By Amy Collins
Book Expo America (BEA) was held this year in New York from May 31st – June 2nd. It is considered to be THE networking event in North America where authors and publishing industry insiders gather. Amy Collins, Contributing Writer for The Book Designer, attended BEA 2017 and we thought you might find her notes and thoughts on the event interesting.
- The number of exhibitors and publishers attending BEA was down
again. Reed can tout new numbers and explain that they are trying to make
this a “strictly professional tradeshow” all they want, but this picture
from Thursday afternoon is from the main aisle.
- The publishers that were there all had MUCH smaller booths than
years past. Sourcebooks, RandomHouse… Check out Globe Pequot! This photo
shows that they took a 5′ display!
- Baker & Taylor (B&T) is still taking applications from small presses and indie
publishers, but they are moving away from accepting any single-title
companies. However, I CAN tell you that it was confirmed that if a library
orders an INGRAMSPARK title from B&T, they will buy it and send to the
library. After a few orders, they will list the book in their database and
source from IngramSpark. - Amazon is stepping up their offers to literary agents. I met with a
literary agent who had just come from a meeting at Amazon. Amazon is now
offering agents more incentives to bring authors and manuscripts to them
first. But securing an ebook and print book deal with Amazon, they are
allowing agents to make a higher percentage AND keep certain rights that do
not interest Amazon. This ability to keep and sell separate rights combined
with the incentives means Amazon is diving even DEEPER into movie and book
rights and wants to entice agents to come to them first. - Libraries and Librarians are truly being seen (once again) as the
rockstars and potential saviors of the book industry. A LOT of the talk on
the floor was about the growth of the library market. Companies like
Overdrive and ProQuest (who supply ebooks and content to the library market)
were courting agents and publishers as well. Marketing to and FOR libraries
is a growing business. All you had to do was look at the number of library
marketing, services, and distribution companies at the show. - IngramSpark is working to expand and grow the number of services it
is offering to authors and small publishers. I would not be surprised if
their service offerings increase and compete with CreateSpace in the next
year. - However, BOOKCON, the consumer reader fan show on Saturday was
PACKED. The line was out the door and the hall was filled with young,
enthusiastic readers. The energy and excitement was so heartening! It has
been a long time since I’ve been surrounded by readers. I recommend BookCon
as a MUST DO for everyone in our industry. It reminded me why we do what we
do. The readers!
