BEA 2010

Hello from The Troy Book Makers! After 4 successful years, we’ve decided it’s finally time to start blogging. Publishing has taken some pretty radical twists and turns recently, so we’d like this blog to be a place self-publishers can come for (1) news and info about trends affecting you; (2) educational links and comments about the process of book making and book selling; and (3) fyi ephemera about technology, gadgets, writing, paper, Amazon’s latest move, or other relevant info Comments welcome!

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Yesterday was the third and final day of this year’s BEA (Book Expo America). For those unfamiliar with the traditional publishing world, BEA has historically been a huge, swirling, international event where thousands of publishers, booksellers, authors, librarians, and others converge (this year: The Javitz Center in NYC) to socialize with industry professionals, get an advance look at hot fall titles, attend a talk or author signing, and generally be surrounded by the buzz and hype.

While I thought about posting what I observed this year (it was a little less swirly), I decided against it. Partly because there are already zillions of posts, feeds, tweets, articles, and analyses, and partly because book publishing seems to be splitting in half, with corporate publishing heading one way and self publishing heading another. While we all may eventually end up back at the same place, I thought I’d bring attention to an event that might be more relevant: Self Publishing Book Expo http://www.selfpubbookexpo.com/. It’s scheduled for October 2 in NYC. I’ll be watching their web site and, as the conference date nears, will mention anything that might be particularly useful.

For paper lovers: I’ll wrap up by mentioning a fascinating book I stumbled on yesterday in the Borders at Madison Square Garden, How To Make a Book by Esther K. Smith of Purgatory Pie Press. This link shows what Esther and her work are all about, http://www.purgatorypiepress.com/ Nice!