BookExpo Day 2

Yeah, I’m totally late with this, but 1. it was an amazing day for me and for Wiley and 2. we don’t have days like that every day and 3. I posted day 1 so I better post day 2.

Where do I begin?  Like I said, we don’t have days like that every day.  Wiley’s trade program has always been strong, but in recent years, we’ve brought in some big time books, and that was reflected at our stand at the conference.  We had some great book signings, and big time celebrity visits.

First, Erin Manning did another superstar presentation.  It’s not often that you can find someone talking on a technical topic who is able to engage the crowd and keep them listening for almost a half an hour.  She was followed by Don Felder, former guitarist for the Eagles, promoting his new book Heaven and Hell.  The line for his book was huge - and it included a number of Wiley employees, ahem!  After Felder was done signing, he went to do his BlogTalkRadio interview, and Steven Watts and Hugh Hefner showed up to promote the Hefner biography Mr. Playboy.  Of course, Dr. Ruth managed to jump in there for a photo opp as well.  The woman is a promotion machine.  Watts and Hefner signed, and then did a BTR interview as well.

For me, the most INTERESTING part was checking out the security detail that made up Felder’s and Hef’s entourages.  Felder had one guy waking around the booth with his little Bluetooth piece, looking like an extra from the Sopranos.  Hef had two guys, both ex-LAPD, as cool as they come. I enjoyed chatting with them about life on the edge.  I got a couple of pictures of them with Hef - they’ve got bunny lapel pins, makes them easy to recognize.  I’ve got these in a Facebook album…link to come.

After all this was done at 3pm, a bunch of Wiley people crawled out of the booth in search of sustinence.  Thankfully, the wildcat strike in the cafeteria had ended, so we were able to get some french fries and sit down, catch our breath, and reflect on a most amazing day.

I also haven’t spoken the praises of John Havens from BlogTalkRadio enough.  He helped make this BEA truly amazing.  Imagine someone who could interview everyone from a Dummies author who wrote a fitness book to Mr. Playboy himself, and give them the time and respect they deserved, and help us create great content that we can use to promote these books.  I’m so thankful we were able to pull this off - it was indeed a BEA for the books!

 

BookExpo Day 1

It’s one for the books.  Day one at BookExpo was pretty great.  The crowd was just about what we expected, it being LA and a Friday.  I think traffic will be heavier today, but hopefully as manageable as it was yesterday.

We had many, MANY blogtalkradio interviews, and all went smashingly.   There were all great - Mike Robbins, of “Focus on the Good Stuff” was charming and gave a really good interview.  It was very exciting to have David Iglesias sit down and chat as well.   Marsha Collier was a total pro, as always.  Dr. Ruth, celebrating her 80th birthday shortly, also gave a really fun interview.  You can catch all of these at Blogtalkradio.com.

Erin Manning was a total rock star.  She gave a really amazing demo on how to take better pictures, which attracted a crowd of people hanging on her every word.  Seriously, the woman knows how to work a crowd.  I even learned a thing or two from her, and plan on experimenting on IT Boy when I get back. 

I also had many celebrity sightings outside of the Wiley booth.  Slash, Mario Lopez, Barbara Walters, and Jackie Collins were all seen out and about.  I also got a wonderful photo of Marsha with George Hamilton that I will post later.  You’d think she was at Madame Tussauds, but, no, he was real.

The Digital Lifestyle concept has been interesting.  The BTR interviews are going great.  Erin was super, and I love having digital photo frames on the wall to upload pictures that we’re taking real time.  No one is using the laptop for a demo area, so I have been tweeting there, but mostly, it’s not being used.  But it’s giving us a lot of ideas for what to do next year (did I really say next year?)

All in all, I don’t think I have ever worked as hard at a BEA as I did yesterday.  I did find some time to snag a few galleys, including the new Philippa Gregory book (I love me some historical fiction) and will be sharing my ill-gotten gains with my friends when I return home. 

Today, Don Felder and Hugh Hefner will be in the booth.  I predict a madhouse, even if the Girls Next Door don’t show up.  I’m off to day 2 - talk to you on the other side!

 

 

Photo Effects - Who Knew?

I’ve blogged before about Wiley author Erin Manning and how I learned more about how to get the most out of my point and shoot camera through talking to her and reading her book.  So this is going to be another one of those name dropping posts…beware.  But you might get some useful photography tips out of it, so don’t run away so fast.  Net net, you have camera with automatic settings.  But through some knowledge and very little fiddling, you can select custom settings that will give you way cooler photos. 

When I was with Erin last year, she was showing me some great pictures she had taken on her camera.  This was in the context of a discussion about adjusting the white balance, which she pointed to as the cause of my neighbor looking yellow in pictures taken in and not adjusted for fluorescent lighting.

