BookEnds Takes on #BEA15

In the back of my mind I've been obsessively debating which shoes to wear to BEA. Certainly BEA is a lot more than shoes, but if you've ever been to the Javits Center I think you'll understand my obsession. Hard floors, giant spaces and tons and tons of walking. Not to mention that its as far West as you can get in New York City so just getting there is a hike of its own.

Although BEA started on Wednesday, Bookends will be attending Thursday and Friday and while the free galleys and new books will be tempting (and snatched up), we're there primarily to network. At BEA we'll be meeting with various co-agents to discuss the possibility of foreign and performance rights for our books, as well as audio and anything else that we can do to promote and sell more rights for our authors and their books.

Moe has stepped into her new position with a vengeance and she and Beth have been working on updating, revising and reformatting our rights lists for the past month. They are wonderful. Somehow they make our already sparkly books shine even more.

And this year, like many years, we'll have a special guest. Our new intern James starts on Thursday. just in time to be inaugurated into BEA meetings, book lugging, and all of publishing in one giant room. I can't wait to hear his thoughts.

A few tips I've learned over the years at BEA:

1. Wear comfortable shoes. You'll be walking and walking and some more walking so be prepared.
2. Dress for the heat. The Javits is always hot so cool and comfortable are good.
3. Pack lightly. You're going to want to grab book so pack your smallest purse and go. You don't want to be weighted down more than you already will be.
4. Pick galleys sparingly. You don't want to be the one lugging five canvas bags full of books that you'll later wonder why you even grabbed them (they are just not your style). Trust me. I've been there. At BookEnds we make an effort to pick one galley for the team. Unless its something we all plan to read immediately we can usually share. We have also gotten picky. I'm not afraid to take a moment to read the cover copy and put the book back down if I don't think I'll read it. I mean, I still have galleys from last year I haven't read.
5. Stop and chat with people. The whole point of BEA is to network and meet people. Stop and booths to say hello and take a moment to introduce yourself and pass out a card. And follow-up later!

And lastly, check out #BookEnds on Twitter and @Bookends_Literary on Instagram where we'll be Tweeting and Instagramming all the fun things we see and do.

--jhf