INDEX
Click on links to go to other, archived blog entries.

PMA-U 2008
BEA 2008
IRA 2008
NCIBA 2007
NCIBA 2006
BEA 2006

PMA-U 2008
If you'd rather skip down to the BEA report, please click here. But you'll miss some good stuff!

TUESDAY May 27

The Figueroa Hotel.

Arrived in L.A. around 5:30. Flying in, I got a view of all these amazing purple trees lining the streets (I forgot to take a picture, but Cynthia informs me they are jacaranda trees). After de-planing, spent the better part of an hour waiting for the shared van. Finally arrived at the Figueroa Hotel at about 6:45. It was pretty funny when the occupants of the van - all younger than me - looked at the front. “Why are we stopping at this dump?” asked one young man, who’d declared himself a 2nd year law student during the ride. “Me,” I said, laughing and squeezing out of the car.

Cynthia Frank of Cypress House Press (who I call my publishing-rock-star-diva-girlfriend), with whom I’m rooming, did say it was funky. She did not lie. For some great interior shots (my flash wasn’t up to the task), go to their website. We’re sharing a suite - which in this case means a big room with 2 beds, a table and some chairs, and a side room with a bed and an armoire in it. This, I understand from Cynthia’s note, is my “room.” Only 1 bathroom. Three women. Could be some ugly hygiene math there....
 

Decor of the Figueroa's funky bar.

Cynthia and her friend Cheri had gone to the Griffith Park Obserevatory (I am so jealous!), so I went to find someplace to eat. My interest in urban exploring didn’t go very far, and I settled on the Italian place next door to the hotel. I should have run when I asked for a glass of Chianti and they came back after a 10 minute search to inform me they didn’t carry any. The rigatoni was just this side of Chef Boy-Ar-Di.

When Cheri and Cynthia returned - they walked all the way back from Griffith Park! - Cheri said, “We must have pie.” So they dragged me off to The Original Pantry Café which has been around since 1965 (and looks it), and has been visited by every celebrity under the sun. Pretty good pie, too.

Then we went back to the hotel. Cynthia told me Esquire Magazine named the Figueroa Veranda Bar best bar in LA, so my hopes were up. It may be the best, but it was emp-tee. The bartender wouldn’t serve us at 11:30, saying he’d closed the register. Disappointed, we went up to our suite to chat.

WEDNESDAY May 28

Marion Gropen and Paul Krupin at the PMA-U Exhibition Hall.

The Figueroa may be boutique, but they don’t have in-room coffee—boutique or otherwise. Cynthia and I hunted down a non-Starbux, then headed up to the Wilshire Grand Hotel (about 5 blocks up hill) where the PMA-U was held. Quite a spiffy place.

I’d barely had 2 sips of (very, very hot) coffee when I ran into the room where Paulette Ensign (aka the Tips Booklets Goddess) and Sam Henrie  of Wheatmark Press and I were to present one of the morning’s first seminars: “One to Many - Expand Your Product Line and Your Customer Base.” Despite the lack of caffeination, I think I did pretty well. Sam was terrific, and Paulette was pretty diva-licious, as always. We had at least 35 people show up (which is great for an early session).

Afterwards, I wandered the exhibitors’ area with pal and fellow list-mom Marion Gropen, who had also just given a session. Ran into Paul Krupin, ace publicist, who had a booth featuring a painting of himself and a fish he caught (get it? Publicity? Landing a Big Fish?). Also talked to Glenn Anderson of Anderson International Printing, who is one of my best publishing pals. I told him about some upcoming projects and he is madly imagining our combined success already!

Bumped into Carrie White of Glass House Press. She is a book shepherding client and it was great to meet her face to face.

Glenn Anderson and Jacqueline Church Simonds

Saw Carol White (no relation that I’m aware of) for about 30 seconds. I really wanted to talk to her about how she’s doing (she published the amazing Live Your Road Trip Dream and continues to do remarkable things with the marketing for it).

Lunch included speaker Michael Healy of the Book Industry Study Group, which unveiled a new data certification program PDCIP (yippie. Yet another hurdle to jump). He was followed by two representatives of the Commerce department who really, really want to help publishers get their books to overseas markets. I am very interested in this and am following up with the reps. I’ll keep the Lists apprised of what they can offer as I learn more.

