BEA shenanigans

There aren't many landmark times in the book publishing landscape these days. There's Big Tweener Book Release, which gets twelve-year-old-girls to show up at Barnes & Noble at midnight. There's Fraud Unveiling Day, when Oprah and various bloggers have to eat crow after supporting the latest genocide survivor/celebrity parent who turns out to have defrauded everyone. And then there's BEA--Book Expo America, not a tribute to the late Bea Arthur (though how awesome would that have been)?

This was my first year attending BEA. None of my authors were going to be there on Saturday, so it was mostly an exploratory expedition. And really, who doesn't love going out to the isolated, inconvenient, too-close-to-New-Jersey Javits Center?

Even aside from everyone saying that it was toned down this year (what with the impending collapse of the written word and all), it was pretty clear that no one was in much of a party mood. There was a Twitter-related event, organized by a coworker Friday night, which had a drink named after the elusive Michiko Kakutani--so there's that. But otherwise, it didn't seem like there was much festivity going on in and around the convention. Saturday, the expo floor was crowded with elaborate booths, publishing types, indie booksellers, and librarians, but it didn't seem much different from any other event at Javits.

What did make it different (and therefore bearable) was the literary swag. Like a bizarre towel tied in to the new fake Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy book; a zombie Jane Austen poster; and a C-SPAN2 BookTV tote bag. I think I was the only person to visit the C-SPAN2 booth and voluntarily put myself on the BookTV mailing list. And even in a down year, I managed to grab a few cool galleys/free books:

* Home Game, Michael Lewis's new memoir about fatherhood and (presumably) being married to everyone's favorite VJ-journalist
* Cafe Society, an NPR-approved bio about a famous Depression-era nightclub owner here in NYC (signed by the author)
* Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute, a graphic novel (signed and cartooned by the author)
* (And my favorite...) A Gate at the Stairs, Lorrie Moore's upcoming novel

I didn't even realize Moore would be there, until I saw a poster for the book signing at the Random House booth. In order to make sure I'd get to meet her, I bailed out of the long signing line for Michael Lewis (sorry--I'll make some kind of restitution to the Moneyball gods, probably at the altar of Theo Epstein). It was worth it. I totally didn't impress with the smalltalk, but I don't think I embarrassed myself, and it was nice to meet a favored writer. Plus--free advance copy! No waiting until September like the rest of you suckers.

My company didn't have an official booth this year, so I didn't really see my colleagues circling the floor. But I did run into one briefly, and did manage to bump into some family friends from my hometown--ones not even close to being in The Biz. It was surreal; they were about the last people I'd have expected to see. Is this some bizarre Truman Show thing? Is my brother going to pop out on the subway platform? Will my third grade teacher be getting falafel from my favorite lunch cart?

Anyway, it was a decent way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Who doesn't enjoy making friends, influencing people, and pretending that she's a real publishing professional? I'm looking forward to the next one. By then I'll have forgotten how many godforsaken avenue blocks you have to walk down 34th street, and how much a bottle of water costs once you're in the doors. Good times.