Amazon Bursts Across Borders - But In What Language?

Amazon announced last week that international sales are up 40%. That’s 4. 0. that’s a lot of books being sold via, but not necessarily in the French, Chinese, German, UK and Japanese sites. It makes me wonder how many of those title were English language. I further wonder how many of those titles were shipped across a national border.

Being true to the blog format, I’m a novice (OK, slightly more than a novice) with an opinion: Were I in the business of rights (the buying and selling internationally) I would be keeping a keen eye on how Amazon is moving books across borders (except Amazon is quite tight lipped about such matters - as is there right).

When there is talk of content becoming increasingly liquid, one’s mind quickly jumps to downloads, Google and e format. However, the movement of content physically is becoming increasingly liquid as well. And in my semi novice opinion is contributing in an even greater way (currently at least) than digitization to the decreasing relevance of international rights.

I’m not sounding an alarm or issuing the death knell for sub rights, I’m just a semi novice guy making a semi coherent observation on the future of copyright in our industry.

-L

A New Wind Blows – As I Toot My Own Horn…….

I’ve had an interesting two weeks here at the mighty BEA Mother Ship. Prior to boarding a plane for lovely Frankfurt a few weeks back, I met with the big boss (or one of them) here at Reed. I feared my Gawker reading habits on the corporate PC finally caught up with me. Or worse yet, they were on to me and realized that I travel so much just so I’m hard to find and fire. Low and behold, the meeting was about me taking another step towards realizing my own personal Peter Principal. My fears were allayed when she in fact told me that I was getting the chance to do a little more around the hallowed halls of Reed here in Borwalk. It’s actually pretty cool, I’m now running New York ComicCon and the New York Anime Festival (beginning in 2008) in addition to BookExpo. The new shows are awesome and I’m ecstatic about working in media, pop culture and publishing in a broader sense – and Comic and Anime will give me just that kind of opportunity. It also means that finding a few minutes to blog will be even harder - and the 2 weeks it took me to type this up are proof positive. Alas, I promise to take care of the important things - Diet? No. Exercise? Wrong again. Blogging? Yup, that's the ticket. So give me a doughnut, a cigarette and a keyboard to blog from.

On the subject of other changes, Greg Topalian who conceived and launched ComicCon 2 years ago (and who used to run BEA before I hit the scene) will still oversee the show – or rather oversee me overseeing the show from his new perch as a senior vice president. Pretty cool, but he still doesn’t get a private bathroom (that I know of). In Reed cousin news, our pal Ron Shank from Library Journal is now a Group VP and oversees LJ, PW, SLJ, etc. He’s a good guy and it’s nice to see good things happen to good guys. Lastly, to prove that there is a world beyond Reed (oh god I pray there must be) Jessica Stockton, aka The Written Nerd just took a job with Bookstream doing what I would dream of doing – funky, creative, digital marketing/branding/strategy work. She’s going to be awesome in this role.

OK, so this was kind of a boring post, sorry about that. But I think this new role will be an exciting one and I’ve already begun to immerse myself in the world of all things ComicCon. You’ll see this blog completely rebuilt in the next couple of weeks to reflect my new role and a wider perspective on media, pop culture and publishing.

-L

Love Your Consultant Day and An Update From The Nightstand…..

For those of you that missed it, last Thursday was International Love Your Consultant Day. What did you do to show appreciation towards your on staff consultants or contract employees? For the BEA team we celebrated in Frankfurt and without a gift for Roger, BEA's crack consultant on all things PR and Event related, all I could offer was my love and appreciation:


And yes, I’ve made all of this up – I’m just very fond of Roger. Ashamed? Absolutely not. If you knew him you’d feel the same way…..

Just finished Steve Martin’s memoir about his early days in stand up – Born Standing Up, due out in December from Simon. (And an aside, when I went searchign for a link for you I find that ABE is selling the galley????) Nothing shocking (he never did drugs, no torrid affairs but he did have long hair and wear bad turquoise jewelry in the 70’s) but a nice read. His voice is honest and unpretentious but it left me wanting to know a little bit more. I think because he has a sweet way of telling his story, you really want to know more. I did enjoy learning that he got his start in performing at Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm. I’m always fascinated by the varying paths to success people take – and apparently his led through the magic shop at Disneyland.

On the nightstand now is Rock On: An Office Power Ballad by Dan Kennedy available in February from Algonquin. I’m one chapter in and loving it (but he did preface the book with a quote from The Replacements song Bastards of Young, so he kind of had me at hello). Dan appeared at the BEA sponsored Emerging Leaders party this June in Brooklyn and I also ran into him in Seattle last month and he’s a great guy – as funny in person as the first chapter of his book is. More when I finish and more posts when I have a few minutes to truly recover from my Roger smooch swoon….

-L

Icing on Struedel

As I begin my walk out of the messe tonight ready for beer, food, good company and rest I learn that A3, the main highway out of Frankfurt has been closed due to an accident and overcrowding. So it looks like we are popping a few beers in the BEA booth! The team building continues.........

