So Grumpy Cat got more rock-star cheers from the BookCon crowd at BEA than John Green did. Nevertheless, the trade show’s first-ever Author Hub for entrepreneurial authors held its own. And one author managed to sign and give away 500 copies of her book on Saturday.
While those of us working on the Hub saw many things we want to refine and re-evaluate, of course, the concept itself was a leap of faith for BEA and for each of the authors who took a chance on buying a membership and for the many smart speakers and industry leaders who agreed to contribute to our programming, which was my area of responsibility along with overseeing things once we’d opened.
Special credit goes to Steven Rosato, the Reed Exhibitions events director who established the concept of a working center for entrepreneurial authors on the trade-show floor and shepherded the idea into reality. Last year, London had staged anAuthor Lounge (this year Author HQ), originally with Authoright’s programming for entrepreneurial writers, and BEA had offered no such center of activity for them in 2013.
This year, Rosato changed that. And he deserves thanks and praise.
By Porter Anderson | @Porter_Anderson
Issues on the Ether: “A Footprint on the Convention Floor”: BEA’s Author Hub
Read the full post at: PublishingPerspectives.com