Book Expo America 2013

Jacob K. Javits Center, New York Cityhttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/JKJCC.JPG

 The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center has over 675,000 square feet of exhibit space,
Eleventh Avenue, between 34th and 40th streets, on the West side.

Last weekend, June 7-8, I attended the annual Books Expo of America 2013 conference in New York City. It was held on four consecutive days at the Javits Center (June 5-8). It's a cavernous and noisy venue where publishers met book buyers for bookstores, and writers met agents and librarians. Autographs, introductions, and meetings were the currency of the day.

The Books Expo of America began in Washington D.C. in 1947, and after 1971 moved to Chicago, and has also been held in Los Angeles. It is slated to be held at the Javits Center again next year until 2015. 

I took along my See More Publishing LLC credentials and was admitted into the trade show Friday and for a day-long conference on Saturday. Steep entrance fees made me wistful for the admission prices of antiques and jewelry shows I've attended, and the books weren't even on sale.

 An early morning view:

Aisles criss-crossed, twenty like this and more

I admit the conference itself was thrilling. I listened to or saw numerous famous authors such as Scott Turow, David Baldacci, Michael Connelly, George Pelecanos, and celebrities such as Ann Romney (pictured below), 

 Ann Romney, in pearls

as well as Marcia Clark, Esq. (O.J.Simpson's Prosecutor), Bella Andre, and Barbara Freethy. And I heard about many more who attended, and unexpected stars as varied as Jim Carrey and Dr. Ruth. As well, I listened to many industry leaders volunteer their knowledge in wide-ranging panel discussions.

 Marcia Clark, Esq. moderated panel with Baldacci, Connelly, Turow, and Pelecanos

Grant Faulkner is Executive Director of The Office of Letters and Lights that runs National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), with a current rough count of 343,000 members. It's such a great program, survives on a shoestring, and deserves more funding. He gave a fantastic talk at the CreateSpace area (frugally, instead of paying for its own space, which might have run almost $1M). He said in his talk that being busy is good for writing and had a rapt audience.

 Grant Faulkner, Exec. Dir. of The Office of Letters and Lights, NaNoWriMo

The Exhibit Hall was filled with the banners and booths of major publishers. Many signs were elevated higher than airline signs in airports. 

 Scholastic had a booth

Wiley had a plush carpet

 Princeton University was one of several University Presses represented

along with many international publishers

One corner of the Exhibit Hall was organized in rows for author signings. This seemed the most disconcerting part of the entire show to me as an author. The most popular lines for authors functioned as acid tests. The longest lines weren't necessarily for non-fiction life-changing books, but mostly for popular bestselling authors. Sylvia Day was a star at BEA this year. Her publishers made the largest banners around, and she had the longest lines at the author pen. 

 Author Signing Pen (20+signers at a time)

Since Day's name barely registered with me, I was thrilled to be able to speak to the acclaimed author and influential nutritionist Dr. T. Colin Campbell. He's author of The China Study. Here's the book's long page in Wikipedia. He gave me a signed copy of his new book called "WHOLE: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition."

Dr. T. Colin Campbell, Nutritionist, author of The China Study

And walking around the show was frustrating when I couldn't read names on badges. Perhaps the badges should have been legible. Ropes advertising John Grisham held the badges around our necks. And the badges swung around every which way, like bulky necklaces.

A larger issue of the BEA, from a blog called Publishing Perspectives was that having a librarian lounge and not a writer's lounge seemed unfair. There was one for writers at the London Book Fair this year. I remember feeling surprised that librarians were given such a lot of space, and authors had absolutely nowhere to sit, except the Author Pen, to mingle with literary agents and publishers. The exceptions were authors such as Bella Andre and Barbara Freethy, who had signing tables or were highlighted at the tables of their Publishers.

Overall, the BEA was an upbeat industry event that was relatively author-friendly in comparison to the real world. Attendance was at least 30-40,000. A great event to attend if you can.

After giving the matter a lot of thought, I think writing a blog to a writer, like owning a house to an owner, is not at all minor just because other people do it. I've spent thousands of hours on my posts, not just a few. I've expended time researching and editing, effort, perspiration, money, and tears on my posts. And for anyone to say they aren't important, and to ask pejoratively "who reads blogs?" or to say "I don't read blogs" or worse "no one reads blogs" is the height of ignorance and flippancy.

Writers need more support. So do bloggers and bloggettes like me. And why worry about those who won't read to obtain information wherever it comes from? 

Thanks for reading.

Expressing Gratitude Frequently Produces Happiness

One way to practice being happy is to achieve it by altering one's state of mind with generosity, kindness and gratitude. This is done by consciously noting  instances of them in everyday life. Having greater frequency of them increases happiness.

The How of Happiness (p. 89-101) by S. Lyubomirsky has many related reports on psychological studies. This self-help guide should be deeply exciting to everyone in need of free, easy antidotes to depression. Certain participants in studies were asked to write  five things for which they were thankful, to count their blessings once a week for ten weeks in a row. They reported back having more optimism, life satisfaction and fewer physical symptoms. Other studies in the book have shown the count-your-blessings strategy produces many positive emotions such as interest, excitement, joy and pride, helping others, feeling connected with others, and sleeping better. 

