Looking at BEA Through The Rearview Mirror

June 8th, 2005 · No Comments
by Booksquare

As we and others suspected, BEA was hot, sweaty, and filled with far too much swag — a normal human could not hope to carry everything without a rolling suitcase. The halls were crowded, and though we’d give an honorable mention to Random House for stealth re-introducing the lad lit idea, it’s clear the best booth in the house was 2857.

New York-based attendees had to cope with the knowledge that this year’s event wasn’t a chance to get away from it all, though Sam Tanenhaus pretended by refusing galleys (expensive and he gets at the office). Editors and other professionals succumbed to guilt by checking in with the office a little more often than a trip to Chicago would allow.

Yes, this is our way of saying that the Earth didn’t move and fireworks didn’t explode. Our prediction is that this year’s Expo will go down in history as vaguely memorable. Or. . maybe it will be recalled as a pivotal moment in history, a change so profound only we can see it. Dear readers, it appears that irony is attempting a low-key, slip-in-during-dessert sort of comeback.

Ms. [Gillian] Blake [of Bloomsbury] suggested that paperbacks might be an option if only agents would cut publishers some slack and “sell us a novel for $20,000.”

File Under: Publishers and Editors