Jon Stewart, Barbra Steisand, John Grisham, but enough name dropping

BEA - BookExpo in America - in NYC was amazing. My first time there, but thankfully I had good tips from past attendees and the ABA lounge saved my sanity many times.

Top things about BEA:

1) Breakfast with Jon Stewart, John Grisham, Condoleezza Rice and Mary Roach (she noted she was the "and more" of the breakfast). Jon Stewart "read" from his upcoming book: "Earth (The Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race." A nice recap of the breakfast from the Dallas Morning News.
2) Barbra Streisand interview - talked about her new book on design and was quite engaging.
3) Seeing Tim Gunn autograph his book for 3 hours (instead of the usual 1 hour) because he took time to talk and take pictures with every person in his line. I can't imagine how long he would have been there had it not been a ticketed line.
4) The ABA lounge - a sanctuary.

Hanging out with Alison as we "strolled" (tried to navigate the BUSY floor), catching up with bookstore friends and meeting new ones and talking with authors about their books - passionate, excited and fun crowd. Wonderful show!

Off to BEA in NYC

BookExpo America in NYC this week is the "THE PREMIER North American publishing event."  I'm already overwhelmed with the options and I'm not even there yet.  Hundreds of authors and publishing houses talking about the exciting books coming out this year.

But I'm just as excited to visit with the indie bookseller community - constantly amazed at the intelligence, fun and creativity of these folks.  Looking forward to sharing all the news when I return!

Outside my area of expertise, but thankfully

I know several very knowledgeable young men who will help me with this new section on Science Fiction/Fantasy.

Starting around 14 years old and up to ??, these guys are locked into books, websites, games from their favorite authors and probably know well before booksellers when new ones are on the way. It will be an education for me.

Here's one to get us started: Baen Free Library.  Basically, Baen Books is putting a number of books out there in electronic format for fans to read for free.  An extensive list of books from Baen authors are available through this site.  As a future bookseller, I should find this threatening, but I don't.  It's just one more way to read more and be part of a community.

Hoping to meet David Weber who will be at the Baen Booth at BEA.  My nephew's a fan, so I'd like to find out what it's all about.