BEA Children's and College Store Programming Preview

The American Booksellers Association's Thursday Day of Education (at Hotel ABA [1], the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge in Brooklyn, New York) at BookExpo America 2007 [2] also features programming for children's booksellers, sponsored by the Association of Booksellers for Children, and programming for college stores, sponsored by the National Association of College Stores. Last Thursday, Bookselling This Week provided a preliminary look at ABA educational programming and special events [3]. Here's a look at what's in store for children's [4] and college store [5] booksellers at BEA.

Programming for African-American book industry professionals, sponsored by the African-American Booksellers Committee, will be on Thursday at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. (Read more [6].)

Brooklyn Walking Tour for Children's Booksellers!
Wednesday, May 31; 2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.; Brooklyn, New York
Sponsored by the American Booksellers Association

ABA is hosting a series of walking tours of literary Brooklyn. These include tours of Brooklyn neighborhoods immortalized by some of today's best writers, as well as tours to the studios of local children's book illustrators and the offices of small independent Brooklyn publishers. There will be a special tour for children's booksellers. Booksellers will need to sign up in advance through ABA; watch BTW [7] for details.

ABC Annual Meeting & Luncheon
Thursday, May 31; 11:45 a.m. - 1:15 p.m.; Hotel ABA (New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge)
Sponsored by the Association of Booksellers for Children (ABC)

Booksellers must register for this event. Membership in the Association of Booksellers for Children is not required. For reservations and information, contact ABC at (617) 390-7759 or kristen@abfc.com [8].

ABA's Day of Education -- Children's Bookstore Sessions
Thursday, May 31; Hotel ABA (New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge)
Sponsored by the American Booksellers Association and the Association of Booksellers for Children

All ABA- and ABC-member booksellers are invited to participate in any part of ABA's Thursday Day of Education [9]. A session specifically for children's booksellers, "Getting More Out of Your Children's Section: Managing Selection, Service, and Store Environment for Category Growth," will be presented twice, from 1:30 p.m. - 3:15 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. - 5:15 p.m. Children's books are one of the brightest spots for growth in the book industry, but managing this category for healthy sales requires a challenging and strategic approach. In this session, three important areas that need to be addressed to successfully grow a bookseller's children's book business will be explored: building a kid-friendly environment, picking the right books, and finding and training charismatic kids' book specialists. This session will also look at the importance of handselling children's books, and it will arm participants with some quick and easy "Ideas That Work" to implement right away to boost children's sales.

ABA's Day of Education is free to ABA and ABC members, but booksellers must register (via BEA [2] or ABA [10].)

Children's Book & Author Breakfast
Friday, June 1; 8:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.; Special Events Hall of the Javits Convention Center
Presented in cooperation with the Children's Booksellers and Publishers Committee [A cooperative committee of ABA, ABC, and the Children's Book Council (CBC)]

The trade show's opening-day breakfast will feature Mo Willems, author of Knuffle Bunny Too! A Case of Mistaken Identity (Hyperion Books for Children); Jacqueline Wilson, author of Candyfloss (Roaring Brook); and Daniel Pinkwater, author of The Neddiad (Houghton Mifflin Children's). Libba Bray, author of The Sweet Far Thing (Delacorte), will host. General Admission: $15; Breakfast Admission: $35. (General admission tickets provide theater style seating beginning midway in the auditorium and extending to the back. No breakfast will be served with general admission tickets. Breakfast admission tickets provide seats in the front of the auditorium at the traditional breakfast tables, and breakfast will be served.)

ABC Annual Secret Garden Silent Auction & Evening With Children's Booksellers
Friday, June 1; Copacabana, 560 West 34th Street, New York, New York
Sponsored by the Association of Booksellers for Children

The evening starts at 5:00 p.m. with a reception and the Secret Garden Silent Auction, followed by dinner at 7:30 p.m. From 8:45 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. will be the presentation of the 2007 E.B. White Read Aloud [11] Awards. At 9:30 p.m., keynote speakers will take the stage.

General Ticket Price: $100; ABC Bookstore Member Discount: $85. For reservations and information contact: ABC, 62 Wenham Street, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130, phone: (617) 390-7759; fax: (617) 344-0540, e-mail: kristen@abfc.com [8].