After lunch I attended “Meet the Media.” The panel had Nita Vallens of Inner Vision (a radio show on KPFK), Michelle Anton, who used to be a producer for Oprah and is now a producer for Dr. Laura, Kalina Rahal, producer for the KTLA Morning Show and David Berg, a producer at the Tonight Show. The main message was: know the show, know who listens/watches, keep your pitch short and interesting. (And for the Tonight Show, don’t bother pitching regular authors).

Afterwards, had a long chat with Paul Krupin about stuff I should be doing to go forward with my business. A really fascinating talk that had me almost dizzy with ideas.

I heard a rumor and went to the ForeWord Magazine booth to talk with Victoria Sutherland. First I thanked her for the many nice reviews the mag has given Beagle Bay books and clients. She said it wasn’t hard to do so when we keep sending great books. She probably says that to everyone, but it made me happy. Then I asked her if what I’d heard about the magazine now asking for blads 6 months in advance was true. That gave Victoria the chance to introduce me to the new book review editor, Heather Shaw. She said they are not asking for blads of all books, just the big books they should be alerted to expect. I wonder if Publisher's Weekly and School/Library Journal are also now expecting this. I’ll have to ask Chris Kahn (who handles sales for the 3 mags).

Linda Castner of 360 Digital Books, Cheri, JCS and Cynthia Frank at Zucca (picture by Keith Reisinger)

Ran into Danforth Prince, a pal who co-owns Blood Moon Productions. We’ve sat at adjacent trade show booths many times and swapped stories and lies. It’s good to see him - and delightful that he made the trip in from NYC for his first ever PMA-U (I think).

In no time, it was 5 p.m. and the PMA reception started. Cynthia came by and we went off to dinner. I had promised a number of people to be at the List Dinner that night, but Cynthia talked me into eating with the reps from 360 Digital Books. Given my deep appreciation for free dinner, I took the opportunity.

Cheri, Cynthia and I joined Linda Castner and Keith Reisinger of 360 at Zucca, a fancy contemporary Italian restaurant about midway between the Figueroa Hotel and the Wilshire Grand. We all hit it off well and were laughing and teasing each other before the drinks came. When the waiter appeared, he crossed his arms and said, “You people are going to be trouble, aren’t you?” Hysterically funny guy (which earned him a special “humor” tip from Cheri). Very nice food.

THURSDAY May 29

Went up to the Wilshire Grand with Cynthia who was co-teaching 2 classes at once at 8:30. I wonder how she managed to piss off Robin Bartlett (PMA-U class coordinator)? On the way, we met up with Kathleen Gage, who I’ve e-corresponded with frequently (we hadn’t planned it. Serendipity just happens during PMA-U/BEA). Had breakfast at the conference, then went to the “P&L for Publishers and Editors” co-taught by Cynthia and Marion. I do this class every year, since I am somewhat innumerate and it takes a lot to get my head around numbers (obviously, I am not the CFO of Beagle Bay). Every year, I understand more of what Marion is saying. If you have a chance to take Marion’s class, do so.

The long, long, long hallway between West and South Halls at BEA

Several people - including Scott Flora of SPAN - have commented that I should have been at the List Dinner last night. Yup. I’m sorry. Really. Did I mention the dinner last night was free?

After the class, I helped Cynthia schlep boxes to the convention center and place books in various displays at BEA. I also picked up my badge. I am tired just thinking about the distance between halls - which Publisher’s Lunch calculated at 1/3 of a mile. I bought orthopedic sandals before the trip, but I can tell my feet are going to be pooped!

We returned to PMA-U for lunch. On our way upstairs we bumped into Al Canton and Mayapriya Long. Al complained - as he always does - that we List Moms “won’t let him post” on the SPAN Self-Publishing List. It’s a bogus complaint and he knows it, but he wouldn’t be Al if he didn’t think the world was out to get him. Mayapriya and I had a fast chat about her appearance on BookTV (regarding the Virginia Book Festival). Every time I see her, we have these quickie talks and I think, “I really need to sit down with her and have a real conversation of about 4 hours (for starters).” Never happens. And today was no different.

