Josie here, exhausted, back at work from a great show. It was loads of fun. I can’t wait to really unpack my books and make stacks of what I’m going to read first. I listened to the David Sedaris CD sampler the other night and fell asleep laughing. And what is the first box I open today? His new book, Engulfed by Flames! I gotta say, I’m feeling too old to fly across the country, get home at 2 am and work the whole day. Who planned this scheduled? Oh, I did. Whoops. Can’t wait ’till next year.

One last thing: I have to give Alison a huge round of applause for being able to sustain this blog week in and week out. It’s been fun to guest blog, but it’s not easy and she does a great job and I’m thrilled to be giving it back to her. I can’t wait start reading her blog posts again.

Elizabeth here, with a swag update. After several BEAs, you get really picky about the totes you pick up. Anything with a zipper is prized beyond gold, because you can sling galleys in there and check them through on the plane. Scholastic was generous with blue-and-black 39 Clues backpacks, and Little, Brown gave out fab black and red Twilight Saga zippered totes at the ABC Children’s Not a Dinner, where we were also treated to a preview of the movie! Edward seems well cast. Scholastic was also giving out snazzy gold metal Harry Potter winged pins. My main secret swag snag: the Inkdeath galley (which seems to have disappeared from my tote bag; I suspect foul play).

Elizabeth here. Went to the Lewis Black comedy show at the gorgeous old Orpheum Theatre in downtown L.A. I hadn’t seen much of him before, so his particular blend of crank and contemporary was new to me, and hilarious to all of us. Topics ranged from losing one’s virginity to voting for Santa Claus, with healthy doses of cultural criticism throughout. It must be fun for the comics to play to such sympathetic crowds. The Saturday night show is always fantastic — we’d loved previous years’ evenings with Bill Maher, Paula Poundstone and Bob Newhart — so I’m making a note to try never to miss it again. It’s also a fundraiser for ABFFE and the Association of American Publishers’ Get Caught Reading Campaign, so audience members get to feel good while they’re laughing their behinds off.

Josie here. Okay today was a blur — a fun blur, but a blur nonetheless. The day started with Elizabeth, my partner in life and the store, signing her picture book, My Father, the Dog at the Candlewick booth. The signing was (get ready for shameless proud boasting) so full they went an hour beyond the time it was supposed to. I was so happy for her. I then went from event to event, culminating in the amazing Random House cocktail party at Dodger Stadium. I’ve never been on a real baseball field before so it was a thrill. The dugout was surprisingly clean. The coolest part was that all the bookstore names were on the marquee that went around the stadium. To walk in and see Flying Pig in lights was totally cool. While the party itself was delightful, the getting there and back was somewhat fraught.

On the way over to the stadium we got lost, a little. The half-hour drive turned into 45 minutes. That wasn’t so bad considering it was L.A. and these things happen. Coming back to the hotel was a whole other story. To his credit, our driver was trying, in vain, for a short cut. I knew something was amiss when I noticed we’d passed the Pupuseria restaurant the fifth time. A name like Pupuseria is a really good landmark. There is no doubting that you’ve passed it, again and again. It’s not like Quiznos, which can be found on every corner. After an hour on the bus, anger at missed dinner reservations turned to out right hilarity with my fellow passengers who turned out to be the staff of First Book. Their mission is getting kids free books. They have been hosting great signings all weekend, and if you drop your business card in their box, they will donate a book to a kid. So, go to their booth, just outside the children’s wing in the West Hall. By the time we were heading in the right direction, the traffic was so bad we gave up and walked the eight blocks back to the hotel. An hour and a half after we started out, we all arrived back at the hotel, weary, but happy for the newfound friends.

