NCIBA 2007

It’s that time again. Yup, We went back to the NCIBA (Northern California Independent BookSellers Association) in Oakland, despite our grumpiness about last year’s. Why? Well, partly because I am something of a masochist. I want to see how bad things can get. Also, it’s a great excuse to see our Bay-area nieces (and their mommy and daddy).

Sorry, no pictures. I can’t find that wire that goes between the camera and the computer. It is still in one of the boxes stacked in my office from our move (just from one end of Reno to another) this summer.

Friday, October 5

Someone forgot to tell Reno it’s still October. We awoke to a full-on blizzard and heard it was worse in the Sierra Mountains - through which I-80 to the Bay area passes. While Robin and I aren’t afraid of snow (having lived in Colorado and the East Coast for many years), there’s no reason to rush into bad driving conditions when a little patience can reward you. So we decided not to go until after lunch. It was, indeed, a good decision. There was very little snow on the road. But there were places where it was snowing or sneeting (snow/sleet/rain). We heard later, from a rep who lives about 50 miles from here, that the pass was closed in the morning because of a traffic accident.

The delay delivered us to the hotel minutes before the set-up time was ending (the NCIBA is held at the Oakland Marriot Hotel and Convention Center, which is handy for all). I talked with the Goddess of NCIBA, Joyce, and she recommended not stressing and setting up in the morning. That seemed like a fine old idea. When we got up to the anticipated hotel room, it contained a Queen-sized bed (we had reserved a King-size). We are not the sort of people who will fit in that particular configuration. So, while Robin went downstairs to do battle with the registration demons, I ran upstairs (still in my 4-hours-in-a-car outfit of t-shirt and baggy pants) to the inaugural NCIBA cocktail party to find Listmate Cynthia Frank of Cypress House. We’d made arrangements to have dinner together the first night, but had not set a time or place. Fortunately, I was able to find Cynthia and make the date.

An hour later, after we had moved rooms (2 double beds. Rats) and had a chance to freshen up and change, we met Cynthia and Joel Mikesell (in charge of Cypress House’s marketing and sales) in the lobby and walked over to Verbena Restaurant, a really nice, affordable place. We had a lovely time - as we always do with Cynthia (a woman who is mentor, friend and my personal rock-star idol).

Saturday, October 6

We were out of the gate early to set up. No matter how many times I’ve done this, there’s always a stomach-churning moment when you first walk into a venue and think: “Oh my God! I’m not ready for this!”

The venue is smaller than last year - although we heard from reps who had done several trade shows this year that it is still one of the largest regional shows. The main booth (NCIBA’s floor headquarters) was moved down to the head of the autograph lines, which made sense, since booths over there have tended, in past years, to be dead zones.

We were in an island (6 long tables (“booths”) arranged in a square) toward the back, but close to the main action. We found ourselves nicely bracketed between Thomas Nelson publishers and Miriam-Webster. And Cynthia with Cypress House was across the island from us. Doesn’t get much better. After hurriedly setting up, we ran upstairs, dressed and hurried back (“You clean up well!,” laughed Joyce, as I ran past).

The first thing we noticed as the booksellers filed in, was that people were actually LOOKING at our books. If you’ve seen my blogs of trade shows past, you’ll know that usually, the booksellers walk on the other side of the aisle from us, so they don’t have to see or hear about lowly small press books. But the attitude was changed this year. I can’t say why. I like it. I just want to know why things are - ya know?

This year we had more Young Adult books, and this seemed to really interest folks. Sheila Ruth’s Imaginator Press’ Dark Dreamweaver was out front and caught a lot of attention, as did Stone Pine Press’ forthcoming Women Astronomers: Reaching for the Stars. The two things I heard from booksellers about the YA market were:

“The kids who got into reading with Harry Potter and Eragon are voracious readers. They want more - good - fantasy.”

And:

“There is simply not enough YA non-fiction. Our shelves are practically bare!”

Both books were praised for their design, content and price point (Dark Dreamweaver at $11.95, Women Astronomers at $14.95; both are paperbacks). So if you are planning a new book, think about this market!

Our humor book also got a lot of attention: The Women’s Daily Irony Supplement drew chuckles over the title and cover (which, I’m proud to say, is one my husband, Robin, created).

A moment of amusement occurred when I realized that a booth across the aisle from us was Women Writing the West. They awarded a WILLA to distribution client Quindaro Press’ Revolutionary Heart. This book has won 4 major awards and was made an All Kansas Reads title for October. The folks at the booth didn’t have an extra WILLA sticker (we don’t have one to put on the book), but they did have an award statue (which is beautiful, but was too big for our booth). We talked about next year having the WWW booth devote a portion of their booth to award winners.

At the end of the island was a new publisher: Crocodiles Not Waterlilies Press. They have just one book - but it’s a doozy: Rindin the Puffer. The illustrations are superb, and the message is all about tolerance and anti-bullying. A very nice product with a short DVD/game included. Really, really terrific book.

One of the business partner was the author, David Farland. He is a very nice man who shares with me a passion for macaroons (we had a selection of different macaroons on our table as “bait” for booksellers). He also swears he knows about my book, Captain Mary, Buccaneer. I got sort of dizzy at the whole thought that he knew about my humble novel. But this is why I love the book biz. Here I was talking to a guy with international sales in the millions, and he’s chatting about books he loves and knows my naughty lady pirate captain. Fabulous!

