Booths at BEA10

These are some of the more visually interesting booths I saw at BEA 2010.

More BEA 2010 Photos

More photos I took at BookExpo America 2010.

The Image Comics booth.


Osprey Books! I used many titles from their "Men-at-Arms" series for World War One research. I, umm, visited them twice. A sales and marketing person found me (and my uses for their books) quite amusing, I think. Since their main audience is usually wargamers and historical reenactors.


Upcoming books from Small Beer Press. The Kathe Koja historical is out in October. It's set in a brothel. I'm also looking forward to the collection of Karen Joy Fowler's newer stories.


Cleis Press. I sold my first story to a Cleis anthology.

Final BEA 2010 Report

Today I had the happiness of introducing people to each other because they ought to have known one another already but didn't. (I think I got those tenses right...I'm really tired!) I first met up with erotica writer Sacchi Green, whom I met many years ago at a reading for Best Lesbian Erotica, in which we both had stories. We wandered the floor and I got to see things from a different perspective: she owns two stores, that sell some books but also a lot of subsidiary items such as stuffed animals, magnetic poetry, and novelties. I got to see a little of how her buying decisions were made and learn how those companies (such as Folkmanis, makers of stuffed animals and puppets) operate. We had an early lunch and I introduced Sacchi to Meredith Schwartz; both of them have edited erotic anthologies, and both write erotica as well. Later, I introduced Sacchi to a publishing friend who lives near her, and who's actually been to her store; they'd never managed to meet before.

After leaving Sacchi, I met with my agent for a drink and then wandered the floor for a while with friend Cecilia Tan; we went together to visit a mutual friend, Keith DeCandido, who was signing comics. I hadn't realized some of Cecilia's books that were coming out in print this fall actually had a display! So we walked over to the Red Wheel booth and I took pictures of her with them (you can see one in the previous post).

Now, I'm off to dinner with some local friends. It's been a fun conference!

BEA 2010 Pictures, Thursday

Sculpture of a typewriter. I think it was the Abrams booth.


Poster for Lucienne Diver's new book Revamped.


Delia Sherman and publisher Gavin Grant of Small Beer Press, signing copies of Interfictions 2 in the autograph area. The chutes are less scary when friends are at the end of them!


Cecilia Tan with some of her upcoming books from Red Wheel.

BEA 2010 Photos

Megan Frampton and Kwana Jackson near the exhibition halls. Alas, they cannot tell you what the story is on Google Books.


Sarah Beth Durst and Laura Anne Gilman in the Harlequin booth. (Isn't that the perfect slogan to headline a picture? What aren't they telling us? Heh.)


The unobscured poster:


The autographing area.


Checked bags full of free books.

More Live from BEA 2010!

My feet are starting to hurt. I planned to stop by the autographing session with Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier, to say hi, except when I saw the cattle-chute arrangement and the vast hordes of people signing and waiting for signatures, I retreated in terror.

I continue to have good luck finding people I know. On my way from visiting Laura Anne Gilman and Christine Merrill at their Harlequin signing, I ran into Ellen Kushner, whom I hadn't seen in a while. We chatted for a while, exchanged looks at our new projects, and then wandered over to visit Small Beer Press, which was part of a Consortium. I spent a pleasant while chatting with Gavin Grant, someone else whom I haven't seen in quite a while, and was introduced to Juliet Ulman of Pugilist Press. On my way to the autographing, I ran into Esther Friesner.

Exciting exhibitor booths I found: Osprey Press! Home of all those lovely focused, detailed World War One books I use for research! And I visited the Cleis Press booth, and was able to tell them how happy I was to be published by them over the years. I also visited the Feminist Press of City University of New York, and got a free button with their logo.

Yes, my quest to remain schwag-less has failed. I have one category romance (signed), a Harlequin tote bag (I can't turn down my own publisher!), the button from Feminist Press, and an ARC from Small Beer, intended for a friend who often reviews.

I did hand out a few cover flats. So far, the response to the new cover has been very positive.

Live from BEA 2010!

Just a quick report.

I was a bit overwhelmed for a few moments when I first stepped into the Javits, but soon realized that Book People were all around me. I keep thinking I recognize people whom I've never seen before, because they have that aura of Book about them!

I visited the RWA booth and also Harlequin's booth, delivered some free chocolate I'd brought for the booth staff, snapped a bunch of photos of the large crowds of people, and then, purely by chance, ran into a Twitter friend, whom I'd never met in person before. Much wandering ensued, including me refusing many free books, tote bags, chapsticks, flyers...everything, in fact, since I didn't want to carry anything around, and I figured the freebies would serve a better purpose going to booksellers and librarians, anyway. I did get a free comic from the Image Comics booth.

So far, I've run into writer friends Christine Merrill, Sarah Beth Durst (actually, Sarah found me!), Laura Anne Gilman, and briefly, Holly Black. I am debating attending a Harlequin party tonight. It's offsite, and I suspect I will be too tired and overstimulated to really enjoy myself.

I did hand out a few of my cover flats for The Duke and the Pirate Queen. I have to remember I'm carrying them! Hopefully, I'll do better with that this afternoon, now that I have a better feel for the show and where things are.

I'll post photos either tonight or tomorrow morning.

My Crosstown Constitutional

I made it into New York last night only a little late. Amid the rush hour of people leaving work, I checked in to my hotel and took a leisurely crosstown stroll to meet friends for dinner.

Here are some of the photos I took on my walk. I tried to choose things I'd seen many times, but rarely or never photographed. For example, the Empire State Building.


Old architecture is my favorite.


I love water towers! I took more than one picture of water towers, but am sparing you.


The Chrysler Building is my favorite New York City skyscraper.


Now I'm off to the Javits to register for BEA and actually begin my conference!

BEA 2010

I am at BookExpo America today and tomorrow, so if you're there, feel free to say hi! That is, if you can find me in the surging maelstrom of publishing and bookselling folks.

My publisher, Harlequin, will be in booths 3922, 3923, and 4023. Romance Writers of America are in booth 3484. Cleis Press and Viva Editions are at 4324b. You actually do have a realistic chance of catching me at one of those places.

You can probably also find me at Muji some of the time, as it's conveniently nearby and full of Tiny Cute Things I Cannot Resist. If you have a weakness for tiny containers, it's a place of bliss.

Here's the event schedule.

And here's the Exhibitor search page, where you can find the various exhibitors and their booth locations.

I'll try to post from the conference if I have time. Failing that, I'll post a report when I return.

Top Three Things to Do At BEA

I leave for BookExpo America 2010 this afternoon, so thought it would a good day to post my top three things to do at BEA.

This is my first trip to BEA, so these are sort of theoretical, but from my experiences at other conferences, I am pretty sure they're all Really Good Things.

1. Make sure I have the cell phone number of everyone I want to see while I'm wandering the vast wilderness of exhibitor booths. Before I leave home.

2. Carry extra business cards. Lots of extra business cards. Also, don't forget the cover flats of The Duke and the Pirate Queen.

3. Don't spill anything down the front of my shirt before I go and hobnob at the Harlequin Booth.

Oh, and hope events don't fall out like in Murder at the ABA!

Your suggestions are of course welcome.

Related Posts:
Five Ways of Thinking About Writers' Conferences.

Top Ten Reasons to Attend a Writing/Reading Conference.