Elizabeth here. Candlewick’s super-secret screening of snippets from the upcoming December sure-to-be-blockbuster, The Tale of Despereaux. No media were allowed in, so the event was a relatively intimate gathering of 150 or so booksellers, authors, and other folks screened against media and film-industry infiltration by Candlewick. Speakers were Kate DiCamillo, writer/director/producer Gary Ross (Big, Pleasantville, Dave and Seabiscuit) and co-producer Allison Thomas. Kate was, as always, charming and funny and surprisingly loud for a diminutive person. Ross was dynamic, smart, funny, and extremely articulate about both the technical and creative aspects of the project (this writer might have developed a wee crush). Both he and Thomas were the antithesis of the stereotypical Hollywood book butchers, who plunder our literary treasures and ruin them for generations of readers to come. Instead, miraculously, they were sensitive to the classic timelessness of Kate’s book, even to the tonal quality of the language and setting, and from the few snippets that were ready for public viewing, we will all be delighted, rather than horrified, by the film version of a beloved book. (Note: your first glimpse of Despereaux as a baby mouse will elicit universal, vocal "Awwwwwws" from movie audiences; really, he’s shamelessly adorable.)

Josie here, blogging from the Internet Cafe, so I’ll be quick. To recap: the Children’s Not a Dinner last night was great. The mashed potatoes in a martini glass were an innovation I’d never seen before and hope to encounter again. Here’s how it worked: picture a steaming chafing dish of creamy mashed potatoes, add to that a mix-in area with choices ranging from broccoli, bacon bits, creme fraiche, sour cream, scallions. Really, it was heaven. Mix in mashed potatoes, it’s like I’d died and gone to heaven. The other food was fabulous as well. I was particularly fond of the caprese salad on a stick. There did seem to be some confusion from attendees about how much to eat as they weren’t sure when food would appear again. Closing the bar before we moved inside caused this writer some stress as I searched in vain for one more beer.

The silent auction was fraught, as always. People mapped the areas they needed to bid on. Many people were frantically running the very spacious room (how nice was it to actually be able to view the art without being pressed against people!) from artwork to artwork. I happily hung by the piece I wanted and am happy to say I got for just under my budget. The live auction, new this year, was very exciting. The Brian Selznick locket from The Invention of Hugo Cabret went for a jaw dropping $1750!

The Author’s Lunch today was really quite good in spite of the missing Michael Moore — Midwest weather once again foils a traveler’s plans. Again, I’m all about the food. I arrived late and found a seat in the back. Quite quickly a man in a tie and women in business suits were ably handling trays with 10 covered plates on them.  I looked about and didn’t see one regular waiter or waitress. As I was cutting my very good chicken, Lance Fensterman of BookExpo announced that Local 11 was on strike. So, here I sat eating a surprisingly yummy meal, while all the while I’d been crossing the picket line. Not something I would normally do. I was faced with a dilemma: stop eating or continue. What would Ariana Huffington do? She seemed okay with it, so I continued. Halfway through lunch, the regular waiters returned and finished the service. I must say, the BEA folks did a great, if somewhat noisy job. I was impressed by their speed at serving a thousand lunches. I can bet there was not one staffer who thought that’s how they’d be spending lunch.

Okay, it’s time for the BEA physical ailments to start. The balls of my feet have a pulse. I guess that’s to really let you know your blisters have a life of their own. You know, I come to this show just about every year and every year I’m surprised at how quickly my body falls apart. The feet are the first to go, then it’s the back. Too many books in non-ergonomic bags. (Note to publishers: swag bags from the Back Saver Catalog for next year!). Then the shoulders go. I never remember to move the book bags around, so one shoulder is in agony while the other escapes fairly unscathed. Then there are the toes. Am I a magnet for rolling bag toe crush injuries or do they happen to everyone? I swear at least twice a day as someone, usually a nice midwestern, rolls over my poor feet as I’m trying to get my bearings. More soon!

Elizabeth here. When Alison asked us to be guest bloggers, I asked for some topic ideas. She gave me several good suggestions, but then she hit on my secret bete noir: checking out the best swag on the floor. I am not, frankly, a swag hag. I am, in fact, swag-impaired. While other booksellers sail by with the coolest stuff — you know, totes autographed by forty-seven Caldecott illustrators, or in the shape of Marge Simpson’s hair, or jeweled Faberge eggs — I am still consulting my floor map to find out why Roaring Brook is not in the same hall as Candlewick. Pins, purses, pens that do animated things when you press tiny buttons — I will, guaranteed, be the last to find out about them. I just don’t have swag mojo. This doesn’t especially bother me, except that I also miss out on those special galleys — the ones tucked under the booth curtains or in locked drawers that only booksellers in the know are authorized to take home — unless a kindly sales rep who knows my unfortunate deficiencies takes pity on me and sets one aside in advance.

