A Bookseller Calls It Quits After a Life in The Stacks

Sarah Willams, a friend and Books Editor at the Minneaplois Star Tribune has a great profile of bookseller Brian Baxter who is leaving Birchbark Books after 40 years of handselling (I'll paste the link at the bottom as I'm mogging from the BBerry).

There are not many in our business that make it to 40 years. I remeber shopping in Baxters Books in downtown Minnespolis when I was younger.

Here's the long link to the story:

http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/books/12870046.html?page=2&c=y

- L
Lance Fensterman
Industry Vice President
BookExpo America
New York ComicCon
Blog:

www.bookexpo-lance.blogspot.com

203.840.5507 (o) 203.417.3607 (m)
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Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld - Please excuse any typos!

Happy Holiday's - Late, Of Course......

As per my post last night, I am finally able to sit at a real computer and blog......


I'm back from a holiday visit to the family in the hinterland (Minnesota) and back in the blogging saddle (and back to therapy to work through all of my family dealings of the last few days). I've got a bunch of posts to catch you up on, but I'll start with the holiday cards we sent out for Book and NY ComicCon as my means of a late holiday greeting.



The BEA card is a bit of an inside joke, but if you were at the Javits Center in June and sweating your ass off, you'll get it.

Last on the holiday front is a song from a good friend of mine, Alec Duffy. Alec is a playwright and composer I've known since we were pimply faced kids in Minnesota (now we're pimply faced adults on the East Coast) and he won a holiday song writing contest from the musician Sufjan Stevens on the site Asthmatic Kitty Records. OK, this all too much detail, I know, but listen to the song, it's awesome - Alec Duffy's Everyday is Christmas.

-L

Nothing Will Stop Me From Blogging.......

I'm back from a holiday with the family ready to blog, but then work stuff got in the way. I then started to post holiday greetings (the cards we sent out for BEA and NYCC) and I don't have the files. So I move on, but The Editor-in-Chief needs the desktop. Then going to see the the flick Juno stopped my intended blogging (it's awesome by the way). I turn to the laptop to blog once back home, but like most Reed technology it freezes constantly and never works properly. Now the dryer keeps buzzing at me. I then try to blog on my favorite gift - my new iPod Touch, but I can't seem to put text into the body of Blogger.com. So here I am on my trusty Blackberry and all I can do is tell you what cool posts are coming!

To that point: Holiday cards from both shows that are awesome. News from London, Minnesota and the pop culture world. A new blog design asap. And lots o links.

For now I'm just happy I wrote this, did the laundry and saw Juno.

Happy holidays and more to come when I can find a device that I can cut, paste, link and use more than my thunbs to type.

L
Lance Fensterman
Industry Vice President
BookExpo America
New York ComicCon
Blog:

www.bookexpo-lance.blogspot.com

203.840.5507 (o) 203.417.3607 (m)
--------------------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld - Please excuse any typos!

Still In London, Thinking of Anime.....

Cool coverage from the NYC local news on the Anime Fest

- L

London Calling, With Sticky Fingers

Read on and you'll see just how clever the word play in the title really is.....

I left the Anime Fest early as I had to fly to London for the week on business - which is where I type from now. I'll certainly get updates on the fest to share with you but at last account (around 4 yesterday) there were about 6,000 walk up Anime fans that hit the inaugural show floor with a flurry. Again, check out the Del Ray blog for great photos and updates.

I arrived in London last night and surprise, surprise, it's cold, rainy and windy! Who would have thought? I'd been on the ground for less than half a day when, while enjoying one last pint before turning in, The Editor-In-Chief's (The Editor-in-Chief is how the former Mrs. BEA will now be refereed to from this date forward to refelct my new duties. Please make a note for your archives) purse was snatched! Yup, we were busy having a discussion about how she likes London over NYC as it's cleaner, less gritty and better organized and then, poof, her purse with credit cards, passport, cash, gum and tissues are gone (no, not the gum!!!)

I don't know what disturbs me more, the theft or the seemingly love affair they have with Gordon Ramsey over here. I visited a few bookstores and counted now less than 4 titles, 3 of them in hardcover, on the shelves! Also, a fair amount of shelf space committed to Anime and Manga but Graphic Novels were non existent.

So the blog may be quiet this week, save for a few updates, as I'll be in meetings from 7am until 10pm most days. Yeah, lucky me. In my "spare time" I'll be looking for flats in case the Editor-in-Chief can't get papers to come home!

Cheers!

-L

Update From Sharjah - 2 A Gust Blogger!

