ABA Bookseller/Publisher Meetings at BEA Beneficial to All

The American Booksellers Association’s program at BookExpo America 2015 will once again provide members with two exclusive bookseller-publisher networking opportunities. This year’s offerings — “Meet the Editor” and “Publicists Speed Dating” — were developed in response to very favorable feedback to last year’s program at BEA.

“Meet the Editor,” which returns for a second year, will provide booksellers with the opportunity to experience the book editing process through an in-person visit with book editors at their offices in New York City. The structure of the editor meetings will vary by publisher, but all will provide a behind-the-scenes look at the philosophy and process of book editing. Meetings will take place at various publishers’ offices from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, May 27. Booksellers will be randomly assigned to a publisher prior to BEA.

Publishers taking part in this year’s “Meet the Editor” include Bloomsbury, Disney Publishing, Grove/Atlantic, HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Macmillan, Melville House, New Directions, Penguin Random House, Perseus Books Group/PGW, Scholastic, Seven Stories, Simon & Schuster, Sourcebooks, The New Press, and Workman/Algonquin.

Last year, Kelsey Myers of Old Firehouse Books in Fort Collins, Colorado, was part of a small group of booksellers who met with about 10 editors from the children’s division of Simon & Schuster. “I loved getting a glimpse of the book industry from the other perspective,” Myers told BTW. “To see how passionate the editors are about the books they are currently working on really super-charged my excitement for those titles.” And, she added, the meeting was “a great opportunity for editors to find out what’s happening on the frontlines.”

Mary Beth Thomas, vice president, deputy director of sales at HarperCollins, who guided a group of booksellers to the publisher’s offices, where they met with three editors, said, “I think it was extremely beneficial for all involved. I find any time you get book lovers of any ilk in a room together, good stuff comes of it…. The editors were thrilled to meet with the booksellers to learn what it is they could be doing better or differently to help them sell their books.”

Pre-registration for “Meet the Editor” is required; the deadline to sign up is May 11.

New this year is “Publicists Speed Dating,” which offers stores the chance to meet one-on-one with publicists from a number of publishers for approximately 12 minutes each. These conversations, to be held on Friday, May 29, from 9:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. in the Javits Convention Center’s Galleria Hall, are an opportunity for owners, general managers, and event managers from ABA member businesses to promote their stores, as well as to discover what publicists look for when planning author tours. Meetings are between one bookstore and one publisher at a time. Pre-registered booksellers from the same store will meet as a group, not individually, with publicists and will move from table to table.

Publishers taking part in “Publicists Speed Dating” include Abrams, Bloomsbury, Candlewick, Consortium, Grove/Atlantic, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Random House, Perseus Books Group/PGW, Scholastic, Simon & Schuster, Sourcebooks, The New Press, and Workman/Algonquin.

Melissa Opel, manager of Auntie’s Bookstore in Spokane, Washington, took advantage of last year’s one-on-one ABA-sponsored publisher meetings, which followed a different format but still allowed booksellers to connect with several publishers. “I very aggressively pushed our events program and the city of Spokane,” she told BTW following the meetings. Opel came to the meetings with brochures about the store and a DVD tour, which were met with a positive response. “These appointments were easily the best part of BEA” and “made the trip [from the West Coast] worth it,” she said.

Space for “Speed Dating With Publicists” is limited and pre-registration is required. The deadline to pre-register is May 11.

Information on ABA’s full program at BEA can be found on BookWeb.org.

This year’s festivities begin on Tuesday evening, May 26, with the American Booksellers for Free Expression’s Annual Children’s Book Art Auction and Reception at Hotel ABA, the Grand Hyatt New York, located at 42nd Street and Grand Central Terminal.

As in previous years, all ABA member stores are eligible to receive free admission to the trade show and BEA conference sessions. To register and learn more about BEA’s conference program, visit BookExpoAmerica.com.

To reserve a room at Hotel ABA, visit the Hyatt’s dedicated page for ABA members.