Since I did not leave the show floor with any swag except a very handy tote from new (to the U.S.) publisher, Egmont, I interviewed a few people on the subway back to the show hotel. We had time to chat, because we took the wrong line (now there are only three lines, and I used to live in New York, for crying out loud, which has something like ninety, but I still got on the wrong one). Turns out Little, Brown was giving away a very snazzy beach towel. An oversized Art Spiegelman book sample looked extremely cool, and there was a fabled Chronicle tote that starts off compressed to about 2" square (I didn’t see one, so I can’t verify this) and expands to the size of a small hippopotamus.

But, no worries. The nice folks at Egmont assure me that, since their tote is made from hemp, if the show floor gets rough, I can smoke it.

Josie here. First off: One of the funniest children’s authors breakfasts I’ve ever been to. Eoin Colfer MC’ed, and the guests were Sherman Alexie, Judy Blume and Neil Gaiman. The tone was set by Ambassador Jon Scieszka who began the proceedings by actually saying, "This is the ass-crack of dawn early." Well, we had no place to go from there but down because he repeated that phrase several more times and at least one of the panelists embraced it as well. Eoin Colfer took over and more hilarity ensued; he is really one of the funniest people around. Sherman Alexie was also extremely funny and he dropped the F bomb in awe of Judy Blume and considering how often her works are banned, this just added to the morning. Add to that his story of growing up on a reservation and eating "government" food and we were rolling in the aisles again. Sherman said that he wrote for kids who didn’t have their stories told; Judy spoke of her children’s lives as influencing what she was writing; Neil’s daughter spurred him on to write Coraline because she wanted a horror story. To have three truly wonderful writers share the inspiration for their writing while being funny and very moving at 8 am is really a great way to start your day. 

The show floor, was, as always, crowded with eager booksellers, a few live animals, lots of people in costumes ranging from a young Goth woman forcibly handing out postcards to two different penguins and several very large stuffed animal types. The aisles were full. Yes, there are lots of amazing new books and the fall promises to be extraordinary, but I noticed the smaller things.

First, one thing I noticed that alarmed me, I understand why there are massage chairs set up, but tooth whitening? There was actually a large booth set up with four dentists’ chairs promising you teeth up to eight shades lighter in just fifteen minutes. There was no book with this, just a $99 service. And there was a line! 

Second, there’s a new display format sweeping the publishers. Now, admittedly, I missed BEA last year, so this might not be the innovation I think it is, but I was blown away. Galleys are no longer stacked up, they are arranged in circles twenty galleys high. I was reminded of an Andy Goldsworthy sculpture at the Scholastic booth, not a circle, not an oval, but an artisinal arrangement of The Hunger Games; it was just so beautiful. 

After the children’s breakfast, most booksellers are still quite hungry. Let’s be honest, I’m a larger gal, but I think most people have more to eat at home than half a muffin. And seriously, does anyone actually eat Danish anymore? So, I go in search of food after the breakfast. I go right to the children’s hall to see which publishers have good snacks. It used to be every publisher had something you go take away with you that wasn’t just a catalog. Not so much this year. I noticed that thicker the booth carpet, the worse the snacks. Candlewick Press has a reputation for quality candy, we all know this, that might be why every time I walked by they were refilling the empty bowls around the booth. I found some interesting snacks along my travels. The Choose Your Own Adventure booth had fortune cookies, but neither one of the two I got actually had fortunes in them. I guess I had to make mine up. A cookbook booth had red hots and corn bread; I was curious what recipe that came from. Modern Publishing had the most dizzying array of snack items: muffins, plates of Danish (does anyone listen to me?) Fig Newtons, bags of mini chips, Twizzlers and tissue packs. The Elf on Shelf (cutest name so far) folks were smart enough to have Frappucinos and bagels with cream cheese. One booth just had a sad bowl of peanuts and one small stack of Pringles — none of that was working for me at 10am. Cutest cookies: Boxer Books, hand decorated sugar cookies of Ballet Kitty — very nice. And lastly, the best smelling booth: Mo Smells Red. These folks have reinvented the scratch and sniff to be press and sniff. Everything is infused with organic essences, in this case, strawberries, and you just press the button on the book and the smell is released. It also helps that they had Dove chocolate and Hershey Kisses.  

