Where have I been?

Since I last wrote, not much has happened. I've been working steadily for Egmont and getting them ready for BEA and ALA this July. I've been reading. Cooking. You know the drill.

This past weekend was BEA - Book Expo America - one of the very largest gatherings and exhibits for books. The people who attend BEA are predominately booksellers from all across the country and even the world, but more librarians are attending BEA every year. There is also a good number of agents, authors, illustrators, and of course, just about every publisher you have ever heard of and plenty more that you haven't. BEA is big. This year was supposedly smaller than previous years with the economy and all, but I really didn't feel like there was a big change. The exhibit floors seemed crowded, autographing lines were long, and the big banners were up in the entrance hall. I did notice that there were fewer mountains of books for the taking and the only way to get many of the books or galleys was when the author was autographing. A few publishers were still stacking up books by the hundreds. I repeatedly visited these publishers to get the next title they were putting out.

At BEA, books are free. I picked up all YA titles from publishers such as HarperCollins (who was doing e-galleys for the first time), Little Brown, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Candlewick, Simon & Schuster, and Random House. Egmont was one of the publishers that was giving away galleys every day. I only picked up three adult titles - two from Harper and one of those two is actually an audio book, and one from Little Brown.

I also noticed there was less swag. There were fewer tote bags being handed out, too. I did get an umbrella at Little Brown, but that was about the only swag I saw or cared to pick up. As I had to work in the Egmont booth for part of a day and then escort authors, I didn't get to attend any of the industry panels that were going on. I also didn't see as many celebrities as I did last year when BEA was in LA. Last year I spotted Alec Baldwin, Hugh Hefner, Dione Warwick, some ABC news correspondent whose name I can't remember now (maybe Richard E/Angle?), Dr. Ruth, and Barbara Walters. This year it was Kathy Lee Gifford. Yeah, she was autographing two tables down from where I was with an Egmont author who was also autographing. Supposedly, three of the Top Chef contestants were also around but they were way down at the other end of the hall, so I didn't see them.

As far as author celebrities go, I missed Neil Gaiman and James Patterson, but I did see Meg Cabot. She's the author of the Princess Diaries series and more.

As you can see from all these names and free book free-for-all, BEA is a bit of a circus. While there weren't as many costumed characters this year, there were a few scantily clad women promoting things. One was directly across from the Egmont booth. She was in a skimpy bikini and holding a guitar. Apparently, she's the star of a video this company was selling about learning to play guitar. She is in the bikini while teaching the guitar on the video. I guess this is a teaching method that might work for a certain demographic . . . The other women were dressed in South American-style carnival costumes and were dancing to drums while handing out postcards promoting a new e-reader. O-kay . . . ?

BEA is not a public trade show like a car show is. But a badge can be purchased by anyone. Price is just higher for a non-industry badge. It's every year at the end of May and usually rotates between NYC, LA, and Chicago.

I think I will now end this blog entry and go read on the deck. I was very excited to get the sequel to THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins. It's called CATCHING FIRE. Scholastic was handing out 1,000 copies of it and I happened to be in the right place at the right time to get it. I got HUNGER GAMES last year at BEA and it is one of the best books of last year. FAB!