Speed-Dating for Book Group Picks at BEA

By Elizabeth Knapp on Wednesday, May 2, 2012

On Wednesday, June 6, at BookExpo America, Carol Fitzgerald, president of ReadingGroupGuides.com, will moderate a speed-dating session designed to give booksellers and librarians a sneak peek at upcoming titles that will be natural book group picks. Representatives from 12 publishers will share their selections at the event, along with galleys and other promotional materials.

“While there is much discussion about changes in book formats and delivery, the importance of marketing to book groups is something that remains a constant,” said Fitzgerald.

ReadingGroupGuides.com has presented book group programming at BEA for the past two years, but those presentations of fall and winter picks were made from a podium. With this year’s more personal speed-dating format, the number of participating publishers has doubled.

“It was clear that the format needed to change to allow for additional publisher participation, thus we created this year’s speed-dating format — something that I saw worked so well at the Winter Institute,” Fitzgerald said. “This arrangement allows for more interaction between the 12 participating publishers and attendees, and, in addition to sharing their selections for the fall, publishers can get feedback from booksellers, librarians, book group leaders, and bloggers.”

“Hot Book Group Titles for Fall/Winter: A Special Speed-Dating Session for Booksellers, Librarians, Bloggers and Book Group Leaders” will be held on June 6, from 9:00 a.m. - 10:20 a.m., in Room 1E14 at the Javits Convention Center. Attendance at the session will be capped, so booksellers must sign up here to participate.

“By the end of this event, booksellers should have a great overview of the titles that book clubs will be looking for this fall season,” Fitzgerald said, “as well as some background tidbits from the publishers to share with their readers as they handsell these titles.”

The 12 participating publishers are:

  • Algonquin
  • Hachette
  • Harper and Morrow Paperbacks
  • Houghton Mifflin
  • Hyperion
  • Mira
  • Penguin
  • Picador and Griffin
  • Random House Trade Paperbacks
  • Simon and Schuster
  • Vintage/Anchor
  • W.W. Norton
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