BEA - on the cutting edge

Thanks to Lance, the writer behind Mediumatlarge.net, I got a heads-up to check out the schedule of sessions and presentations going on at BookExpo America.  While it’s not exactly going to rival the slate of a conference that’s all about Web 2.0, it does offer many panel sessions that cover social networking and the latest trends in digital publishing. 

In fact, there’s a lot of coverage on things digital, so much so that many of them look over my head.  Which isn’t hard when you know of my loathing for e-books.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s not the concept of them that I hate.  I’m actually quite a fan of things “e”.  It’s the discussion of the formats, platforms and standards that gets a big ZZZZZ from me.  People like Joe Wikert live for this stuff, and could debate it till the cows come home.  Not me.   I don’t care how you make it “e”, just make it “e”.  I have a lot of respect for folks in our production groups - not for a minute would I have the patience and attention to detail to do their jobs.  The more marketing focused ones definitely look more my speed. 

Anyhow, if you’re in publishing, be sure to check out the panels.  I think a lot of them will be quite useful.  Plus, they will be an excellent excuse to remove myself from setting up the Wiley booth this go around.  Just don’t tell my co-workers where I will be. 

LA Stories

If you work in publishing, odds are you and your company are working on your presence at BookExpo right now.  The main conference in the publishing industry, BookExpo America, aka BEA, takes place the last weekend of May in Los Angeles.  It’s where booksellers meet publishers, authors, agents, media - basically anyone involved in the business of books. 

At Wiley, we started having weekly meetings at the end of January to plan for BEA.  There are so many internal deadlines that have already passed - compiling the list of authors doing autographing in the main area (the big celebrity names), authors in our booth (the big names who will drive traffic into our booth) and the list of featured titles for the displays.  But there is still so much left to do.  For instance, we’re trying to have a small corner of the booth devoted to Digital Lifestyles - that is, how content can be anywhere, anytime, anyhow.  Many booksellers may not be familiar with digital cameras, digital music devices, portable media, so we’re going to have them in the Dig Life section.  Author Erin Manning will be doing demos of digital photography techniques (I’m not modeling, don’t ask me).  We’re going to have a “street team” taking real time photos that will be uploaded onto displays.  I hope to have BlogTalkRadio interviewing some authors as well during the show.   Basically, we want to nerd up BEA and have some fun at the same time.

I’ve set up a Twitter feed to give updates on what’s happening before and during the show.  If you want to follow it, it’s WILEYATBEA.  Hopefully, we can get a tweetup going at the conference, even if it’s just me and Sandyland. 

Another blogyou may be interested in tracking, if you’re a publishing type, is run by the director of BEA.  He’s also the director of ComicCon and other shows, so he blogs about those too.  I’m sure when we get closer to BEA, he’ll be consumed by that.  Yeah, I know that feeling.