BEA Wrap-Up

Last week, Colleen MacMillan and I had the great pleasure of showcasing Annick Press's new books at Book Expo America in New York. The show ran from May 24 to 26, and drew a crowd of over 20,000. Here's our lovely booth, complete with a voracious young reader:

Although we were there primarily to speak to booksellers, we had many app developers, aspiring writers and printers approach us with their projects or services. There’s no question we came away with even greater appreciation for how much the landscape of the book industry has changed and continues to change. We still managed to connect with booksellers, librarians, teacher librarians, and special interest organizations looking for suitable books for their readers. Our young adult titles that focus on characters and issues in Third World countries--such as The Bite of the Mango, Cry of the Giraffe, and Thunder over Kandahar--drew particular attention, but we were happy to see strong interest in the new Munsch board books as well (I Have to Go!, Mortimer, The Paper Bag Princess, and Thomas' Snowsuit).

Lon Levin, XanateMedia's creative director, came by to chat about some of our new books. Here's a video of me pitching Dogs Don't Eat Jam by Sarah Tsiang and Qin Leng.



Thank you to everyone who stopped by our booth--see you next year!

Come See Us at BEA Next Week!

Annick Press will be exhibiting at Book Expo America (BEA) at the Javits Center in New York next week, from May 24-26. Drop by Booth 2461 to take a look at our Spring and Fall titles and pick up posters, bookmarks, and candy. We look forward to meeting you!

Book of Life Podcast About The Apprentice's Masterpiece

We're pleased to announce that Melanie Little's award-winning verse novel The Apprentice's Masterpiece is now available in paperback!

At Book Expo America in 2008, Heidi Estrin of The Book of Life podcast interviewed our associate publisher, Colleen MacMillan, about the book, which had just been released in hardcover. Click below to hear more about what it was like to develop a book for young adults set during the Spanish Inquisition! (This clip is part of a longer podcast of interviews about Jewish books for kids and teens; click here for the original podcast in its entirety.)

BEA Follow-up: the Slanket!

Back in May, I joined the BEA Tweetup group so I could meet face-to-face with some of the other book-lovers whose Twitter feeds I'd been following. One of the organizers, Kat Meyer, announced a MadLibs contest, which I promptly entered and then forgot about... until today, when my prize arrived, courtesy of Bethanne Patrick (aka The Book Maven)! Here I am showing off my brand new Slanket (blanket + sleeves = slanket). The left sleeve is monogrammed with a fitting hashtag: #BEATweetup2009.


This is going to come in handy next winter!

BEA Wrap Up!

"Might I interest you in a quality children's book?" (Me at the Annick Press booth)

I just got back from Book Expo America (held in New York this year), where we had a very lively and productive show. Lots of great people stopped by the Annick booth: librarians, teachers, booksellers, bloggers, reviewers, writers, illustrators, printers, and of course my friends from other publishing companies! I had fun recommending books for different ages and interests, and talking about children's books in general. It's so energizing to be surrounded by book lovers!

The NAPPA (National Parenting Publications Awards) staff came by to give us our winning ribbon for A Pocket Can Have a Treasure in It, which we proudly displayed.

Later, Janice Beley from Arsenal Pulp Press (they blog, too!) came by and "yarn bombed" our Munschworks Grand Treasury to promote Arsenal's new book, Yarn Bombing: The Art of Crochet and Knit Graffiti. I caught her in the act!

There were also some great panels; I learned more about Twitter at a session led by Michael Gruen (@gruen). (Are you following my updates @AnnickPress?)

I especially enjoyed the panel on book blogging, where I was finally able to see the faces behind some of my favorite book review blogs. For details, read the very in-depth recap on Dawn Rennert's blog at She Is Too Fond of Books.

It was a wonderful show and I'm a little sad it's over. For more photos of BEA (including the Espresso book machine and Clifford the Big Red Dog!), head on over to our Flickr set!

Preparing for Book Expo America!

Next week, from May 29-31, is Book Expo America (BEA) in New York, and I will be representing Annick Press at booth 420 -- come by and say hi! We'll have all our spring books on display, along with some of our fall titles, hot off the presses! (And for fall titles that haven't been published yet, we'll have sample pages for you to check out.) We'll also have some free goodies, including posters, bookmarks, and special fortune cookies (first come, first served!).

If you're new to BEA, here are some tasty tidbits to chew on:

• BEA blog entry: why a smaller book expo might work out better
• BEATweetup: party in person with book folk you met on Twitter!
• Preparing for your first BEA: blog post full of helpful tips (from last year but still relevant)
• The best sightseeing in New York and a list of New York attractions: discover the Big Apple!

And of course there's tons of information on the BEA website -- have fun preparing your list of authors to meet, events and seminars to attend, and pavilions to browse! (If you're a bookseller, you can sign up for Speed Dating with Children's Authors... sounds like fun!)

See you there!

Book Expo America

Photo from Book Expo America Website

Traditionally, getting together with booksellers is one of the highlights of the year. It's an opportunity for publishers to crawl out from behind their desks and actually speak with people on the front lines. The exchange of information and ideas flow both ways, as booksellers learn about publishing projects while we publishers get the lowdown on how our work has been received (or not).

Book Expo America is the place where it all happens; the book fair that's got it all. This year in LA, it did have it all - except for the booksellers. I exaggerate - there were some wonderful, inspiring conversations, an exchange of ideas and worldviews, or at least views on the state of bookselling. But I think the conversations that began, "I used to be a bookseller before I was a... teacher, librarian, literary worker, film maker, etc., outnumbered those with actual booksellers. What's happened?

Independent booksellers are under siege in a market that is dominated by large chains and internet sites that can obtain, and in turn, offer discounts that render competition virtually impossible. More and more, if you wish to browse, seek out that title or titles that capture the imagination, and have someone who is knowledgeable make a recommendation, you can’t count on finding a bookstore that provides those opportunities.

While customers certainly appreciate a good discount off retail, this is costing us all. The community store that knows its customers and deeply cares about selection is an increasingly unviable economic proposition. This is in spite of the creative solutions that independents do embrace, such as specializing in a particular genre or holding events in their store.

Environmentalists remind us that diversity is the key to healthy systems. So while a good price looks attractive on the surface, we're left with less and less choice. And on the publishing side, there is more and more pressure to get on that bestseller list, or the project is not worth the investment. In fact, our bank manager once asked, "Why not just publish bestsellers?" We would love to, but there's a lot more to reading and the love of literature and telling stories than "bestseller or bust.” So hats off to those booksellers whose vision and commitment allow them to carry on. We value them deeply.

American Booksellers Association

Canadian Booksellers Association

Rick Wilks

Director