Book Expo America

Citation

Gelfand, J. (2003), "Book Expo America", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 20 No. 7. https://doi.org/10.1108/lhtn.2003.23920gac.004

Book Expo America

Book Expo America

Julia Gelfand

The annual Book Expo America (BEA) was held in Los Angeles, May 29-June 1. Always an incredible occasion for authors, publishers, publicists, booksellers, rights professionals, information providers and librarians, this event is as close to the annual international event held every autumn in Frankfurt as it gets to seeing what content will be commercially available in coming weeks and months. For librarians, it is a different trade show and conference experience than others associated with the work we do. This is because librarians are a minority stakeholder at BEA since the emphasis is on building relationships between content producers and their commercial front-ends. Librarians may purchase, acquire, and lease information but it is not on the scale of a bookseller who is negotiating multiple copies of works for potentially multiple commercial enterprises or locations. Whereas the librarian is usually interested in learning about the content and may buy a single copy or one for each of selected branch locations in a public library setting.

There are many types of events associated with BEA but one that has traditionally been very important and informative is Day of Dialog, co-hosted by Library Journal and usually the local public library wherever the venue is. This year the co-host was Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) and the event was at the recently renovated majestic Central Library in downtown Los Angeles to which Susan Kent, City Librarian, welcomed us. It had been since 1999 that BEA was last on the west coast. In those four years, library budgets have been challenged as the greatest growth in published output became available and the maturity of the digital content was established in the marketplace.

Francine Fialkoff, Editor of Library Journal presided and moderated several sessions she organized. The attendance included about 180 librarians and publishing and information industry personnel associated with servicing library accounts and needs. Many librarians represented large public libraries, with fewer coming from the academic library sector, and a large number were from the local and regional area.

The first session, "Why can't library distributors be more like Amazon or B&N: the view from vendors" was informative. Panelists included George Coe, Head of the Library Division of Baker & Taylor; Larry Price from Ingram; Peter Tobey, V.P. of Marketing at Brodart; Gary Kirk, V.P. of the Library Corporation representing library OPAC vendors; and Anne Connor, a librarian at LAPL.

We were reminded that most customers, meaning individuals as well as the library as customer, want product distribution to be information intensive and simple to use and access to be intuitive. Those elements describe the interface of Amazon.com and other successful online booksellers. Data have to be easy to navigate and retrieve and the more customized it is to the customer the more successful and likely return business will be.

Amazon is a mammoth database and includes multiple products now and tries to offer enhancements that make customers more informed about the product. This may include book jackets, content reviews, a star system that offers some ranking viability, and other features. OPAC development has not had it so easy to redesign a graphical outcome and libraries are often stuck with a "dated" front-end. As OPACs compete more they have become central in the Internet-enabling industry and have begun to respond to customer direct fulfillment (CDF) via different services libraries are launching. Library systems vendors are expanding their reach with book vendors offering interface exchanges for MARC records, shelf-ready copy, better fund and management control systems, local grids, and integrating with other information services such as links to book reviews, etc.

Libraries tend to purchase 90 percent of their stock from 6 percent of the publishers. Librarians also are changing methods in selecting, ordering and processing content. This means that there are more efforts underway to get content shelf-ready with necessary records that can be added to the online catalog immediately. This requires having extended data ready at the time choices to order are made. Sometimes difficulties arise because the lack of data transmissions from publishers to the vendor community is slow. Currently about 60 percent of the communications about titles are done electronically, but out of 12,000 publishers only a small number can perform electronic transfer reliably, thus book-in-hand processing still goes on.

The lack of universal standards remains problematic. This is necessary to engage in more and faster name/subject authority work. Legacy systems among OPACs require new enhancements for fulfillment and the soon to be 13-digit ISBN that will be released in 2005 poses additional challenges.

Publishers fear returns from vendors and they in turn fear them from libraries. With the lifespan of mass market titles standing at about six weeks, there remains enormous pressure to promote, sell and move the content very quickly. When libraries order retrospective materials, the lifespan is extended but the content may not always be available. The release of material in multiple formats sometimes simultaneously and usually at different intervals poses difficulties and challenges for all customers. The adoption of eBooks is growing slowly and all parties continue to learn from those experiences.

Significant discussion took place about budget and economic concerns. With more content to evaluate, the trends in the marketplace with more restrictive budgets, short-term futures, and the dim horizon for discounting practices, everyone is cautious. Libraries are trying to reduce processing, and want to see more physical intellectual turn-key/out of the box product and thus there are more pressures placed on vendors who need to change constantly the mix of what they offer. New demographics of readership populations also place greater demands on libraries to provide a larger range of content, in more languages, delivery formats, with a variety of enhancements. The profit margins are slimmer and respond to customer demands – for instance there is virtually no profit in paperbacks but customers buy a lot of them – thus why books are often released in hardback first.

