Opening Day for BEA!!!

BookExpo 2015 kicked off perfectly last night with the Welcome Reception for China at the Asia Society.  A packed room of industry heavy weights from 2 continents engaged in 90 lively minutes of socializing around several tasteful musical performances and a few brief speeches before everyone scampered off to dinners and parties. 

I am pleasantly shocked to walk the show floor this morning to see everything so buttoned up and looking finished.  Maybe we can take another half day off of the move-in?  I am KIDDING.  BEA is teed up for a fantastic opening as booksellers are being hosted through the ABA's meet the editor program and visiting publishing houses all around NYC this morning.  The invite only China Opening Ceremony happens from 11-12.  IDPF, BEA Bloggers & the Audio Publishers Association all start up at 9:00 that will start the building crescendo leading up to the Jonathan Franzen event at 12:30 and of course there is the Adult Editor's Buzz panel that starts at 4:15.  The Global Market Forum program will have one its marquee events today starting at 2:30 - New Global Strategies and the Outlook for the Publishing and Media Industries. 

Of course the show floor opens at 1:00 and promises to be a packed 1st day.  I recognized this new schedule was not without challenges, but I think this is going to be huge benefit to all to have BEA busy and jammed from start to finish. 

BEA and BOOKCON Cheatsheet + new IDPF Keynote

The link below was put together for BEA and BookCon exhibitors, aggregating events and programs by area of interest along with the highlights for both BEA and BookCon. 

While this will be sent to exhibitors this week, this should make BEA easier to navigate for everyone.  I hope this is helpful to anyone that clicks through to this link. 

BEA/BookCon Flip Book Link

The IDPF just announced below and I thought this was cool to add in here:

IDPF Adds Jane McGonigal, Ph.D., Gaming Expert, Futurist, and Bestselling Author to Keynote Roster

Early Bird Rate Extended through May 19, 2015

The International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) has announced that gaming specialist, futurist, Penguin author, and accomplished TED Talker Jane McGonigal, Ph.D., has been added to the keynote address sequence at the 2015 IDPF Digital Book Conference, which opens BookExpo America on May 27 at the Javits Center in New York City. Her address, "Reading is an Epic Win: How to Engage the Gamer Generation with the Future of Books," will focus on the challenge that electronic media poses to reading today. You can read the full press release here.

Days of Future Past

I am stealing from a few places for this post, starting with the recent X-Men movie title and I linked that to Michael Cader's Publisher's Lunch coverage pasted below from his take on trade sales and the drop in eBook sales as reported by the AAP StatShot.  I always find Micheal's commentary insightful and typically connects the dots that are not obvious to draw out conclusions.  I also appreciate the context Michael provided with the historical data.  But in this instance, trying to connect the dots, if these figures portend any notable trends, I am left to my own devices.  With that being the case, I will offer a few of my own observations:

•  Publishing is a hit based business, there needs to be an 'it' book to draw people both into stores and on-line and when that happens, there will be more book sales in all formats.
• As indie booksellers continue to display resiliency, it should be no surprise that print numbers would mirror that trend of stability. 
• eBook sales may have dropped, but that was probably easier to predict as those sales are even more driven by hit books.  Also, as Sony has exited the market along with other dedicated ereading devices, digital reading is going to be driven by tablets and mobile devices.  The biggest gain Apple has made in market share is due to iBook app being bundled onto Apple devices with their roll out of iOS8.  I still do not think the vast majority of people look to read on tablets/phones.  But that will change over time as people are more and more dependent on devices for all aspects of their lives.  Both my pre-teen boys have cell phones and they never use them as a phone - they use it for text, gaming, checking on school work through our school district's Infinite Campus system it is very rare that they use them for a phone call.  My point here, books/reading already have a strong foot hold on these platforms which are more ubiquitous than cars or TVs - reading from devices can only grow.

My reference to Days of Future Past simply reminds me that the future of publishing is tied closer to the past than I would have though possible not too long ago.  A great book is still more important to the industry than anything else and good old fashioned bookselling and printed books are still the foundation that this business depends on.  

Trade Sales Stable In January As eBooks Drop to Lowest Point In Years

The AAP reported StatShot figures for January 2015, putting overall trade sales of $495.5 million flat compared to a year ago, with adult sales up a couple of million dollars and children's/YA sales down a couple of million.

In adult sales, trade paperbacks were the notable gainer, up $11.5 million to $122.7 million, while mass market paperbacks declined almost as much (down $9.2 million) and ebook sales were down $4.4 million as agency pricing returned. Digital audio, however, continued its advance, at $15.6 million up 37 percent from $11.4 million a year ago.

Children's books declined $2.2 million, or 1.7 percent, as print sales of $110 million still grew -- rising in all three formats, up over 8 percent -- but the falloff in ebook sales without big YA/crossover hits brought that segment down $7.8 million to $12.9 million for the month.

The change in ebook sales is the most notable story in the January statistics: In what used to be a big, post-holiday sales period for new ebook device owners, ebook sales totaled $100.3 million -- down at least $11.3 million -- and they comprised only 20 percent of trade sales for the month. Significantly, which you likely won't read anywhere else, that is the lowest one-month AAP ebook sales in years. The last time that monthly count was lower was all the way back in April 2012 (just as the Fifty Shades trilogy took off), when ebooks accounted for $99.5 million in sales. The next lowest levels since then were at the end of 2012 (when ebooks were $108 million in both November and December) and then again in March 2014, when they were $108.5 million.