love, well, BOOKS, and can't get
enough of them. Sad to say, several of the big publishers
had no actual books. Hyperion had some books, tossed
onto a display--there were exactly 3 fall titles
included. Gee, thanks, guys. Guess they didn't want us
to get too excited or anything. Weird.
Now that's not to say there were no books at BEA.
I spent a very enjoyable half hour going through all
the new books from Marshall Cavendish with one
of my very favorite author/editors, Margery Cuyler.
And a young publicist at Candlewick took a half hour to
show me everything new, which I mightily enjoyed.
I hung out with one of my favorite marketing guys,
Jason Wells, at Abrams for a while, and found out
what color the cover of the new Wimpy Kid book will
be this fall (nope, not tellin'.) And I had lots of terrific
conversations with editors and marketing folks at
Scholastic, Chronicle, and Lerner, to name just a few.
And I met too many unemployed folks from publishers--
they're laying off so many wonderful people in this
crummy economy, it just breaks your heart.
See, I decided to just come to BEA this year
instead of ALA, since I didn't really have time to do
both. And while I'm not a bit sorry I went, I sure
didn't get to see everything I came to see. Which is
what I LOVE about ALA. The exhibits are crammed
with kids' books from almost every publisher you can
name. I will miss it muchly this year. I'll miss
the Notables Committee book discussion (ooohhh), the
Newbery-Caldecott dinner (sniff), the sheer fun of being
amongst my peeps, LIBRARIANS, for 3 glorious days (sob),
and getting to hang out with my ALA and LM_NET friends
(waily waily).
So my advice to you, if you're thinking of flying or
making a big trip is GOETH TO ALA AND ENJOYETH
YOURSELF. You won't regret it. (Even though IRA has WAY
more workshoppy programs with authors and such. Sorry
ALA, but they do, and you should, too. I'm just saying.
Just a nudge, if anyone's listening.) It's just plain fun
(and tax deductible, too!) to hang out in beautiful
Chicago for a weekend, not to mention the Art Institute,
a dino named Sue, and that great architectural boat
tour. You deserve it!
Judy
Judy Freeman
Children's Literature Consultant
Reviewer for www.READKIDDOREAD.com
Author of Books Kids Will Sit Still For 3
(Libraries Unlimited, 2006; www.LU.com)
and Once Upon a Time:
Using Storytelling, Creative Drama, and
Reader's Theater with Children in Grades K-6 (2007)
65 North Sixth Avenue
Highland Park, NJ 08904
732-572-5634 / BKWSSF@aol.com
www.JudyReadsBooks.com
**************
Stay connected and tighten your budget with a great mobile
device for under $50. Take a Peek!
(http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100122638x1221845911x1201401556/aol?redir=http://www.getpeek.com/aol)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Please note: All LM_NET postings are protected by copyright law.
You can prevent most e-mail filters from deleting LM_NET postings
by adding LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU to your e-mail address book.
To change your LM_NET status, you send a message to: listserv@listserv.syr.edu
In the message write EITHER:
1) SIGNOFF LM_NET
2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL
3) SET LM_NET MAIL
4) SET LM_NET DIGEST
* LM_NET Help & Information: http://lmnet.wordpress.com/
* LM_NET Archive: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/archive/
* EL-Announce with LM_NET Select: http://lm-net.info/join.html
* LM_NET Supporters: http://lmnet.wordpress.com/category/links/el-announce/
--------------------------------------------------------------------
LM_NET
Mailing List Home