The Lunch speakers were Johnny Temple of Akashic Books and David Steinberger of Perseus Books. Temple was pretty funny and uttered the single best line of the week, saying that our industry suffers from

“The Unbearable Whiteness of Publishing”

(with, I’m sure, apologies to Milan Kundera). As his talk moved more into why I should be publishing Caribbean authors (I have trouble enough getting traction for books by American authors, thanks), I went to talk to exhibitors as they tore down their displays.

The next class I attended was “Advanced Niche and Backlist Title Selling.” I picked up some interesting tips which I’ll be using in the future.

Then I took the educational and medical market class (as we have a couple books shaping up for these markets). As expected, that gave me some further places to contact when the time is right.

After that was the gathering before the dinner for the Ben Franklin Awards. I had a quick chat with Dan Poynter, who is under the impression I run some sort of e-mail joke list (I don’t. I just have 6 friends who swap great jokes. I usually send them on to Shel Horowitz, who sends them on to his list). But yes, Dan, I’ll send you jokes.

Jacqueline Church Simonds and Judy Gruen, author of The Women’s Daily Irony Supplement , at the PMA Ben Franklin Awards

And speaking of jokes - the Ben Franklin Awards were not one to us. After a touching tribute to Jan Nathan (the founder of PMA who passed away last year), the awards were announced. The first award Beagle Bay or it’s distribution clients were up for was Context Audio Guides Fra Angelico at San Marco. It was beaten out by BBC Audio’s Roots. Um, how is BBC an indie press? Fra Angelico won a silver, but what would it have done in a competition that didn’t include an industry powerhouse?

Judy Gruen, the author of our humor book, The Women’s Daily Irony Supplement lives in the L.A. area and came down to join me at the table. Judy was trying to pack and get her family off for a short vacation the next day, and so was just there to hear who won the award. We’d already gotten a Silver IPPY, so our hopes were high. As W.C. Fields might have said, never get into an awards contest with a dog book and a children’s book... nor a book about poo either. We took the Bronze.

On my way out, Al Canton suggested I join some of the others at the bar downstairs. Somehow, I was one of the first down there, and it was filled with sports fans. I decided to skip it and head back to the hotel.

The Lakers won a play-off berth, and - since the Staples center is just across the street - the hotel was at ground zero for panda-Lakers-monium. Hundreds of people hollering in the streets, at least 2 police helicopters overhead and more sirens than I could count.

 

By the time Cheri and Cynthia came back about 10:45 it had all disappeared as if it’d never happened. They’d attended the BookSense party. Cynthia told me that they announced a re-branding and new marketing plan. BookSense will now be called IndieBound and will finally work on making itself of interest to consumers, rather than just booksellers and publishers. Now, I’m all for that. In fact saying so publicly got me shouted at on Shelf Awareness back in February. But here’s the kicker: they are going to tie IndieBound into the “buy local” movement, and include stores other than bookstores. It’s so obvious, I’m going to call it right here:

BookSense rebranding as IndieBound is the Publishing Double-Dumb-Ass Idea™ of Book Expo America 2008! A secondary, single Dumb-Ass is awarded to their new scribble... um, I mean, logo.

You heard it here first.

The bar (just below my window) was rockin’ and rollin’ until 1.

Book Expo America 2008
Serendicity: (adj.) The ability to attract opportunities (serendipity)—which is often confused with luck.
(From the forthcoming Zap! Pow! Kazam! 11 Superpowers for Your Career and Life
by Jennifer Web with Jacqueline Church Simonds)

FRIDAY May 30

The West Entry Hall with the Sciento- logy pirates' Jazz band.

Slept in until 8 - what a luxury!

Headed over to the convention center, West hall, first, to grab a cup of coffee. The Starbucks concession had a line about 50 people long. I went into the “café” and got a cup of coffee and a muffin with a 5 minute wait. While consuming same, I listened to the Scientology Pirate Jazz band which was really pretty good. It was odd to hear Tony Bennett numbers from people dressed in pirate “slops.”