Anyone out there have expierence in setteling European railway labor disputes? If so the Frankfurt Messe would love to hear from you (as would I).

L
Lance Fensterman
Event Director BookExpo America
Blog:

www.bookexpo-lance.blogspot.com

203-840-5507 (office)
203-417-3607 (mobile)
--------------------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld

Cranky Yankee in Deutschland

Greetings from day three from the Frankfurt book fair and I’m tired, grouchy and getting a little hazy between the ears. One of the dirty little secrets about me is I’m not a huge fan of trade shows. I prefer to think that makes me a complex individual, not an enormous charlatan. However, I always end up having a productive enjoyable time – with few exceptions. I think it’s not unlike facing a very long journey (like a flight to Europe), once you are on your way, you settle in and enjoy the ride. So I’ve been enjoying the ride (seeing colleagues from around the world, talking BEA, traipsing around the halls with my teammates and yes, enjoying some weinerschnitzel and weisen) but I’m at that point in the long journey (to continue my analogy) where my legs are starting to cramp, the guy in the seat next to me keeps hogging the armrest and I’m running out of things to read! So here are a few random musings from a cranky Yankee in Deutschland……

Feets Don’t Fail Me Now – The BEA team stays in a lovely little spa town outside of Frankfurt called Bad Homburg. It’s charming and a nice hotel and most importantly its cheap compared to the 800 euro a night hotel prices in the city proper. It’s a short 20 minute ride on the S Bahn to the messe – when there is labor harmony. This morning the rail workers went on strike leaving us without any means into the city. Picture 5 BEAers crammed into a 4 door Opal, cruising down the autobahn and navigating by committee. No one died (that we are aware of) and we made it on time. I like to think of it as a grand team building experiment.

A Rite Of Passage – Today I am a book man – I attended the heralded Bertelsmann party last night. My pal Stuart Applebaum, chief mouth piece for Random House North America, brought me an invite and I was in. It was the first party I’ve ever been to that required a map before you entered. It was a lovely affair and I got to connect with a more few people and maybe even made headway on a star for the Saturday night event at BEA (my lips are sealed)…….

Long Term Relationship – Chatted with S & S Canada Prez David Kent who reflected for a few minutes on author Doris Lessing being awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature this week. Kent has handled her books in some capacity since 1976. I reminded him that 76 was an important year for me as well (my birth) he then slugged me. Clearly this was an exciting and gratifying experience for the entire publishing community associated with Lessing, and will give her work new life. David did point out there are 22 or so backlist titles to now try to bring back to the public – no small task.

Milaniapolis – While in Milan last year I spent hours in the Hoepli bookstore – the largest independent in all of Italy (thus I would dare to guess Southern Europe) – after meeting Giovanni Hoepli, the third generation of Hoepli to run the 6 floor gem of a store. This afternoon I met his brother and co-owner Matteo, who I mistook for his son, which Mateo loved and promised not to share with Giovanni. In talking about bookselling, I mentioned running a bookstore in Minnesota and he said he’d been there. Of course I was curious what brought him to the hinterlands of Minnesota and his response? “UMBA”. Gotta love that a bookseller from Milan makes it to a regional bookseller show in Minnesota.

To tired to keep writing, and I’m facing a return drive on the autobahn, so I best wrap up….

-L

All Cliffs Notes Post - Me Is Messe Bound

I leave for the Frankfurt Book fair this afternoon which is less fun than one might think. Busy days and busy nights, lots of meetings and even more walking. I'll Mog (mobile blog) when I have time between bratwurst but in the meantime I bring you some Cliffs Notes......

Check out the spelling bee fundraiser from the Council of Literary Magazines & Presses. It’s a great fundraiser where you can see your literary superiors like Jonathan Burnham, Michael Cunningham, Adam Haslett and my very personal favorite Tad Smith (Chief Executive Officer, Reed Business Information) compete in a spelling bee all for the benefit of the CLMP (and your entertainment of course). Plus there will bee drinks and lots of word play, so bee there. Get tickets and details……

Please take a minute and check out the new event the BEA and the Miami Book Fair International are launching next month. If you have ever bemoaned that the U.S. is not open to foreign writers or translated literature, stop whining and learn how you can help to seed this part of industry at The Translation Market. Or maybe you are a an agent or translator wanting to improve you connection sin the business, please visit the web site. We hope this is a venture that will grow in coming years and perhaps in some small way can do something to support words in translation in this country.

Freedom to Blog! Chris Finan President of the The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression has been celebrating banned book week by working the entire time. Finan recently penned From the Palmer Raids to the Patriot Act (and he was nice enough to mail me copy, which sits on my night stand currently. Unread yes, but in the queue!) is doing a book tour and blogging from every stop. It's a great read.....

For your amusement, here is a shot of me enjoying the scenic splendor of Rocky Mountain National Forest – and of course, typing on my blackberry. Lame? Yes, but at least I don’t use one of those blue tooth ear pieces! My co-worker Steve Roasto was kind enough to add the text….God, this is starting to look like a Galley Cat posting featuring cute pet shots!

