I was in Cambridge, Massachusetts last week and was able to get a pass (through Kirsten Cappy of Curious City) to the NEIBA (New England Independent Booksellers Association) Conference in Boston for the Friday exhibition. Actually, Lita was planning to go, but later our plans changed so I ended up going in her place. My badge had Lita’s name on it but I’m not sure anyone noticed. Anyway I wanted to mention two books I saw, and post a few notes from a good panel discussion I attented.
First, our good friend Kim Cunningham, from Hancock, New Hampshire has a book coming out in October, published by David R. Godine. I checked the Godine booth for a copy of the book but they only had a postcard, so I hope the book is actually ready in October.
Kim is an amazingly talented artist. This book shows her print art, but she’s best known locally for her dump art creations. Here’s a blurb from a recent show—she creates multi-media collages from roadside trash found while traveling. An artist who uses what is available and finds worth in the worthless. She’s collected trash in France, Santa Fe, the coast of Maine, and throughout New England.
I also saw a great looking (and quite expensive) book at the Harvard University Press table. I kept trying to get a close look but the Harvard booth person kept asking me what bookstore I was from and I was never able to adequately answer her. Anyway, the book was about Audubon’s early drawings. I couldn’t find a good picture of the cover on-line, but here’s the image that is on the cover:
I also listened to a panel discussion (addressed to booksellers) about How to Make Publishers Love You. The topic was specifically about children’s and young adult books and how to get author/illustrators to bookstore events and how to make those events successful. There are a variety of publicity related jobs at the various publishers and the panel was well represented: Linda Magram, VP Children’s Book Marketing (Houghton); Kathy Space, Inside Sales (Penguin); Jason Wells, Director of Marketing and Publicity (Abrams); Katie McGary, Children’s Book Rep (S&S); Deb Shapiro, Director of Publicity (Bloomsbury). The panel was moderated by Vicky Uminowicz from Titcomb’s Bookshop, East Sandwich, Massachusetts .
There were so many topics discussed that it’s difficult to summarize, but here are some of my notes. Regarding author events, the publishers hope that the independent bookstores: (1) know their community well and can create events that include the local schools and libraries, (2) can come up with creative ideas for events, (3) can work together, at times, to co-sponsor events, (4) are prepared for events (signs, newspaper coverage, all store staff know about the event and the author’s backlist). Everyone agreed that even an event with 4 people attending can be a success. Selling 10 books at an event is great. The bookstores mentioned that publicist turnover is high and that they wish there was better continuity between outgoing publicists and new publicists—so the information that led to a great event one year doesn’t get lost and the success is possible to achieve again. I also got the message that publishers want their author/illustrators to always arrange bookstore events through the publisher. Since the publisher doesn’t often arrange any events for their new people, the practical thing to do (for an author/illustrator) is to start local and arrange some events, but keep the publicist in the loop. Bookstore events are tough when you get out of your local area so it’s often best to let the publisher call the shots for these events.
I’m always so encouraged at these types of panels because I realize that all these professionals—from the publishers and from the independent bookstores—love books. It was also encouraging to hear that they want the new author/illustrators to succeed and they want to develop new talent. But the first step toward success is to get the people at the publisher excited. Focus on the books.
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