REPORT

BOOKEXPO AMERICA NEW TITLE SHOWCASE New York, NY June 5-7, 2012

BookExpo America has, for the past few years at least, somewhat struggled with its identity: while it is an international fair in the sense of exhibitor and attendee bases—and with its international rights center—it doesn’t have the “rights focus” of international fairs like Bologna, London, Beijing or Frankfurt; BookExpo is a major step for book launches, and BEA’s own slogan of “The Content and the Buzz” proves the fair is making an attempt at being a major media event, but it’s not the clear focus of the show; finally, the varied attendees play into this being just as much a and bookseller information gathering event as much as any of the above guesses. So, while BEA remains a mixed-bag type of event, at least for now, it’s finding that, as the world’s largest English-language book fair, there’s no question BookExpo is an important event for whatever you’re trying to accomplish.

There’s a lot of evidence pointing to the importance of the fair, starting with the numbers: just under 36 thousand people were onsite, up nearly one thousand from last year. The exhibit floor was made up of over 1 thousand exhibitors from 25 countries, with attendees coming from more than 85 different countries to New York for the fair, making it a truly international event. BookExpo America also teamed up with PubMatch to provide a virtual networking opportunity for exhibitors before the fair, in an added effort to add more of an international rights presence to the overall feel of the fair. Playing into the media event of it all BookExpo America also offers a number of educational opportunities, as well as fun panels with famous authors, editors announcing upcoming , and major book launches. Many of the events were streamed online to an audience of close to 60 thousand people worldwide.

Along with the streaming of events, BEA added other technological opportunities, starting with the Showcase in the New Title Showcase. The launch of the eBook Showcase allowed authors and publishers to showcase their along with their print books in this official BookExpo exhibit. The popular area featured 125 titles across three large screens that made a splash with attendees and exhibitors alike as this new section drew booksellers, librarians, media and more to the ebook titles on display.

The remainder of the NTS, including all of the print books, was as popular as ever. Located in the lobby of the Jacob Javits Convention Center in NY, this exhibit saw immediate traffic starting as soon as it opened on June 4th—a full day before the main exhibit hall. Some of the most popular books and ebooks came from BookBuzz.net, Captin McFinn and Friends, Xlibris, Lulu, winners of the Nautilus Book Awards, Pearle Pages , and J.T. Hatter.

This year’s booth representatives were Margaret Sexton, Chris Malinowski, Peter Birch, Jon Malinowski and Seth Dellon. Next Year’s BookExpo America will take place June 4-6 in New York.