Wandered back over to the South hall. The guards were not scanning badges (how will they know what the attendance is?), but were seriously enforcing the “no wheeled cart” rule, unless you had a medical excuse. Once inside, it’s apparent a lot of people have disguised their “wheelies.”

I started with the “Writer’s Row.” This is where they put self-published and micro-presses at reduced rates. There’s a reason for this. I say this every year to people - do not, do not, do not get a booth here. My personal name for it is the Aisle of Despair. Some of the saddest belly-flops of publishing hang out here and they have no clue what they’re up against. I took one fast lap through there, then was circling around to another aisle when I bumped into Shel Horowitz, friend and client. Shel wanted me to get together with this woman who does pirate things, but I hadn’t brought a laptop, so I hadn’t gotten his message. As we were standing there, a List member (and I apologize, because I didn’t write down her name) heard us talking and recognized us from the List. Odd? Not really. That’s how things go at BEA, and why I don’t get a booth. There are more possibilities if you just wander around.

Stan Lee with the Scientology Pirates

I stopped to visit with friend and former client Joan Peterson who runs the Travel Publishers Association. The booth was stuffed with books, many I’d never seen before. We swapped some publishing gossip before I moved on.

Wandering through the Graphic and Manga aisles, I came upon none other than Stan Lee. Now, I may not be much of a comic book fan, but even I know who the King of Comics is. Suddenly, the Scientology pirates showed up (not the Jazz singers). Well, you know me and pirates (I am the author of Captain Mary, Buccaneer), so I took out my camera. The Scientology publicist asked Mr. Lee if he would pose with the gang. Mr. Lee agreed as long as he got to squeeze on the one girl pirate. Whoopie. He showed no interest in giving her back later.

ForeWord Magazine's booth

At 10:45, I circled back to the end of the hall where the ForeWord Magazine booth was because Brian Jud was going to speak about his new Premium Book Sales idea and I wanted to hear about that. Lo and behold, I ran into Tips Booklet Goddess Paulette Ensign, with whom I was scheduled to have lunch (we were supposed to meet at the PMA booth in the other hall). She joined me to listen to Brian (and she did not heckle him, as she’d threatened to do).

We came upon the folks who started their company with the gazillion-selling Stranger in the Woods. Their new book is Pirate Quest (OK, it's Pirate Morning at BEA). We came upon this guy, who was the actual model for the illustrations. He reads the book with a lot of verve, too.

The Pirate Quest pirate acting the book.

After listening to Brian and taking notes, we went through Writers Row again (Paulette had never seen it before). We did find one nice booth, featuring audio books called Freeway Guides on every subject imaginable. An interesting company.

Mad for this guy's chocolate!

Another woman caught our eye. She was wearing a necklace made of spoons. Of course, we had to stop her and admire. I asked to take her picture for this blog and she asked if she could pose with her book. A very good instinct... if not a very nice book.

We extended our interest to other aisles that I hadn’t yet explored. We came upon one guy, The Chocolate Traveler, who has these astoundingly good chocolates (the chocolate creme brulée is to die for) in tins about twice the size of my beloved Altoids. He also had a display that looked like a travel trunk, just perfect for bookstore POPs. I am very interested in the branded tins (you can put your company logo on the cover) he was offering. We spent a *long* time there. Yum.

I am apparently a magnet for trade show critters.

At around 1, Paulette admitted she was feeling peckish, so we headed to the food court thing in the entry hall. What a freakin’ disaster! There were lines 30 deep at every station and only 3 cashier lines, about 25 deep. Then the supervisor closed a line midway - with customers already queued up. One guy, I thought he was going to have an aneurism on the spot. He stood his ground and called for a supervisor. Paulette and I just moved to another line. For all I know, he’s standing there shouting still. We took our pre-packaged food (the only area without a line... and for a reason) out to the patio, where we discovered the short cut to the other hall (it’s about .27 of a mile, instead of .33). It was a lovely day, and it was nice to sit in the sun and enjoy some fresh (for L.A., anyway) air.

