Did you attend the Expo’s? What are your thoughts on the future of publishing, blogging and social media? Comment below.
On May 24 and 25 I attended two expos at the Jacob Javits Center. Book Expo America and Blogworld combined resources and produced one interesting show. The photo on the left is just some of the “stuff” I acquired. There are about five more books under the pile waiting for me to read them (someday). There were people taking so much stuff they had shipping stations for attendees to send their stuff home.
I have about three different avenues that I pursue when attending these type of events. First I want to meet publishers and develop a relationship for future guests for my show, I want to gather information for writers and my writing site, next I am interested in promoting my own business and making contacts. But that is not all, I am gathering information for myself and clients, I am learning things, meeting new people and exchanging ideas. I am learning about new software, how to monetize YouTube and discovering that other people are also absolutely overwhelmed and excited about how fast the world is moving. My mind is always expanded. I see how people run their businesses. At BEA you will see huge publishers with big booths, nice carpeting and lots of activity and then there is the self-publisher with the tiny booth and table who has the opportunity to have a conversation with you about their work.
I asked one publisher what they got out of it. He told me the early years were all about making contacts and gaining rights to promote their books to a larger audience. Now it is continuing to develop those relationships and get themselves in front of an interested audience. There is so much that goes on in publishing that I can’t begin to comprehend and each time I attend a show I add more knowledge to my arsenal of understanding.
How we read books is changing and ebooks and the use of mobile media was evident. Publishers are waking up and realizing that the technology will change forever the books we now read. It takes a couple of days for me to weed through the material I received, digest the information I learned and make sense of it all.
I ran into several of my show guests at the Expos – here are three.
Sandra Lee Schubert & Marc Allen - New World Library BEA11 2
Sharon Lechter & Greg Reid BEA11