Howdy. Elizabeth here. Can we just say that it’s distracting to have the convention in L.A.? The show hotel is extremely convenient, not only to itself (we only have to go down the hall, past the elevators, and around the corner from our room to get to the education-day meetings), but to the Times Square-esque neighborhood of Hollywood Blvd. and Highland Ave. I grew up in L.A., but twelve years in quaint, billboard-free Vermont have turned me into a country bumpkin agog at the traffic and crowds, and charmed by the famous Hollywood Blvd. stars in the pavement. Note: there are still some blank stars at the intersections, in case anyone’s considering a career switch.

Snapshots from Thursday:

The mood during the day of education was extremely cheery and collegial. It actually felt like a regional show, in the best ways: bookseller friends from near and far chatting, talking books and budgets and buzzing about the ABA’s new BookSense-replacing initiative (more on which later, we’re late for the children’s breakfast!).

Seminar highlights:

The Association of Booksellers for Children rolled out its New Voices list: 25 top new titles by debut authors, two of whom spoke at lunch: Cecila Galante, whose YA novel, The Patron Saint of Butterflies, is a huge bookseller favorite, and Marie Rutkowski, whose clever, lively new middle-grade fantasy The Cabinet of Wonders seems poised to take off. Cecilia’s book is a fictionalized account of her own experiences growing up in a cult; she reduced many of us to tears with her gentle but impassioned talk about the importance of voice for children whose identities have been muted. Marie spoke about vision — literal and metaphorical blindness — and its relationship to her childhood and novel. Publishers had sent finished copies and galleys of all of the New Voices choices (packed, might we add, with the kind of attention and care we could only wish for from some warehouses), and booksellers were kids in a candy shop at the galley grab.

Co-Op seminar: we know about co-op, of course, and berate ourselves for not pursuing it more. Mark Kaufman (from Paz & Associates) and Libby Cowles (an incredibly efficient co-op-claiming-queen bookseller) shared some tips. New tidbits: publishers like to see their names and the book price info in ads (tiny print is fine). February is a good time to get annual co-op summaries from wholesalers; a percentage of those sales gets added to your publisher-direct sales for the total co-op pool. (You send the tear sheets from the summary to the publisher, and they do the math. Hurrah!) Even publishers without formal co-op plans can be approachable and open to requests. The industry standard for advertising/promo co-op is $50 for a 50-word blurb and jacket cover. Circulation doesn’t matter, but if you’re going to be moving a lot of books, ask for more. Finally, don’t forget to use publisher co-op to help pay for holiday catalog newspaper insertions or mailings. 

Josie here, on Budgeting and Monitoring:  Only Avin Domnitz could make a three-hour number-crunching seminar riveting. Handy hint to all booksellers: Avin’s dog is named James Dean. This info is usually good for swag at his seminars. One great thing I learned was the ABA has downloadable budgeting sheets that go right in Excel. You just plug in your numbers and the calculations are done for you. Now, it’s really easy to see what you need to be more profitable. Landlord beware: I’m ready to renegotiate my lease like a pro after the very informative session, the upshot being know your area and don’t be afraid to ask for what you want; every landlord wants a bookstore. Remember that all educational hand-outs are available at bookweb.org, so if you couldn’t make to LA, you can still reap a lot of the benefits. I feel like I’ve gotten to see my bookselling friends a lot this year between the regional show, the Winter Institute and BEA, and it’s great to touch base so often with like-minded people who share my passion for books.

Which means potentially just a few hours from now, and/or at various points this weekend!

While, as I mentioned previously, I’m not attending BEA this year, two of my fellow booksellers, the honorable Elizabeth Bluemle and Josie Leavitt of The Flying Pig Bookstore in Charlotte, Vt., will be more than ably filling my ShelfTalker shoes during their busy BEA weekend. If and when one of them can steal away from the show floor and find a computer, they’ll be letting us know how things are going and what we are missing. Later they’ll fill us in on what they thought was especially entertaining or informative or in some other way worth attending/seeing/doing/reading at this year’s show.

Stay tuned for ShelfTalker, Flying Pig style!