Chronicle: My week in bookselling; NAIBA-Con Approacheth!

I'm still reeling from the amazing Fort Greene bookstore party on Tuesday (look, ma, I'm in the New York Times!) Much follow-up to be done with the wonderful booklovers who put their support in writing, which Rebecca and I are furiously working on.

But bookselling life goes on, and how. Wednesday morning I spoke on a panel with Lance Fensterman and Ruth Liebman at the Association of American Publishers' Intro to Publishing course. It was a cool conversation about selling books all the way through to the consumer (i.e. through editorial, publicity, marketing, sales rep, etc.) and what that implies for cover design, flap copy, blurbs, etc. Lance is the most self-deprecating, energetic powerhouse of a book person I know, and Ruth is incredibly gracious and one of the reasons indie bookstores get the cred and attention they do; I was humbled by both of them. Hope the assembled young and eager publishing folks got something out of it; they're the emerging leaders of the other side

And last night was the premier of Powell's Books third (and best so far, I think) Out of the Book film: Weiland and Wilsey's State by State. It was an amazing evening, with the film followed by a panel discussion with amazing writerly talent -- Lawrence Weschler, Sean Wilsey, Matt Weiland, Charles Bock, Rick Moody, Ellery Washington, Joshua Ferris, and Myla Goldberg -- and played to a packed house at the Cantor Film Center. Watch the film trailer, buy the book (it's gorgeous!) and find out where a bookstores is hosting an OOTB: SxS event near you.

And tomorrow night begins the annual New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association fall trade show! I'm proud to be going with three of my McNally Jackson colleagues, and looking forward to all of the learning, networking, and of course eating and drinking we'll be doing through Monday. We're especially looking forward to the Emerging Leaders cocktail party on Saturday night (sponsored by Workman Publishing -- thanks, Steve!), where I'll get to share the awesome news: Ingram is sponsoring one Emerging Leaders scholarship to Winter Institute for FIVE different regions! The EL council is thrilled by their support, as this means more of those energetic frontline kids will get to experience the mountaintop high of professional development that is Winter Institute.

So that's where I'll be through Monday. Hope to see many of you in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, though I know lots of book industry folks are spreading out over the nine different regional shows happening in the next few weekends. Godspeed (and lots of coffee) to us all.

And incidentally, for your Friday enjoyment: the always-on-top-of-it Bookseller Chick informs us that today is Talk Like A Pirate Day. She has a list of pirate-themed books on her blog. Me, I'll just share one of my favorite songs ever. It's totally not book-related -- but there are times when the schedule I've been keeping lately make that lazy no-good pirate thing look pretty good....

Aaargggh... happy reading, me hearties!

Comments

lady t said…
Hey,just wanted to say congrats there,BN. It was nice to read the NYT and see a truly hardworking and motivated person get the credit she deserves.
kookaburra said…
What a great party. Brilliant idea to have a survey (& I'm not just saying that 'cause I won a Jhumpa Lahiri book!!)--hope that also reaps some rewards.

And, of course, congratulations on the NY Times piece. A friend alerted me to it, by the way--I didn't even have to come to Written Nerd to get the scoop!
Anonymous said…
"mountaintop high of professional development..." Do you know how lucky you are to be so perfectly matched with your career? I admit, I am covetous. I hope I'll find my niche and be half... well, two thirds as passionate about it as you are. :) You are stupendous.
-sister Sarah
Anonymous said…
Jessica -- I don't know if you'll remember me, but we met when my editor (Anjali Singh) and I did one of the author/editor events at McNally Robinson in May when my book (_Evening Is The Whole Day_) had just come out. I read about your news on a Malaysian lit. blog (www.thebookaholic.blogspot.com), went and found the NYT article, and am absolutely thrilled for you! Congratulations! It's so nice to see a bit of good news in these not-so-encouraging times, and what better news than a new independent bookstore? I wish all the very best of fortune in this venture.

cheers,
Preeta Samarasan
Anonymous said…
Hi Jessica,

My name is Joe Lentol and I am the State Assemblyman that represents half of Fort Greene. I have seen the bookstore you and Rebecca are opening mentioned a lot in the papers and on the blogs. I'm sorry that I missed the kick-off party at BAM last week. Unfortunately, I didn't know about it, otherwise I would have come.

It's great that you're going to open a bookstore in Fort Greene. That is one of the most desparately needed resources in our community. I wish you good luck, and please feel free to contact me if I can be of help.

Sincerely,

Joseph Lentol

Popular posts from this blog

"Switchblades, bicycle chains and adventuresome tailors": Colson Whitehead on Brooklyn literary culture

Link-Mad Monday: BEA 2007 and On!

House.