Vicki Werkley, Mara Purl and Jacqueline Simonds at the ForeWord Book of the Year Awards

After lunch, Paulette decided a) she wanted to see the West hall and b) one day was going to be enough for her. By then it was almost 2 p.m., and time for the ForeWord Book Awards announcement. So we split up, and I headed up to the awards with - I am so serious about this - not one whit of expectation of doing anything but getting off my feet a while longer.

I was stunned to walk in and discover family friend and multiple-award-winning author Mara Purl. Then I was, as the English say, simply gobsmacked to meet Vicki Werkley - the woman who edited Beagle Bay’s first 3 books (mine included). She also edits all of Haven’s books, plus she is the author of Girl on Fire, a terrific YA Historical Fiction. Although we’ve e-ed and talked on the phone for hours (no, really. HOURS), we’d never met. Vicki and I always said if we ever did finally meet, the universe would probably come to an end. If you are reading this, the world did not go crash bang (lucky you). It was great to see her. I sat next to them, and then discovered Andrew and Irina Martoni (Little Man in the Map books) were sitting in the row below us. It was great to see them again.

Maryann Batsakis and Whitney Hallberg pour champagne for the winners at the ForeWord booth

The awards were announced - no breaks for winners to do a star turn, and that’s probably a good thing, as there were 200 names in all. For the humor award, I was not even thinking about our book - having been pretty abashed at the Ben Franklins. So I was not surprised when it didn’t win honorable mention, or Bronze, or Silver. Suddenly, a familiar lipstick red cover streaked across the display screen.

SQUEAK! I exclaimed.

Victoria Sutherland (publisher of ForeWord Magazine and the presenter) looked up, and I swear I could hear her think, “My God, it’s that idiotic Simonds woman.” Then she said “The Women’s Daily Irony Supplement, Creative Minds Press, GOLD.” Golly Biscuits, Batman, I thought I was going to have a heart attack!

This car took up a double space for 1 book.

Well, I can’t say I paid much attention after that, since my head was so swimmy. Not much longer after that, the ceremony came to an end and we were invited to the ForeWord booth for champagne. Did I mention I love free booze? I was SO there.

Wandered around a bit more. Post show, I’ve seen that attendance was 28,494, about 10,000 off of last year (they are going off the number of “will call” and sent badges, instead of actual scanned tickets). 10,000 of the missing are librarians, who are set to attend the ALA in 2 weeks time in this self-same city (bad planning, that). But the straw poll on the Lists had shown us that there were going to be far fewer people at this show. So it is kind of odd not to have to

Jackie Collin's bus was one of 2 RVs in the show (the other, Ellora's Cave, is practically a show staple after 3 years)

queue up to go to the ladies’ room (although I’ve met some interesting people there), or not to have gridlock outside the big house booths (last year, in NYC, I got stuck in a crush outside of McGraw-Hill that took 5 minutes to eek through). I hear that the folks who put this show on have already signed on for another show here, and I think that’s a mistake. Strange to hear from a West Coast-er, but I don’t see how they can sustain a show with significantly less attendance like this. East Coast-ers aren’t all that interested in coming out here, and what with the rising cost of gas and airline tickets, it’s a triple whammy.

Duke Hill, Norkie and me at BEA

I stopped to pose with yet another trade show critter, when I heard a voice behind me say, "This would be the perfect time for a goosing." I whirled around to see Duke Hill, one of the last and best independent reps for academic presses. We are old friends from our time together at numerous NCIBA shows. So we got a picture together and swapped some stories, before he had to pick up his wife in the autograph line.

The spoon lady.

Then I headed to the Rights Center, where my roommate, Cynthia Frank of Cypress House Press, had a table. The Rights Center at any BEA always has this semi-religious atmosphere to it. It’s always quiet, guarded (although these were the most disinterested security people I’d ever met. No badge checks nor nothing), and lightly populated. Well, this beat all the previous ones I’d seen. There was almost no one there. And they were giving away free wine. I mean, does no one care about free booze any more? But I joined Cynthia in a glass of celebratory winner’s wine and chatted with a few of her clients. No one had seen hide nor hair of our rights agent, Whitney Lee of the Fielding Agency, whose table was across the aisle from Cynthia’s. I left her a note about Irony’s wins.

