Book Expo America -- Notes from the Field

I grew up around some heavy hitters in Publishing. Granddad - HMCo. Uncle - Scholastic. My Dad-- probably the only man inducted into the Educational Publisher's Hall of Fame AND the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. (Ask him about it sometime.)

But May 24 was the first time I ever set foot in the Javits Center in NYC for Book Expo America (BEA). It felt like Mecca.

I was trembling with fear and shivering with delight. There were a bajillion people in there --- and even more books. There were bright lights, big signs, mascots, inflatable snow globes, all sorts of paraphernalia -- they were giving away free Tintin bags, for goodness sake!

There were jigsaw puzzles with the covers of the New Yorker, t-shirts emblazoned with old classics -- and highly paid, world famous authors giving away their books for free to all comers -- and then signing them!

Did the folks back in Kansas know about this? I felt like I had won the golden ticket to Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. I didn't want to get to greedy... (Remember what happened to Augustus Gloop?) But I drank in the atmosphere and went window shopping. And merrily engaged everyone I met.

Here are some of the folks I had the pleasure of meeting... Enjoy!

Meet Lisa Manzione. She is the creator of The Bella and Harry series of children's books.These two Chihuahuas travel the world exploring a new city in every book. Manzione was the daughter of a parent in the airline industry and was a globe trotter from an early age. This, and the birth of her own children, inspired her to create this series to help young readers explore the world.

Manzione has a great marketing team, headed by Elizabeth Hickman (left) of Trimarkpress, who helped plan and design the exhibit. The other gal's name escapes me, but she was equally talented and gracious. Great teamwork! Check out the pawprint scarf that the author is wearing and the logo'd polo shirts. These gals thought of everything.

Wolf Hoelscher is the founder of Pubmission.com. This is a free site for publishers to find their next great book. Pubmission is the online submissions hub for writers and publishers. Wolf has 15 years in the trenches of publishing. He studied the system and then streamlined it -- and came up with a platform to help writers and publishers find each other easily. (Think keyword submission searches and inhouse editorial reviews). Brilliant! I signed up post haste! Check out their site.

Next up was my favorite mother-daughter team at the show: THE COUNTY FAIR GAME folks. You know how you agree on a meeting place when you go into a big event -- like, say, a county fair -- or BEA? Well, this was my "home base" for the show. Joanne Zwingler Farinnacci has cookie-baking energy -- and her daughter Leslie is as nice as can be. (You can check out Leslie's amazing photo portraits at: http://www.lesliejean.net.) Her mom's COUNTY FAIR Board Game was named the 2010 Creative Toy Award Game of the Year from Creative Child Magazine.

Here are some other exhibitors I really loved. Check them out. Great products, nice people:

Todd Lawton, Out of Print Clothing: Classic book covers on soft tees. Each shirt purchased sends one book to a community in need. Very cool shirts.

Bonnie Ward Simon Maestro Classics -- Classical Music CDs; you have to check this out. Bonnie was the Executive Director of the Washington Chamber Symphony; her husband, Stephen Simon was the Music Director and Conductor of the Washington Chamber Symphony at the Kennedy Center and was the Music Director of the Handel Society of New York. Bonnie and Stephen have channeled their love of classical music into audio cds that marry children's books with classical music. When I listened to Mike Mulligan & His Steam Shovel, I nearly fell off my chair (ok, I was standing). It was transcendent. It was brilliant. I don't have words. Incredible. Check them out. They combine storytelling classics with classical music and include extra tracks about the author, the composer and more. Holy cow, this is a good idea.

Last, but not least, a shout out to the guys at The New York Puzzle Company -- perfect for a rainy New England (or Seattle) summer: classic vintage magazine covers (New Yorker, House Beautiful, Gourmet) on jigsaw puzzles. Check them out at http://wwwnewyorkpuzzlecompany.com/ or call: 580-789-9535.

And I must mention the charming "Chief Doodler" of Doodlemark.com. David Keefe has created the "world's only bookmark and doodle pad." Made in the same factory that produces Etch-a-Sketch, DoodleMark attaches to a book with a clip and then kids can write their page number on the doodle pad, write down difficult vocabulary to look up -- or draw their favorite Wimpy Kid character.

Did someone say Wimpy Kid? I met a daring duo at Abrams Books -- Christopher Blank and Chad Beckerman. They were big guns manning the booth and waiting for the champagne corks to fly (Risk Management probably asked them to be on hand to keep corks from popping patrons in the head, they did look agile) to celebrate Abrams' launch of Oprah's new book, The Oprah Winfrey Show: Reflections on an American Legacy. They also had a really nice book on John Lennon and Strawberry Fields that I loved. You can get STRAWBERRY FIELDS: Central Park's Memorial to John Lennon by Sarah Cedar Miller for me here: Abrams Books
Almost like being there.

So that's it, my friends. More about IBPA and the Next Generation Indie Book Awards (the reason I went up to NYC) in future posts. Now to soak my aching feet. And read a good book.

Cheers!
Amy C. Spaulding
Publisher, Sleepy Hollow Books
http://www.sleepyhollowbooks.com

P.S. -- This might be one of my favorite stories from the Show. I was walking along in the Javits Center and a woman sticks out a book and says, would you like a copy? I looked at the enormous book of traditional folk tales written by an author from the Ojibwe tradition and said, "Yes!" She ushered me up to the author, Tamarack Song, who was signing copies of his book Whispers of the Ancients: Native Tales for Teaching and Healing in Our Time.
There was something special about this guy. I asked to have my picture taken with him. I thanked him for writing this book, because native wisdom and folk traditions and tales are so important to pass along. There is magic in these stories. That's why I published Yuri's Brush with Magic by Maureen Wartski. Her character Aunt Yuri weaves magic in the Japanese folktales that she tells -- and the act of reading these tales and stories -- and sharing them -- is magical.

So I accepted this gift from this gentle man, and packed up my books (suitcase heavy) -- and headed for the shuttle to the airport. On the shuttle I struck up a conversation with a woman from Vancouver who had returned to Eastchester for the christening of her grandson Ethan who is 1/2 Ojibwe. I handed the book to my new friend and said, "A present for Ethan for his christening. Share these stories with him. This is his." (The book was dedicated to Amy, but no matter.) I love when stuff like that happens. Be well, my friends. -- AMy