In the ladies’ room, I came across a nice “bitch session” of female exhibitors. The usual complaints (“I’m not writing orders!” “No one will even take my catalog!”), but one really caught my attention: “I have the #1 BookSense Pick for October (The Pirate’s Daughter) and not one bookseller I’ve talked to has heard of it!” Proof positive that BookSense isn’t particularly relevant any more. [Oh, and Unbridled Books sold the title to Random House the day after the show.]

The most shocking development was that Random House did not have a big booth on the floor. They elected to rent two hotel suites upstairs. But there was some confusion about this (or a rather interesting plan). The rumor on the floor was that one, rather unpleasant bookseller was told a room number that was, ahem, inaccurate. The gossip bird says she never did find the right suite.

The day went quickly, as we had long talks with booksellers and old friends in the trade. There was simply no comparison with last year. Having people interested in your books is great!

Went upstairs to the post-show cocktail party for exhibitors and booksellers and had a lengthy talk with Wendy Jane Carrel, an “author ambassador” and Mary Bogden of Oceanview Publishing. Finished the day off by going out to see our nieces. We weren’t much fun as we were so tired-out from the day. But it was great seeing the family.

Sunday, October 7

Sundays are usually a bit slow, and this was no exception. But again, booksellers were interested in talking to us about our titles (which is unusual). Robin complained (with heavy irony) that he couldn’t finish his Sunday paper for all the jumping up and talking to people.

One of the folks who stopped by was Chris Kahn of Reed Business Information (aka, Publisher’s Weekly, Library Journal and School Library Journal). I’d met him in NYC at the PMA-U exhibitors alley. He’s a very nice guy and has all sorts of interesting insights into what gets his publications interested. He seemed especially interested in the previously mentioned Women Astronomers and quizzed me about my cover letter (“Was it strong? Did you tell what age group and what marketing you’re doing?” Yes, yes and yes). Then he brought over the regional PW reporter, Bridget Kinsella. It was nice to put a face to a name, as I’ve sent her many press releases over the year.

General observations
In the past four years the predominant titles have been mostly political (all Red one year, then all Blue another), this year almost everyone had at least one sex title (leading Robin to quip, “that must mean the new mood of the publishers is “aw, f— ‘em!”). The funniest one we saw was Sex in a Tent. Now, while I need a LOT of help assembling a tent, I’m pretty sure I can erect, ahem, whatever I find within. So why did the book need 350 pages of dense text? Beats me. (Robin thought it should have been titled: Frisky Alfresco.)

Talked at length with a self-published photographer about his beautiful book Human Landscapes. [Prude Warning: it’s got pictures of naked women] It is a fantastically beautiful book of color and black & white photography of nudes in various landscapes. It’s just breath-taking. He used one of New Mexico’s best art book publishers to produce it for him. A GYN, Dr. Phil Miller started out as a hobbiest photographer, but I think he’s found a 2nd profession. He was hoping I would help him market the book or give him some pointers. I did what I could with the latter, but my schedule is such, and my experience with our own (double award-winning) “nekked lady” book Women in Shadows and Light has taught me that marketing such a title needs someone with a better reach than I. I introduced him to Wendy Jane Carrel, hoping to get them paired up. Unfortunately, Wendy Jane is booked through the rest of the year.

Marketing genius story: My Dog Wears Shoes and Her Name Is Maggie Mae, put out by Tinkerlove Publishing (but in the Seven Locks Press booth). This is a cute picture book about a BEAGLE named Maggie Mae and her penchant for shoes (good dog!). The author, Laurie Fitzgerald, was doing a book signing tour in department stores. While at  Nordstroms’s children’s shoe department the CEO of Stride-Rite shoes walked by, saw the fuss and went to look over the book. He told Ms. Fitzgerald they’d just stopped purchasing a book they were doing a cross promotion with. Would she like to enter into an agreement? Yup. The publisher ships 1000 copies a month to Stride-Rite’s distribution center. Fantastic! But I shouldn’t be surprised: the picture in the back of the real Maggie Mae looks just like our Bertie.

Trade gossip: Talked to Rayhal White of Brilliance Audio. Her company does audio books, but only on MP3 cds. Brilliance was bought out by Amazon this year, so everyone wanted to ask her how she was being treated by her new, behemoth boss. “Pretty well,” she said, “nothing much has changed other than I pay slightly less per month for health insurance. Otherwise, they seem to leave Brilliance to do its business as always. Of course, we’ve got loads more capital to invest. And we got Dean Koontz’s entire line!” I still think it’s not great news that Amazon is vertically integrating. For those interested in expanding your catalog to MP3 audio books, Brilliance does recording and packaging.

Saw Peter Goodman of Stone Bridge Press. I told him that no NCIBA is complete without a Peter Goodman sighting. He hadn't been there the day before (since he longer owns the company). He looked great, as always.

That’s about the sum of it. Three o'clock seemed to come awfully fast. A good show, and later saw more orders through Ingram and Baker & Taylor, so we made some headway. It’s always funny to be one of the last folks out (Robin insists on having our booth up until official quitting time, in spite of everyone else tearing down at 2:30). But we packed everything down and then had a nice nap before running off to a Chinese feast with the nieces and their parents.

I guess we’ll give it a go next year!

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