The Bookseller.com

3rd December 2008

GAYLE FELDMAN

Gayle Feldman is The Bookseller's US correspondent.

BEA: Living and dying in LA

04.06.08

BEA in LA has come and gone. For most making the trek, the exotic palms, magnificent jacarandas and perfect weather were lovely (albeit seen through hotel windows, convention centers and cars). The extra expense in time and money was not.

Many people did not come. The AAP had to postpone its meeting for smaller publishers because not enough signed up. Panels had gapingly empty seats.

There is a strong push from publishers not to visit LA again. But beyond issues associated with this particular locale, BEA brought home the fact that just about everything in the business is in flux, including the big fair itself.

"Everything" encompasses the fate of the nation's second largest chain, and the latest rebranding effort of the independents. Goodbye BookSense, hello IndieBound, allying itself with other kinds of retailers to "shop local".  It encompasses the future shape of the world's largest trade publisher; the nature of reading (print vs Kindle et al); marketing (traditional and internet); and rights.

"The business needs a venue for everybody to get together on American soil. You can't just have Frankfurt and London," one executive reasoned. But LBF has made itself into the undisputed spring rights market, and two studies have put the bookselling share of the independent sector at less than 10%. What then is this fair?

It began as a show-and-tell to introduce fall books, negotiate with customers, gather the clans at a time when the indies were almost everything. The mall chains blossomed in the '70s, but it was in the '90s, as superstores rose and indies dropped like flies, that questions began to be asked. Penguin shocked everybody by pulling out for a while. With the big boxes, internet and Amazon, you know the rest.

Although the independents are enormously valuable, many of the biggest publishers are saying there must be a more cost effective way of doing this. As Harper c.e.o. Jane Friedman put it, "the fact that we've not been able to define what this fair is about after such a long time means we may be coming to the time when definition becomes absolutely essential."

Next year the fair returns to New York, which although costly will draw a lot more visitors. Chicago and Washington don't have the problems of LA, although are not New York. Some dread the prospect of Las Vegas, but others, including Brit David Peters of cookbook and design publishers Ryland, Peters and Small and Cico Books, thinks "it will be a go. People will want the experience". The fundamental issue remains.

Meanwhile, for some of the smaller publishers especially, LA was a useful fair. Peters says that 48% of his business is US-based and is growing. He was able to meet with B&N, specialty accounts, news groups, some Canadians and Latin Americans. Another Brit, Jessica Kingsley, opened an office in Philadelphia four years ago and now sells "more units in the US than in the rest of the world put together". Forty percent of her authors are American, and "BEA is a must".

For the Chicago-based Sourcebooks, it was "the best show ever. We were able to meet with key customers," said rights manager Anne Landa. Overlook's Peter Mayer actually bought rights at the fair to Alistair Cooke's Reporting America, originated by Palazzo and published by Penguin in the UK.

Some of the education sessions, the digital ones especially, were good.  DailyLit president Susan Danziger emphasized the importance of personally using blogs, Facebook, Twitter etc, "if you want to understand where book readers are." NetGalley's Michael Forney evangelized for viral networks and paperless galleys, and said his company will enter the UK by year's end. Clay Shirky provided provocative thoughts on "fan culture – fans are different from readers," and on "the mass amateurization of publishing" (Herecomeseverybody.org). 

As for the much-touted appearance by Amazon's visionary founder, the fair organizers delivered Bezos. It is he who did not deliver, abetted by Wired's Chris Anderson, who threw softball questions. It was the c.e.o.-as-super-salesman routine.
Bezos hawked the Kindle - and didn't even provide statistics. The most interesting comment concerned writing for the device: "I'd be startled if people don't experiment with a return to serials, the Dickens idea." He would not say when it will come to the UK, nor would he discuss p.o.d.: "When you pioneer you're going to create controversy. You have to be willing to be misunderstood."

The most memorable comment this reporter took away from BEA came from an old hand who has seen devices and companies and c.e.o.s (including his younger self) come and go. "An industry that's a bit unsure of itself makes management changes, hopefully positioning itself for a future it doesn't understand." Peter Mayer said it – and he's right.

As for BEA's future, gathering together in one place is important. It can be creative, informative, good for business and good for the future. A better way forward needs to be found. Perhaps the fair will have to stay put in New York. It does that in London and Frankfurt, after all.

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