Speed Dating With Children's Authors
Saturday, June 2; 10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.; The Galleria/River Pavilion of the Javits Convention Center
Sponsored by the Children's Booksellers and Publishers Committee

Get to know 20 children's book creators, up-close and personal, in the first-ever "Speed Dating With Children's Authors" program. Authors and illustrators will move from table to table of booksellers, stopping for three-minute rounds at each table for quick, get-to-know-you chats. Participating "dates" include: Harry Bliss and Doreen Cronin (Joanna Cotler Books), Libba Bray (Delacorte), Christopher Paul Curtis (Scholastic), Carmen Deedy (Peachtree), Delia Ephron (HarperTeen), Jack Gantos (FSG), Shannon Hale (Bloomsbury USA), Ellen Kushner (Charlesbridge), Carolyn Mackler (Candlewick), Peter McCarty (Henry Holt), Charise Mericle Harper (Houghton Mifflin), Jim Murphy (Clarion Books), Christopher Myers (Holiday House), Sara Pennypacker (Disney), Frank Portman (Delacorte), Jordon Sonnenblick (Scholastic), Sara Varon (First Second), and Howard Whitehouse (Kids Can). Admission: Open to all BEA attendees.

ABA/ABC/CBC Booth
Friday, June 1 - Sunday, June 3; Javits Convention Center Show Floor
Sponsored by the Children's Booksellers and Publishers Committee

The Association of Booksellers for Children, the American Booksellers Association, and the Children's Book Council will again share a booth on the trade show floor. Information will be available about each organization, and program materials on display will include the "20 Minutes of Your Day ... Read With a Child" posters; the Book Sense Children's Picks List and Children's Bestseller Lists; a sample of the new Book Sense Children's White Box; "Children's Book Week" campaign materials; a Pannell Award display; and more.

New this year will be in-booth author readings. The readings will take place on Friday afternoon, June 1, between 12:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m., and each will last 30 minutes. Watch for details via BTW [7], the ABC website [12], the CBC website [13] or the BEA website [2].

Sponsored by National Association of College Stores, this program will be offered concurrently with the ABAs Day of Education on Thursday, May 30, 2007 at Hotel ABA (The New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge in Brooklyn, New York [14].) College Store booksellers are welcome to take advantage of other ABA sessions and event that day by contacting Margaret Nafz at (800) 637-0037, ext. 6614 or margaret@bookweb.org [15].

College Store Literary Luncheon (11:45 a.m.-1:15 p.m.) Sponsored by NACSCORP
Join your college store colleagues for lunch...and listen to some favorite authors at the same time. Speakers include Elizabeth Gilbert, whose latest book, Eat, Pray, Love, published by Penguin, has been a top Book Sense bestseller, and Daphne Oz, author of The Dorm Room Diet. To RSVP, contact Cindy Thompson (cthompson@nacs.org [16]) at the National Association of College Stores.

College Store Success Strategies & Idea Exchange: (1:30-5:15 p.m.)
College stores have a unique position in today's competitive marketplace. The series of presentations and discussions below will focus on trends, categories and strategies that can help make your store both more profitable and more valuable as a resource in the campus community. If you have additional ideas to suggest, contact Cindy Thompson (cthompson@nacs.org [16]) at the National Association of College Stores.

• College Stores, Digital Content and Innovation
  The textbook and course content markets are changing. Many college stores have seen changes in publisher strategies and the emergence of new competition. New technologies, new business models, the "knee in the curve," innovation climate, spirals of decline, and, oh yeah, will e-books ever become a profitable reality? In addition to new business models, college stores must develop a new language and new mindsets. This session will separate buzzwords from business necessity, and explore trends and key concepts central to thriving in increasingly digital markets. Speaker: Mark Nelson, Ph.D., digital content strategist, NACS.
  
  
• Winning Solutions...Big and Small!
  The first half of this session will focus on strategies for profitable general book inventory management, merchandising, and marketing, including a market overview and college store sales trend data. We'll also explore some niche categories in more depth, including financial expectations and common pitfalls. For example, how do you buy, merchandise and market your bargain books? Which price points, categories and assortments are working best for you? How do you keep up with all of the new releases in the world of graphic novels? How do you determine what is appropriate for your campus? What kinds of programs and events can you promote to make your store a destination?
  
  The next part of the session will focus on "little wins." We often look for big changes we could make in our stores to improve sales, and overlook the small, incremental changes that add value to the bottom line. Maybe you moved an item to the front lanes and found a bestseller in the process? Maybe you e-mailed key faculty members about a new title and found another book lover who now uses your store rather than shopping online? It all makes a difference! Join us for a free-flowing exchange of ideas! Speakers: Jon Bibo, vice president, sales and marketing, NACSCORP and a panel of booksellers.