BookMasters Blog

Friday, May 29th:

The BEA show opened in normal fashion this year: exhibitors making final touches to their booths, energized, and ready to go.  Buyers who were barred from the floor until 9:00, lined up at the entrance, scanning the Show Daily, which is a publication Publishers Weekly puts out at the show every day, finalizing their plan of attack.  At BookMasters booth, we set everything in line, all the folders, catalogs, pens, and notepads.  Since we had rented the actual booth from a booth company, they were also making final touches, cleaning the tables and getting all the lights on.  So we even smelled fresh and clean.

With a good spot near the front of the exhibit hall, we had people walking through the booth as soon as buyers were allowed into the hall.  The biggest event of the day was a signing by Peter Yarrow, Tom Paxton, and Judy Collins.  More than 700 people came through the booth to get their signed CD that featured music from each of these musical greats.  Traffic didn’t slow down until 4:30, a half hour before the floor was closed.  I think everyone tries to beat the crowd leaving, but then they all ended up leaving at the same time any way.  It was a good start to the show.