The economic picture is dictated by several increases that appear to be not in the control of publishers or vendors but a new fact of business life. Labor, freight and inventory costs soar, as does the investment in new and emerging technologies to perform many of the tasks expected by each element in the information production chain, plus the fact that libraries can now engage in cascade shopping. This means that they can determine the availability of content in warehouses and adjust order sizes and usually adjust downward. According to the trade, libraries get better terms than retail for returns and just doing business in general.

Print runs are perceived as being shorter and thus the out-of-print markets are challenged. Print-on-demand has begun to replace product that is not in print and with new technologies coming along, we can expect to see growing databases containing demand for on demand rather than anticipating demand. The used book markets have created new alliances that are increasingly seamless and linked with front-end suppliers. New virtual partners have evolved in many other markets, including the foreign language, music and STM silos.

Libraries and librarians have become more sensitive to using data that describes their collection and users, and this is now dependable enough that it has begun to inform decision making in acquisitions and selection work. Library metrics are a major role we are all working on by coordinating data from many sources and creating databases that can manage it.

The second session in this Day of Dialog was devoted to "Authors on tour." It was particularly interesting to see the increasing intersections by authors and publicists and librarians to promote certain works and the relationship of author and reader. Participating in this session were Kathryn Blough, V.P. Association of American Publishers; Elizabeth Fabian, Library Marketing Manager for Random House; Chappel Langmack from the King County, Washington Public Library; Louise Stienman from Los Angeles Public Library; the author Dennis Lehane; and Francine Fialkoff served as moderator.

It was a very fun session, and promoted the concept that publishers are very willing to work with readers and sponsors to create successful author events. Often times these events are planned months in advance and are part of the budget needed to release the title. There is a new matchmaking database that links authors to libraries for such events. The publicist for the title is the key contact at the publisher. Other successful venues include bookstores. Most authors agree to do a short reading from the work, and describe their roadway taken to develop the ideas, character and some personal information about themselves and are willing to engage in signings. The plan is to sell books and encourage greater visibility for the work. Dennis Lehane shared how he really enjoys participating in library events and how he conducts his research about ideas and characters in libraries, but encourages us to respect the channels and work with his publisher. Many authors are geographically restricted and do not travel. He says that as a "skeptical optimist, he is tactile and cherishes that relationship with his readers." Technology lends to more developments in e-mail, Webcasting, streamlining and engaging in interviews with book clubs, but the "live theatre" of a public appearance with an author is still preferred.

Being careful not to abuse that relationship has to be stressed. Remember, most authors write every day and a heavy schedule of appearances disrupts their productivity. A reprint of "Booking authors: advice from the pros" (Library Journal, Vol.’128 No. 3, Febrary 15, 2003) was distributed and can summarize many themes that were explored at this session.

The two sessions I was regrettably unable to attend included, "Audio book trip: bringing it to the market: perspectives from the producer, reader and buyer," and "Reading the trends: what the publishers are buying, what you should be buying." I am sure that the audience continued to actively participate in this "Day of Dialog."

The rest of BEA was equally exciting after this good start. There were more than 2,000 exhibitors from around the world, 1,200 publishers introducing 20,000 new titles. There were close to 100 educational sessions, 650 author signings, and a variety of special events, the largest International Rights Marketplace and a concourse devoted to the "eBook experience and technologies." The publishing cycles are basically just before BEA and just prior to Frankfurt in October meaning new content for the holiday gift-buying seasons. For libraries on different fiscal calendars this is sometimes a challenge.

Book reviewing products and processes are always explored at BEA. However vibrant the show was, there were some absences. Some sad celebrations took place – the noted absence of Tom Auer, editor of the Bloomsbury Review who died on April 18 was deeply felt by many constituencies and colleagues.

The only special event I attended was a librarians lunch hosted by Bowker where we learned of new techniques that will be introduced in lining up their products and service in coming months.

However exhausting it is to cover this trade show, it is always exhilarating. My husband, nephew and friends all benefit by the large number of books, advanced copies and merchandise I collect. BEA remains the capstone and premier book event for North America. The 2004 BEA will be June 2-6 in Chicago.

Julia Gelfand(jgelfand@uci.edu) is the Applied Sciences and Engineering Librarian at the University of California, Irvine Libraries, California, USA.