Registration Down at Renamed CBA Show

by Lynn Garrett and Jana Reiss, Religion Bookline -- Publishers Weekly, 7/20/2005

The International Christian Retail Show--formerly known as CBA International--met last week in Denver (July 11-15). We covered some of the changes in the show, the hot topics and the buzz books in the July 18 issue of PW. Here’s more news from ICRS:

The reconfigured show drew nearly 1,000 fewer registered attendees (9,986) than last year (10,969). CBA president Bill Anderson attributed that to “the economy, and the fact that there are not as many stores within driving distance as there are in Atlanta or Dallas.” Professional attendance (total people minus exhibitors and youth) was also down--3,021 vs. last year’s 3,816--though on a par with those of the 2003 show in Orlando, “another city without strong drive-in attendance,” according to a post-show statement by CBA.

Many publishers had scaled down their booths this year. Eerdmans sales director Michael Thomson said that over the past four years they had reduced their booth spaces from six to two, while Baker Publishing Group went from 24 booth spaces in 2004 to 16 this year. Many houses praised the slightly shorter show but emphasized that it’s still not short enough. “Three days seem ample for covering the business,” said Thomson. “There are very few bookstores on the last day. It would be more cost-effective for everyone if it [ICRS] was a day shorter, and I don’t believe we would lose any business.”

One change that publishers unanimously seemed to approve was the switch from having author signings in personality booths to having them in the publishers’ own booths. “I think it’s all about connecting the author with the publisher, and booth traffic brings excitement,” said Roger Freet, senior editor for Harper San Francisco. “It’s also an opportunity for people to see what else you’re doing.” Jana Burson, director of publicity for Time Warner Book Group in Nashville, agreed. “When people would go to signings in the personality booths, they knew the author but not the publisher.”