We’ve touched on the uneasy relationship of the self-publishing sector and major publishing trade shows, most recently in our discussion of the relative effectiveness of London Book Fair’s Author HQ program.
An inquiry from Orna Ross, director of the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), prompts us to take a hard look at the upcoming BookExpo, May 31–June 2, in New York City. In recent years, Ross has traveled to BEA with an updated ALLi guide for indies and those who work with them. This year, she tells us, ALLi will not be taking a table at the trade show and won’t be recommending that authors buy a table in its Author Market area. “Instead, we will be running an online ALLi Fringe event to provide authors all over the world with the self-publishing education BEA is neglecting to provide.”
ALLi’s displeasure with BEA is reflecting the fact that the trade show is in a tough spot itself. Last year’s one-time move of BookExpo America to Chicago was costly. Total Chicago attendance was 11,311 people, down from 17,249 the previous year in New York (an eye-opening 34.5 percent plunge). The high, in 2012, was recorded at 19,960, and numbers have been dwindling since. The bright spot in BEA’s fortunes in recent years has been the introduction of the Saturday–Sunday BookCon event for the public, and even that couldn’t hit its numbers last year: in 2015, it drew 18,000 in New York; in 2016 it drew only 7,200 in Chicago.
In response, as we’ve reported, BEA is undergoing what organizers call a “reinvention” that will make it smaller and much more tightly focused on the trade industry it serves. The floor will be open on two, not three days. And the whole show is being produced by ReedPOP, Reed Exhibition’s BookCon-producing wing, which specializes in audience-facing “con” events in comics, Star Wars and Star Trek franchises, and more.
Last year in Chicago, the uPublishU conference for indie authors was phased out. It had always been expensive to produce (making it heavily dependent on sponsored speakers) and had seen a smaller attendance level in 2015 in New York. The Author Market area, “an exclusive area for Indie Authors to have a presence at BookExpo” is available again at $1,400 for the June 1–2 floor days and $1,900 if BookCon (June 3–4) is included. This is where authors can have a table and chair, a plan started as Author Hub several years ago. And, of course, some high-visibility indie authors have liked going in on a booth at BEA, using it as a base of operations for meetings with industry folks.
However, as BEA logically focuses on building its eroded base for the trade industry—publishers making deals with booksellers and rights directors, and agents making deals in international rights—there’s little offered for indie authors. There will be many authors there, of course—the authors brought to speak and sign books at BEA by their publishers. But self-publishing authors, while not unwelcome, simply aren’t high on the priority list for this year’s BEA.
Bottom line: While we understand the disappointment we hear in Ross’s statement about BEA and self-publishers, we’re less convinced that the trade show is “neglecting to provide” education to indies. Trade shows are meant for the trade. We like indie participation in these events and encourage organizers, as we praise London and Frankfurt Book Fairs for their author programs. But BEA needs to nourish its relations with its core customers, the trade. When any major, industry-service event like BEA loses a third of its attendance, it’s time to regroup, refocus, “reinvent.” Let’s hope BEA gains traction, in hopes it can do more for indie authors’ interests in the future.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
