Book Expo America 2009 – A Summary

By Michael Drew - Jun 03 , 2009

The good: Book publishers and retailers might finally be scared enough to evolve.

The bad: Show attendance was down 14% from the last BEA held in New York City (2007).

The ugly: The BEA home page states that the industry gathered “to celebrate our passion for books and to see and learn what was needed to survive today’s changing industry and challenging economy.” This sounds well and good, but the reality is, letting go of that passion for books is the only way to survive.

To tell you the truth, I have felt like BEA has been an antiquated event for the last decade. Networking is the only reason I even attend anymore. I mean, when else do I have the chance to exchange ideas with industry icon Larry Kirshbaum, Howard Books VP and Publisher Jonathon Merkh, former Wall Street Journal columnist Bob Hughes, and Barnes & Noble executives under one roof? But I am glad I went this year. It was kind of fun to witness 20,000 or so book industry professionals fidgeting around like a bunch of long-tailed cats in a room full of rocking chairs. And I mean that in the nicest possible way—honest!

The source of all that angst? How to create revenue in a furiously evolving industry. The number of books published through traditional channels decreased 3.2% last year, while ‘On Demand’ and short-run books have increased 462% since 2006. Publishing houses and bookstores are watching their business models crumble with the emergence of the e-book and reading technologies like Amazon’s Kindle and Sony’s Reader. And they don’t know what to do about it.

If you ask me, everybody needs to stop focusing on books and start focusing on content. After all, isn’t content the reason people bought books in the first place? I know I have never bought a book just because it had an attractive cover, appealing font, or a certain number of pages. Have you? I have been preaching this ‘content sermon’ for several years now. But I didn’t have much of a congregation when people were buying books. They viewed me as a marketer and promoter, not a book purist.

This year, however, people seemed more receptive to my opinion. Perhaps even a bit impressed that I continue to help create bestsellers despite depressing economic factors. But that is not because we are printing books – it is because we are investing in authors and using technology to create and promote their content with business models like Promote A Book Media and Promote A Book Studios. And as a result, these authors are building platforms that give them a chance to make a run at bestseller lists.

Let’s consider leadership guru John Maxwell for a moment. The guy has created enough content to publish something like 35 books that have sold over 16 million copies. Yet his publishing house, Thomas Nelson, has done very little to repackage that content and redistribute it through emerging channels. He does have a blog and is participating as a thought leader via Twitter, but I bet he is the one leading that charge, not his publisher. They are most likely too busy trying to figure out how to save the old form of communication that books have become.

Unfortunately, they are fighting a losing battle. It’s not about simply selling books, anymore. It’s about joining the conversation, having dialogue, and interacting. It’s about being where people are. It’s about making content accessible and affordable, how and when they want it.

If nothing else, my experience at BEA 2009 taught me one thing – the book industry is now frightened and concerned enough to strategize about change. But survival comes down to execution, and that remains to be seen.

Want to listen to the Book Expo podcast or read the daily publishing news from the show?

Questions about how to uncover the story that is uniquely yours may be directed to Michael R. Drew at the Austin, Texas, headquarters of Promote A Book: 512-858-0040. You can also contact Michael via email at michael@promoteabook.com.