We walked back to our hotel (I love being only 2 blocks from the venue!), to discover that Ingram was having a party in the lobby and bar there. And there were waiters who passed out wine to anyone who looked vaguely interested (thanks Ingram! Only thing you’ve ever given me for free in 10 years!).

It’s official. It’s Free Wine for JCS Day! And thank doG for that, say I.

Walking back to the hotel, I was alarmed to discover a giant ad for the seriously stupid/icky Grand Theft Auto video game painted on the side

We headed up to the room to deposit our stuff before going to dinner (I had planned on going to the IPPY gathering to collect our Silver medal for The Women’s Daily Irony Supplement, but I felt hideous. (No, before the wine, but thank you for your concern.)) Joel Mikesel, who handles sales and marketing for Cypress House Press walked into our room and informed us that he had grown up in L.A. and back then, the hotel had been the YMCA. He’s pretty sure our room was the men’s shower. We think he’s right, as the windows are way up high, necessitating a wooden painter’s ladder if we should want to open one (and the curtains do not close. Shades (pun intended) of last year’s hotel).

Then we all headed out to McCormick and Schmick's for dinner. I am so glad it was all downhill back to the hotel. The Ingram folks partied on in the downstairs bar until 2.

SATURDAY May 31

Snagged breakfast in the Rights Center. Significantly cheaper!

Stephens Press with Caroline Hays Uber and Mike Donahue, author of Mouse's Tank

Headed over to the West hall to peruse things. Had to stop and laugh at a dog calendar (a big year for dog books and sidelines. Cats are not even on the radar this year) Dog Yoga. The picture on the cover of the large Golden Retriever doing the crane pose was a hoot. But my favorite was the Pug in lotus. Photoshop-o-mania! What left me gasping for breath was the rep’s non-stop jokes delivered in total deadpan. Waiter! Oxygen!

Discovered Stephen’s Press booth just before the Remainders area. Caroline Hayes Uber and I have done business from time to time. Once, I repped her cookbook Will Cook for Sex at NCIBA. I was interviewed by Bookselling Weekly, and my comment was printed. It wasn’t exactly flattering, but funny. But Caroline and the author loved it so much, Caroline told me it was included in the 2nd printing of the book. When she told me, I thought it was on the cover fly leaf. She handed me a copy at the show. No. The whole quote is on the page facing the Table of Contents. Snort. What’d I say?

Smile and say, "Rockford Files!" Stephen J. Cannel and Jacqueline Simonds at BEA

“I enjoyed talking about this crazy book - which despite its sometimes troglodyte view of dating - has some great recipes and good advice for guys who want to cook gourmet meals for their dates, but don’t know how to get started.” There’s a definition of troglodyte there, too.

I was strolling by one booth and was grabbed by a rep. “Hey! Stephen J. Cannell is signing and the line is really short!” Hm, said I, former Rockford Files-a-holic. Okey-doke. So I stood in the 4-people-deep line and got a snap with him. He said nothing, and I expected nothing. But, boy is he short!

No lunch for the weary on Saturday at BEA

Around lunch time, I parked myself at the end of the hall, in front of the food concession. It was closed! In fact, I later learned that all the food concessions were closed, as the workers walked off. I assume it’s because the previous day’s disorganization was too unspeakably awful. I was glad I’d planned to eat off-campus today.

Went to the PMA booth to meet up with Carrie White and Dick Byl of Glass House Press. Dick took us to lunch, but I’d made reservations the previous night at McCormick and Schmick's (yes, I know this is a chain. But it's the pick of the litter). Dick, who is from northern British Columbia, got a major kick out of the booths with the high wood paneling and cut glass, giving us a private meeting space. “I’m having a Hollywood Power lunch!” Well, no. Just a Beagle one. A very nice free (for me) meal.

Carrie White and Dick Byl of Glass House Press

Returned to the convention center and went to peek at the autograph area. I had a major “V8 moment” when I realized that I could have been here earlier in the day and met with Salmon Rushdie, Ray Bradbury (it turns out he’d had to cancel), Garrison Keillor and William Shatner. Damn. Next year, I really will pay more attention to the events announcement.