ReBosCap

So I've been to 3 regional bookseller shows in the last few weeks and had planned on hitting two more, but I had a sudden chance of plans. So this will serve as my official regional bookseller recap or as I shall call it: ReBosCap.

Instead of the usual recap of important things like the panels, the mood of booksellers, how much business was done, etc (my friend the Written Nerd did that to perfection for NEIBA and NAIBA, why even try) I thought I’d try to tell you the good stuff like who did something embarrassing, who got caught up in a trade show romance, gossip and so on. But alas, we are book people, so I have little dirt to share. So here are my quirky, meaning sugary, observations for you......

- Seeing Bill Roth from Ingram who first taught me how to use iPage almost 6 years ago in Denver.

- The pure comedy of watching Len Vlahos of the ABA and I attempt to assemble new signage the ABA was using for the first time. “Is this all the hardware that same with this?” “Where are the directions?” “Maybe we can use these document clips to hold it together” And for the record, the document clips worked…

- Meeting author Garth Stein who insisted he buy me a beer (seeing how he just inked a nice 7 figure book deal he felt it was a moral imperative!). He’s the he kind of author you like to see get that kind of deal.

- Craig Poplars hotel room party in Seattle. Tame by the standards Craig has now set, but temporary tattoos, cheap beer and book people can make for a lethal combination.

- Getting to spend some time talking with Michael Croy who was my first Random House rep (and salesman of the year for RH) who is now regional director of sales for S & S. We both laughed about where this business has taken us. I typically walk away from a show with one book and Michael gave me that one. The God of War by Marissa Silver, he only had a handful of bound manuscripts and his enthusiasm for the book is exactly what you wait for from a trusted source.

- Giving away in iPod to a Deborah Reifenstein of Hearthside Books (Juneau,
Alaska) and a color inkjet printer (courtesy of ABA) to Deon Stonehouse, Sunriver
Books (Sunriver, OR) and entering them both for a chance to win a hotel stay at BEA or a scholarship to the ABA Winter Institute. This is the second year that BEA and the ABA have been giving away these scholarships and trips. It’s great to find ways to get booksellers (especially someone form Juneau!) a chance to go to BEA or the Winter Institute. We did this at every regional show this year.

- Meeting Michael Gates Gill author of How Starbucks Saved My Life (who my pal Amanda Tobier is doing publicity for). Not as nice as Garth Stein, but that’s a tough standard to meet.

- Learning about Third Pace Books plans to help build an all independent mall in suburban Seattle. Imagine, a mall with nothing but locally owned indy stores, man! See my comments about Neil Standberg and looking for a spark out there. From the sounds of it, there’s a wildfire at Third Place.

- Listening to Neil Strandberg of the Tattered Cover accept the award for Mountains and Plains Bookseller of the Year. Neil is often heard to say that’s he’s looking for that spark out there and it was cool to see a guy who has represented just that spark to so many people win this award. I also really connected with the idea of searching for that spark. It’s part of what makes my job so much fun. I get to spend so many of my days talking to bright people from all over the world in our industry who are pursuing that very same spark in whatever form it takes. My hats are off the Neil for so many reasons……

Let's see if I have the same enthusiasm after my trip to Frankfurt this week.....

-L

I Don’t Tour Bookstores For A Living – I just Don’t Have Anything Else To Do…..

I’ve seen more good bookstores in the last 4 weeks than I can barely count. Let’s see if I can recap them for you…..

Elliot Bay Book Company – Seattle, WA
Common Good Books - St. Paul, MN
Wild Rumpus – Minneapolis, MN
Tattered Cover – Denver, CO
MacDonald Book Shop - Estes Park, CO
Third Place Books (both locations!) – Seattle, WA
Northern Lights Books and Gifts – Duluth, MN
Books and Books (2 locations) – Miami, FL
The Bookworm – Beijing China

I was to fly off to Oakland for the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association gathering tomorrow, but due to a quick change of plans I’ve got to stop in the Midwest before I make it out to the Bay Area. Regrettable as my list would grow longer with some of my favorite bookstores on the planet (Coady’s, Green Apple , City Lights, and on and on…..)

A few highlights from the bookstore I've loitered in lately (with a few live action shots, just for that added personal touch.....)

The staff picks at Elliot Bay Book Company– the absolute best I have ever seen. Who knew that someone else out there loved collections of Mike Royko’s columns. Or for that matter the short story collection, The Nimrod Flipout.

The Tattered Cover’s LoDo store. What about it? The whole damn thing! What a store. Here’s me trying to not look really geeky standing out front.

MacDonald Book Shop had the cutest biological bookmarks that gave details of the animals the can be found in Ricky Mountain National Park.

Third Place Books Ravenna has the most awesome pub in the basement complete with PAC NW craft brews and a bar (and walls) all made form the same piece or reclaimed timber.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of the list…….

-L