She had taken a picture off the balcony of her cruise ship, and the water and sky were a beautiful but not true shade of blue.  This was because she didn’t adjust the white balance for outside.  It was incredibly gorgeous, and I wanted to remember that effect for when I had the opportunity to take a picture of a beautiful seaside.

Flash forward to last month in Florida.  I’m playing around with my Canon Powershot, and I notice a setting called VIVID.  After taking some pictures of the Intracoastal Waterway outside my father-in-law’s condo, I take some more using VIVID selected to vivid blue. 

Before, no vivid:

After, with vivid:

Same day, an hour or two apart, but notice the difference.  Sure, the first one was more true to life, but if you are going for artistry with your photography, bring out the blues!

I noticed a couple of sections of Erin’s book that talk about these kind of photo effects and using the color wheel to select the right colors to enhance.  I may go back to these.  I fear the color wheel, but again, a little bit of knowledge is going to give me better pictures.  The next IT vacation is for spring break next month, so I have to be ready!

 

What I learned from Erin Manning

Erin Manning, who I mentioned in an earlier post referring to her new book Portrait and Candid Photography Photoworkshop, is my photography hero. No, seriously, I may be biased, but 5 minutes with her convinced me of several things…

1. My new digital camera (a Canon PowerShot A630) was not engaged in a conspiracy to make everyone look like they had orange skin. There’s such as thing as WHITE BALANCE, and these cameras can adjust the white balance for different lighting conditions.

2. It is possible to take pictures in low to no light and not make everyone look like Casper the Friendly Ghost.  Slow sync flash…who knew? It allows ambient light to come into your pictures. Without it, would I be rocking amazing pictures like these (taken at Legend Weekend at Philipsberg Manor in Sleepy Hollow, NY)?

I honestly have no idea why a pirate is included in Legend Weekend.  Ichabod Crane, the Headless Horseman, and a pirate guy.  Whatever.  He was cute and entertaining, and made for a spooky ghostly picture.

What about this one?

Now we’re rocking some historically correct action.  It was hard to take this shot, as the friggin horse kept bouncing all over the place.  He really didn’t understand the concept of “stand still, the tourists need to record you digitally.  Plus there wasn’t low light, there was NO light, so the flash could have overwhelmed.  Next time, I’d like to see more horse and less fence, but I’m a rookie, so be gentle with me.

This is my favorite….spooky and ghost like:

I love that she looks so ghostly.  Really cool.  I was amazed by how great my ghost shots came out.  Casper who?

And all this from 5 minutes talkin’ digital with Erin.  Imagine how great my shots are going to be after I finish reading her book!

 

Picture this

News flash - I am working at the Wiley booth at at trade show this week.  This is a news flash because one of the things I thought I was past having to do as an elder stateswoman of marketing is trade shows.  On the plus side, you get to meet your customers in person, find out about their wants and needs, and get instant feedback on marketing ideas.  On the minus side, you get to meet your customers in person, find out about their wants and needs, and…you get the point.  It’s great, except when it isn’t.  It’s exhausting, and exhilarating at the same time.  I used to do a lot of trade shows.  I had a job many years ago, when I was single and childless, at a scientific institution that served as an umbrella organization for 10 member societies and many other affiliated groups.  Somehow, my boss decided that since we were launching a service that pre-dated AOL and the Web and provided computer access for members, that we needed to be at EVERY member and affiliate meeting.  When you totaled it up, it equaled about 60 meetings per year.  I split them with one other woman, and our admin was able to take some of them, but it was insanity.   I was a road warrior, traveling at least every other week, for two years.  Mr. IT was working for a cruise line at the time, so he had a bit of travel too.  It was crazy, and thank heavens I was young and had stamina, and no kids.  There is no way I could keep up that pace now.  

So, every once in a while, I work at a trade show.  I’m selfish, and I try do to ones that interest me, like eBay Live!, or are in good locations (that would be Orlando and Orlando).  But if something happens in NYC, my backyard, I’m in regardless of like or dislike.   I totally hate the Javits center, so I’m usually a little bitter and jaded.

PhotoPlus is at least one I’m sorta happy about.  The photography marketplace is new to me, and we’re launching some amazing products here, such as this one:

Erin Manning is a true rock star in the photography world.  “Portrait and Candid Photography” is her first, but hopefully not last book, and it’s a great guide to taking better pictures of your friends and family.  Look out IT boy, momma’s got a camera!

And our new training DVD from Rick Sammon -

I have access to a Rebel, and I’m eager to take advantage of all its features.  I used to use a point and shoot, so it’s a whole new world, and I’m ready to rumble. 

OK, so I’m ready to push these items tomorrow.  Let’s see what the customers want!  Here’s to short lines at the ladies room and the Starbucks at the Javits!