One mother on the "Rachael Ray" television show suggested recording a few of these expressions from children daily before the evening meal while they are waiting. It may take weeks, but in time children will begin to focus more on the positive. These feelings of gratitude become more immediate, and turn into positive feelings of anticipation for  the future. They learn through positive reinforcement these activities will produce thankful feelings. It works. All ages can benefit from this game.

Tennis, anyone?

Timothy Gowers

Timothy Gowers is a mathematician educated at Eton College and Cambridge University, who writes a fascinating blog, Gowers's Weblog, as well as currently being Rouse Ball Professor at Cambridge. While his blog is aimed at mathematicians, anyone can read it and comment and it's highly recommended.

Wimbledon, England

Today he is writing about the mathematics of tennis, in a post called "A mathematician watches tennis." He takes his study a lot farther than you would ever imagine mathematics could take tennis.

It's worth reading just in case a few hot tennis tips might give your game an edge. Even for the armchair spectator, it's fun to exercise your mathematical potential and possibly attempt someday to have a thoughtful conversation about tennis, or at least ponder the advantage of first serve or second. Isn't that a question you've always burned to understand?

I love his elegant turn of phrase, like

"After all, the best strategy cannot be anything other than to maximize the probability that you win the point, so if it ever makes sense to serve a reasonably powerful second serve and risk serving a double fault, then it makes sense even if you are match point down"

and

"It makes my head spin like the ball on a heavily sliced second serve"

Whew! He seems to have covered all the bases oops! courts. He even points out psychological and physical challenges to winning.

Finally, after wading through the math, in his words he claims his advice is impractical:

One final remark: I do not for one moment think that anything in this post, even when fully developed, would be of the slightest use to a tennis player. I just thought I'd better make that clear.

Apropos Wimbledon championships currently playing, it's interesting to read new highbrow work about such an old and simple game.

Timothy Gowers' The Princeton Companion to Mathematics and Mathematics: A Very Short Introduction make fascinating reading.

Playing for Pizza

By John Grisham

I have been reading John Grisham stories for fun since he started publishing. He helped perfect the "attorney novel" form along with Scott Turow and others.

I enjoyed them, and this one is fun in an entertaining and humorous way, too. It deals with the law in the form of judge, policemen and detective characters only marginally involved in the life of a football player transplanted to Italy for his final ball-playing years.

This is the story of the fictional Rick Dockery and his colleagues in a real-life Italian football team, the Parma Panthers, that he is persuaded to join for a year and the games they have. I really enjoyed all of the story, as it is a semi-travelogue of Italy, too. John Grisham clearly loves this sport and Italy.

Fortunately for me, it did not assume any technical knowledge of football and obligingly provides much of it to pamper the reader. Before I read "Playing for Pizza" I was worried that it would be rather too male-oriented and technical about a sport I don't watch. My fears of positive disinterest were unfounded, as technical rules are described in depth, with style and enthusiasm.The football scenes are quite intense but interesting enough to keep the reader moving along and engaged.

It is fun to travel along with Rick in his everyday life, almost in diary form. The photographic sort of description amplifies the kaleidoscopic nature of individual travel. The fact that Rick combines his travel with a job playing football makes the business of living in Italy removed from the mundane without the usual details that would haunt most year-long visitors.

Rick was given a car by the team owner, albeit a small stick-shift to drive. His description of an early morning drive around the city for practice was one of my favorite scenes in the story. It feels like you are there, watching too, and sympathizing with him. It was really funny each time he bravely ventured forth. But he did not have to buy the car and pay for it. Rick complained about the small size, but he was lucky it wasn't a motor cycle, and hey, the price was unbeatable.

Same story goes with the accommodation. Again, he lacked choice but won with convenience. His apartment worked out well for him and he was grateful for it. He seems like a pretty likable and reasonable guy. John Grisham wants you to sympathize with him.

The stories of the agent and the football teams in the U.S. and Canada and the journalists were interesting and did not put me off reading the story as they might have. Rick's attitudes, portrayed as normal for his role as a football player toward women and food were the most fun for me. What the women do and put up with, such as making impromptu meals and parties with relentless good humor, and so many quiet evenings probably alone on men's nights out must have tried the patience of some of the women. The fact that many of the players are unattached was not an area of exploration and rationalization.

The descriptions that I recognized made me almost wistful about traveling in old Italy. I trusted the author all the more because his descriptions complemented my visits to Italy and how the country works. Having visited that country more times than I can count, I found his story believable while also being humorous. I must say that I identified myself somewhat with Rick's final girlfriend, Livvy, the one our emotionally maturing hero is so happy to link up with by the end of the story. I traveled around Italy in a similar way at her age. I don't want to give away too much of the story, because there is a lot to like about it.

Of course, one always has unique travel experiences and takes away different memories from anyone else even on the same route. Whether or not you like the main character, you can certainly sympathize with his actions and reactions. He does what you might do in the same circumstances.

Anyone from post-teenage readers on will enjoy this tale. Anyone contemplating a trip to Italy, as well, will find this novel painless and illuminating as a semi-travelogue. This is a nice read that will keep you riveted and curious, a page-turner with a good story, offering up a slice of the life of a football player.