Here are the things that struck me about the big publishers’ booths this year:

They are all quite fancy, with plush carpet (my feet would like me to say THANK YOU for that), but not extraordinary. None of them stood out, besides the big Italian press, and that was stainless steel, orange and gray. Um, ew. SCB Distribution did blow a wad on an additional “café” set with an espresso machine. If you are one of their distro clients, you should know that cost at least $20,000. Ask yourself if your money should have been spent on something else. The only bright-looking booth was Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, which was filled with garish neon. I stopped to look at one book - and liked it so much I ordered it for my nephew’s birthday the moment I got home.

The SCB side booth (they had an entire aisle, but this space has no books - just espresso for the favored few

There are no “big books.” The Scott McClellen book was almost an accident, and hadn’t been planned for a BEA release.

Speaking of that book, it was one of the few political books to be had. There were 3 other books that aimed at bi-partisanship, sort of (they were for either the Dems or the GOP in separate, but identical editions).

I caught these two attacking someone's candy dish with their swords. Wouldn't it have been cleverer if they had some sort of booth number on them?

About half of the book covers I saw were almost minimalist: Title at the top, author name at the bottom, one spare image off center (about evenly split between right and left) with a plain color background. Quite interesting, and reminiscent of the Williams Sonoma books earlier this decade. Sort of restful, given the over-exuberance of previous years, but they aren’t very appealing. Nothing compels you to reach for them. It’s as if all those titles are aimed at the people who buy Real Simple Magazine to put out, unread, in their McMansions. A question we ask a lot at Beagle Bay: “But what’s it FOR?”

Loads of galleys, but I’ve seen more given away in previous years. Have we reached freebie fatigue finally? NAH.

Dead people are always a draw. And they don't get Actor's Equity rates.

Speaking of galleys, one company was trying to attract publishers by touting their totally recycled product. Unfortunately they did not proofread before the release of their catalog. The typo probably made this BEA a complete waste of time for them, as I saw them disdainfully tossed all over the convention center. What was so bad? GREEN GALLEY’S, in big letters on the front of the catalog. I kid you not.

A paper company's booth fixtures were made of paper. But what's it FOR?

Got grabbed by another booth that was selling the companion novel for the forthcoming Mummy 3 movie this summer. They were taking pictures of people with a terra cotta Chinese warrior statue. (I’m sure this has to do with the film, but not a clue how). There was no line at all. Supposedly, they will send me a picture in the fullness of time. Didn’t give me a copy of the book though. <Insert pout attack locally>

Stopped to talk to Leah Waarvick, her partner Linda and Emma the Rescue Dog of Get Sirius Press. They are clients of Cynthia’s, but I recently represented their book and kit I Sit and Stay, a book about survival safety for kids, narrated in part by Emma. It’s hysterical to see people in suits go into canine melt-down with Emma. One lady even laid on the ground to rub noses. While I was amused, I suddenly became hugely puppy-sick for Bertie, the baying beagle of Beagle Bay.

Leah Waarvick, Linda and Emma the Rescue Dog talk about I Sit and Stay.

Leah told me that there are at least 3 other dogs on the floor. One, a Rottweiler. The owner took the dog into the women’s room, because a) she (the woman) had to go and b) the tiles are nice and cool for the dog to cool off and decompress from having to be good in front of so many strangers. However, Rotties are BIG, and a few women walked in, shrieked, and ran back out of the loo.

Then it was time for the PMA/IBPA party. I'm not sure why, but after 25 years work to brand itself as a force in the publishing world (with such initiatives as “The Rest of Us,” a report on the fiscal strength of micro and small presses, and several interventions with problems in the industry which affected their members), Publishers Marketing Association has renamed itself the Independent Book Publishing Association - IBPA. Why? I dunno. Don’t get me wrong. I love the folks at P... um, IBPA. They’ve done some good things for me. But I’m not wild about rebranding in mid-stream.

However, I will drink their free champagne.

