Book Expo America

Book Expo America (BEA) is the largest North American publishing event. It starts this Thursday, May 29, in New York City. Boy do I wish I was going to be there.

Pretty much anyone and everyone you want to meet in the industry will be there, and much of what will shape the publishing industry landscape for the rest of this year will either be unveiled or on display there. With an eye toward the future of the publishing industry as a whole, I'll be highlighting what I think are the most important events and trends going on at the event.

BEA Highlights and Trends

1. Independent Authors: I'll look at the growing presence of independent authors and how it affects the publishing industry as a whole. As Jane Friedman writes: "Six entrepreneurial authors with more than 8.4 million books sold and counting: Is BEA ready for indie authors to claim their own territory?"

2. Publishing Hackathon: Computer programmers have a long and proud tradition of getting together for long weekends and bringing new ideas to life. Rick Joyce, CMO of Perseus Books, has created something similar to spur innovation in the publishing space. 

3. BEA Live: BEA is streaming many of the sessions for those of us who can't make it in person. I'll look at the schedule and which ones are on my schedule to watch!

4. Power Readers: BEA has a new program for what they call "Power Readers." It's a great idea to open BEA to the readers who keep the book industry humming along. I'll look at what it's about, how you can get involved, and how this kind of audience outreach could shape the future of publishing.

5. Book & Author Videos: BEA puts a lot of time and energy into presenting the people at the conference to the rest of us. They have a fantastic page of videos ready to go that can help anyone interested in publishing see what they are up to. I'll look at some highlights.

Have you ever been to BEA? Do you have any questions or parts of BEA that you want me to look at or report back on?

Image source: BEA Digital Press Room