Soapbox: Now More Than Ever

There's been some talk recently about the future of the fall regional association trade shows: GLiBA, MBA, MPIBA, NAIBA, NEIBA, NCIBA, PNBA, SCIBA and SIBA. Aside from pondering what sort of acronym the associations might come up with if they joined forces, let me say two things:

1. Every August and September, I curse these shows. They are a royal pain, what with shipping deadlines clashing with book and galley due dates, 65 authors to juggle and beautiful fall afternoons destined to be spent in bland convention centers.

2. I wouldn't change a thing about this setup, because these shows are absolutely essential, now more than ever.

We need more time, more places—not fewer—to bring authors and booksellers together. These interactions are the stuff of future hand-selling and bestselling careers. A list of past regional show attendees would read like a bestseller list hall of fame.

We need more time, more places—not fewer—to discuss business and trends with each other as well as bookseller-to-bookseller on the education days. Every marketing innovation that bookstores use today came out of an education session at a regional show (possibly years ago), and now, the shared focus on the digital frontier is vital.

We need more time, more places—not fewer—to show finished copies of our fall lineups and show how they have both national and regional interest. We can show off the finished copies of books bought months earlier, which are keys to a successful holiday season for all of us.

We need more time, more places—not fewer—for Rep Picks, popular sessions where reps (and even some New York folks) can shout to the world about the books they love, and where our telesales reps can meet their customers face to face, sometimes for the first time.

Losing any of the nine fall shows would be a huge loss for our industry. We'd get our fall weekends back—and get more time to rake leaves and watch football—but miss sales. It's true that the shows aren't free, but there are many ways to cut back on costs and still take advantage of these invaluable opportunities to connect booksellers to authors, discover potential bestsellers and share creative ways to better reach readers. These shows are worth every dime.

We need more regionality in our culture, not less, and selfishly, more of it in our marketing. Many books are launched with a regional push first, and then they get national attention. A local bestseller can mean a lot of copies sold and another career launched.

Ten years ago, these shows were in trouble; they ran too long and were too expensive. But the regional executives listened to us and to members and shortened the schedule, removed overlap in programming, amped up the education and introduced new author event formats, from the now famous author receptions to movable feasts. The regional execs have become fantastic partners in our marketing efforts. Regional book awards are also a very big deal.

A personal note about this past fall: I returned to GLiBA for the first time since two weekends after 9/11, when that group of booksellers showed us New Yorkers such affection. This time, after all the gift book talk and rep picks and great signings, the Quiz Bowl was an absolute hoot, and the last day brought one of the most useful panels ever: “How and Why to Write a Blurb.” E-mail me for the flow chart created by Wendy Sheanin of S&S.

Less cursing and a few tweaks are in order, but nothing major and certainly not fewer shows. Please. Nine is good. Essential. Just ask the first-time authors how they felt about the bookseller love they received at a regional, and ask the booksellers about the affection and appreciation given them by the now bestselling authors who came to speak.

Have a good holiday season, everyone. We're in this together.