A Book - And Author - We Love......

The BEA team, especially our sales execs, talk to nearly every exhibitor in the show – all 2,000 of them – multiple times in the months leading up to the show. We all know about Random House, Harper Collins, Ingram and so on, but a big part of the show are dozens of smaller companies made up of independent publishers, gift providers and yes, first time authors. Many of these authors are likely to never publish multiple books (due to money, time, how many stories they “have in them” and so on) but they are pursuing a dream. These authors need more time and attention than some of our other customers as this world is new to them and navigating it can be a confusing chore. However, every year, there are a few stories of amazing success from these groups. Maybe they get signed to a deal by a major publisher or the gift product they create is ordered by Borders or maybe it’s some media pick up they never expected……

This year, Deb from our sales team was incredibly passionate about helping one author in particular leading up to BEA. She spent hours on the phone with his publisher, went out to lunch with them, one day flowers showed up at her desk from the author, it was obvious this was more than just a customer to her. Deb even worked with Publishers Weekly to have the author highlighted in the BEA Show Daily. I was proud of the passion and hard work she was displaying to help this author be successful at BEA.

When I got to BEA I got to meet the author that Deb had been working so hard on behalf of – Connor Gifford, author of America According to Connor Gifford. I was amazed by Connors passion for his book, his desire for it to be read by everyone, his honestly and insightfulness and I could definitely see where Deb wanted to do everything she could to help Connor succeed with his dream to publish a book that would be read by thousands upon thousands.

Since BEA, Connor’s book has been featured in Shelf Awareness (twice), Publishers Weekly and even featured on the Today Show (follow the links to see the coverage). All of this is directly attributable to Connor and his abilities and personality, but I’m also struck by just how hard Deb worked to bring opportunities and attention to Connors book and I’m pleased to again illustrate that small authors can use BEA as a springboard to something bigger……



So why do we love Connor?

Not because he used BEA to help launch his book. Not because he’s a young man with down syndrome that has fought through the publishing jungle to print 30,000 copies of his book. We love Connor because he’s a great guy who’s written an exceptional book about America through his eyes.

Give it a read, you might be surprised by just how clear Connor’s vision of our country is.