BookExpo America is working to engage the Arab publishing world on behalf of U.S. Publishers, in part by working with our longtime partner, The American Collective Stand on a New Title Showcase exhibit of American publishers books. BEA’s Steven Rosato is in Sharjah this week working hard to flog U.S. publishers in the United Arab Emirates…..Here is his second post

A Day in the Desert


Day 3 in Sharjah and we have had a chance to venture out into Sharjah as well as Dubai. The amount of new construction is unfathomable. One third of the world's construction cranes are in use in the Dubai and Sharjah region. I could not begin to count the number of buildings under construction bigger than 40 stories, including what will also be the tallest building in the world when it is completed. We dined in view of the The Burj Al Arab last night and marveled at some of the incredibly unique architecture that abounds.


The Fair has been fascinating - there is a huge interest in English language titles, especially business, scientific, technical and medical. Our stand is different in that we are promoting the books with display copies compared to the other exhibitors who are sell their books for the duration of the show. Still, the traffic and inquiries have been more than we could have anticipated.


Emma House (LBF), Jon Malinowski (Combined Book) managed to get on the front page of the local paper for our audience with the Governor. I also learned that traveling with Terrence Heeney from Ingram can be risky business - keeping us all entertained with his traveling exploits that include 9 car wrecks, 2 plane crashes and one plane delay where a passenger attempted to bring on his deceased Grandmother in a garment bag to avoid shipping fees as a carry on.......gladly, Terrence is on a separate flight heading home.

- Steve Rosato

Anime Fest is Here!!!

Day one started with professionals only, and then the floodgates opened on the inaugural New York Anime Festival!!!! Over 6,000 tickets were sold in advance and walk up ticket sales were picking up as the day went on......

Anime Fest Update.....

The ICV2 conference was well attended and the aisles were starting to get jammed with freight from all the exhibitors getting ready for the crush of fans sure to hit the Anime Fest tomorrow bright and early. Retailer and online sales for the first ever New York Anime Fest have been crazy enough that we opened up registration and ticket pick up a day early today.

How crazy will it be tomorrow? Check out this photo from the command center deep in the bowels of the Javits Center as we map out just where all of the lines of the thousands of fans will go! Pictured is the captain of the ship, John McGeary......

Also, visit the Del Ray Manga blog - they are doing live blogging from the show, handing out cool stuff form the booth, and stoking the fires of speculation about the big announcement they'll be making in regards to a team up with Marvel at Anime on Sunday. Cos Players - check out to win cool swag from Del Ray here!

Here's shot of the chaos behind the scenes before the chaos all over the place that Anime promises to bring!

Dispatches from Sharjah – Guest Blogger!

BookExpo America is working to engage the Arab publishing world on behalf of U.S. Publishers, in part by working with our longtime partner, The American Collective Stand on a New Title Showcase exhibit of American publishers books. BEA’s Steven Rosato is in Sharjah this week working hard to flog U.S. publishers in the United Arab Emirates…..Here is his first post

Day 2 at the Sharjah Book Fair. The first Arabic phrase I have learned: 'zachma' means 'crazy traffic' which would aptly apply to the Van Wyck under the worst conditions is the norm for daily commuting in Sharjah. I am here as a guest of the Sharjah Book Fair along with colleagues from LBF, Combined Book Exhibits, Ingram and Gardners (the UK wholesaler). Our purpose was to bring the latest English Language titles to the largest book fair in the Arabic world. We brought over 430 titles from Canadian, the UK and US publishers. Our hosts from Sharjah have been wonderful and enthusiastic sponsors, having us as guests at a state dinner with the Govenor of Sharjah. The Govenor is a passionate patron of culture and the arts, making the Sharjah Book Fair a personal priority. He announced at our dinner that he will commit to funding a certification program for translators to support efforts to translate English language titles into Arabic. This will address the shortage of translators to serve the growing demand. In our audience with his Highness, he intimated it was very important to translate books from the US in particular along with books from the UK to build a bridge based on understanding coming from culture and an absence of political views.

I have not ridden a camel as of yet, but am hopeful to get the chance because it has to be faster than the damn zachma that takes 45 minutes to drive 5 kilometers between our hotel and the book fair. Again, I must acknowlege our gracious hosts, in particular their Director, Dr. Yusef Aydabi, that have thought of every detail in our stay, making us feel very welcome and comfortable.

Surprise! Get Your Anime Fest Ticks Tomorrow - A Day Early!

Clearly we are expecting some great crowds at the Anime Festival this weekend because we've decided to open up registration a day earlier! So beat the crowd and pick up your tickets one day early! Avoid the lines...and the cold by coming down the Javits center on Thursday, December 6 from noon- 5pm (EST) and pick up your NYAF tickets earlier than everyone else. Ticket counters will reopen the following day, Friday, December 7 at 8am (EST).

See you there, it's going to be awesome!

-L

PS - Our staff shirts are blaze orange, so we'll look like constructions workers......

What A Phony

Check out the Catcher in the Rye New York City tour from cnn.com