Cheri, Claire Kirsch, Joel Mikesell, Jacqueline Simonds, Cynthia Frank and Nancy Ellis-Bell at Engine Co. No. 28 Restaurant

Headed back to the hotel... which is apparently hosting the  IndieBound party tonight. I note there is no free wine, though. Cynthia had us go up to the balcony bar, where we meet with Paul Krupin, Nancy Ellis-Bell and Joel Mikesell for drinks. Nancy - who is a top agent - told us about her new book The Parrot Who Thought She Was a Dog and the interesting ways she’s come up with to market it.

After a quick change, we head over to the Engine Company No 28 Restaurant - minus Paul who decided to call it a night. We bumped into Brian Jud and his wife, who were also there. Got a great table upstairs. Claire Kirsch of Publisher’s Weekly joined us (she’d been at the Midpoint party). She gets the prize for coolest picture of the day, as she showed us a snap of her and Dr. Ruth together. Apparently they’ve met before. It was Dr. Ruth’s 80th birthday. Joel saw a group standing around her singing happy birthday (not the Birthday Song) to her in German.

Headed back to the hotel. Yup, the bar is rocking again.

SUNDAY June 1

I woke up terribly homesick. In 22 years, Robin, my hubby, and I have been separated for a total of 4 months, once for a horrific 2-month stretch. I hate traveling without him, and I am done with this trip. Don’t get me wrong. It’s been fascinating and fun. I’m just, you know, done.

The Figueroa Hotel luggage storage room. Where "fling and forget" are the watch-words.

As I pack up, the TV shows us that Universal Studio’s back lot is engulfed in flames. I mean, those people will do anything to get attention. After hugging Cynthia and Cheri (a living arrangement that worked out way better than my college dorm days), I went downstairs to put my bag in storage, since I wasn’t leaving until 3. I think they need a bigger room. With books, etc, my bag was absolute hell to throw over the top of the pile.

Went to Denny’s for breakfast with Marion Gropen... and every cop in the downtown area. Yup. I felt safe all right. Marion is always fun to talk with. She always has the most hilarious stories about her boat.

Cute, but what booth? What book?

We walked down to the convention center together. I had somehow missed the African American pavilion, so we strolled though there. Unfortunately, I think this area is almost as bad as Writer’s Row. A couple of BEA’s back, I heard Walter Mosley speak (he started the trend of big name authors going to indie presses). He said, “Don’t stay where they put you.” The pavilion is one such place. If you’re serious about getting a booth at BEA, don’t get stuck in the Gulag of No Hope. Get a booth out in the center. Split it with someone if you must. Or don’t bother. But do not go for these segregated areas. I mean, you could hear crickets chirping, there were so few people.

This is Jazz the Dog - or Dream Dog. I know his "people" but they were in a meeting. So I waved and walked on.

Marion had some things to do, so we split up. I continued to wander that end of the hall. I had to stop and take a picture of the weirdest set-up of the show. Teeth Cleaning. Even weirder was that people were ponying up $99 to have their teeth done right there. Seemed crazy to me - not to mention there was no indication that the folks operating the booth were licensed dental technicians. But what do I know?

Gypsy teeth-whitening. Who knew?

Bumped into Carrie White and Dick Byl again. Carrie had just signed a deal for distribution with Eric Kampman at Midpoint Trade Books. As her book shepherd, I’d love to take all the credit for this, but all I did was advise her. She did the selling job - and a good one it was! Personally, I think Carrie will be the next Source Books (the largest woman-owned press in America). Do check out her first book cover!

I never did get in this beautiful pool. And if I had to do it all over, I'd spend Sunday in the hot tub!

Talked to a bunch more people, then headed back to the hotel to wait for my shuttle. In the lobby, I met Ginger Mayerson, who runs a little literary magazine. We talked about the show from their perspective (they were bombarded with review copies), until the van arrived. Got to the airport early, which allowed me to go through my scattered notes and all the cards I collected. I have a total of 6 pages for follow-up. THAT’s what I call a good show!

Whoo-hoo! Free wine on the plane!

And here comes the inevitable commercial: I’ll be starting up my “Small Press World” blog later this summer, complete with Publishing Double-Dumb-Ass Ideas™ . Please contact me if you’d like to be alerted when I start it up.

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