Post BEA
The Book Expo America was, in short, an invaluable experience. Not only did I get to see Babs up close as she was interviewed by Oprah’s right hand lady, Gayle King, but I got to see the inner workings of how the publishing world operates.
The publishers display volumes of their upcoming books for the coming season and then the owners/buyers of the bookstores come and peruse the books and place their orders based on what they liked.
There are also self-published authors that are are walking around seeking major publishers for greater distribution of their work.
On top of that there were over a hundred authors holding book sighings, TV and radio interviews being conducted, breakfast round table discussions being held with Jon Stewart (he has a new book coming out, entitled “Earth”), luncheon, or more like druncheon discussions being held with Christopher Hitchens (he has a new memoir coming out called “Hitch 22″ and he lived up to his notorious reputation by conducting his speech while drinking a stiff one), and what seemed like a million people bustling around. It was organized chaos and I walked away completely impressed.
The highlight for me, though, was the moment I walked into the Chronicle Books Booth and got to hold my book in my hands for the first time. I was completely elated and felt my primary ping of accomplishment.
This is a total aside, but I was really surprised to learn that the book seller of the year award went to City Lights of San Francisco! I couldn’t help but glow with pride for them since it’s one of my personal favorite bookstores in the country that I’ve had the pleasure of visiting.
