Interview with BEA director Lance Fensterman

CBE:  What’s new for this year’s BEA?

Lance Fensterman:  I went out and bought a new tie, but I’m guessing that’s not what you mean!  The new events services and ideas that the BEA team has developed this year a too numerous to mention but I will give you an impartial list:

myBEA – Online show planning and social networking

Bookexpo Cast – Expanded pod casts before and after the show (over 150 in all)

Show Directors Blog – Nuggets of book industry observations and plenty of typos form yours truly

The Second Stage @ BEA – cookbook authors doing demos and independent publishers all live form the show floor

The BEA Story Project Booth – Your chance to share your favorite BEA story via an mp3 recording.  We will pod cast one story per week after the show

New Title Bookstore – Our famous New Title Showcase will now be housed in a bookstore we build on site at BEA.

Reminders Sneak Preview – The show floor will open from 12-5 on Thursday for remainders business.

That gives you an idea!

CBE:  What are you most excited about for this year’s show?

LF:  Wow, it’s hard to pick, but I gotta say, the Saturday morning breakfast is going to be amazing; Stephen Colbert, Jen Burns, Lisa See and Khaled Hosseini.  However I’m pretty excited to see the whole show.  I work all year to create the best event possible and there is nothing like walking into the building on Tuesday and Wednesday to see the vision all coming together.

CBE:  Was there anything from past BEAs that you decided to get rid of for this year’s show?

LF:  Carts on the show floor, we’ve gotten really strict about not brining wheeled carts with you, so consider yourself warned!  Forced breakfast for the author events, you now have the choice between breakfast or a cheaper ticket that just buys you a seat.  A lack of video at the special events, all of our special event this year will have two giant video screens (I guess that’s an addition not a subtraction so we could say we’ve eliminated squinting this year.)

CBE:  What are the benefits and drawbacks to New York City as a venue for BEA?

LF:  The benefits are that this is the publishing capital of the world, so the show is always bigger, has even more energy that usual and we typically see more authors and editors attend when in New York.  The biggest drawback is the cost of hotel rooms in NYC, it’s getting to be crazy!

CBE:  Have you gone to BEA as an attendee?  What was your experience and how has it affected how you’re running it this time around?

LF:  I have been to 3 BEA’s as a booksellers and the biggest difference is that I thought the huge banners just came with the building!  I never new some poor guy and to scale the building and climb into the rafters to hand them!  I hope that coming at the show with an attendee mindset helps me to create a more effective show for our customers – I’ve been there, I’ve walked (quite literally) a mile in there shoes!

CBE:  Does work for next year’s BEA start immediately after this year’s show closes?

LF:  Work for 2008 and has already begun.  I’m happy to say that space BEA 2008 is already 80% sold out.  I’ve already begun with strategy and marketing plans.  At 9am Monday June 4 our web site will be flipped over to provide info for 08.  The cycle is really about 15 months to build this show, which means on June 4 my sleepless night will involve a whole new set of challenges!

CBE:  Is there a city you’re absolutely dying to have host a future BEA?

LF:  We love Chicago and we’ll be back in a few years – we had a really hard time getting our preferred dates in Chicago lately.  But if I had to pick any city I’d love to go to San Francisco, unfortunately the convention center there will just not work for BEA, we’re too big.  Second choice would be my hometown of Minneapolis itsan a amazing literary city, but BEA is way to big for that convention center.

CBE:  How has being a bookseller in the past affected the way you’re doing things for BEA? 

LF:  I hope that I have a depth of knowledge of this industry and a passion for this business that someone not from the bookseller background may lack.  I also hope that I am able to provide great value to the participants in BEA because I know what the show means to them on a deeper level.

CBE:  The following is a solicited response:  How much do you love the New Title Showcase?

LF:  The what?  Ha.  New Title Showcase is a great feature of the show as it allows authors of all shapes and sizes to have a presence at BEA.  I also love it because it reminds me of a bookstore, hence my move this year to literally build a bookstore around the New Title Showcase.  However, I must say that I find the customer service in the showcase a bit surly.

CBE:  Do you have a hand in every single part of BEA?  Did you decide on all the speakers, all the panels and seminars, etc?

LF:  Yeah, I like to keep my fingers in everything.  I believe very deeply in collaboration, I love the quote that “No one is smarter than everyone.”  Part of collaboration is getting the right heads in the room and solving problems and creating great ideas.  So yes, I love to be involved in not just the over arching strategy of the show log term but the day to day strategy and focus as well.  I hope I bring with me a knowledge and perspective on this business that makes my opinions valuable.

CBE:  What makes you choose a book to buy?

LF:  Subject matter, recommendation of a trusted source or knowledge of the author.  Having a lot of friends in the business, from publishing executives to booksellers, I’m never short of recommendations for great new reads.  It’s wonderful, knowing so many knowledgeable book people is like going to a great restaurant, you know you can order anything off of the menu and it’ll be amazing.

CBE:  Based on your blog (bookexpo-lance.blogspot.com), you have an affinity for independent publishers.  What are some that you know of that we should be expecting big things from in the near future?

LF:  Akashic, Soft Skull, Grove Atlantic, Milkweed and University of Minnesota Press are all favorites.  However, Berkshire Publishing is doing amazing things on an international scale.  All these presses are run by smart, creative entrepreneurial individual who have a passion for the written word.

CBE:  What’s your opinion on graphic novels and comics (besides the fact that you enjoyed Comic Con)?

LF:  I love them.  Anything that is getting kids to read it AOK with me!  When is the last time a book was considered “cool” to a 12 year old kid?  Graphic novels have that appeal.  As an industry I believe we should support anything that is getting books into kids hand and then grow them from there.  Also, I enjoy the genre personally.

CBE:  What’s your opinion on the state of print media book coverage?

LF:  This is a tricky question.  I think that books are getting more media attention than they ever have before.  Between blogs, print, NPR and television (Orpah, Colbert even the likes of O’Reilly) the coverage is amazing and vibrant.  However none of these mediums can replace the in depth coverage that print book review provide.  In your previous question I was passionate about doing anything to support growing new readers for the health of our industry.  I think this question is an industry health issue as well.  Any cut in coverage of books, especially cutting the richest and most in depth form of coverage, is not healthy for the future of our industry.

CBE:  You’re on the road pretty often promoting BEA.  Is there any place you’ve been to that totally surprised you in the capacity by which they support English-language publishing?

LF:  Everywhere.  The growth of English language reading is amazing.  We will examine this very issue as a part of our new Global Market Forum in our conference session at BEA.  I am amazed that I can go anywhere in the world, from China to Italy and find books in English – and lots of them.

CBE:  Do you have any trips planned in the near future?

LF:  In the two weeks after BEA I’ll be in Canada and DC.  In the two months after BEA I’ll be in China, Hong Kong, San Diego and yes, a lovely lake in the Northern pine forests of Minnesota.

CBE:  Do you remember what Mrs. BEA looks like?

LF:  We’ll get reacquainted on that lake in the Northern pine forest of Minnesota I mentioned!

CBE:  Its June 5^th (or whenever the show is finally over and cleaned up), no exhibitors or attendees are left in the hall and you just said “thank you” to the Javits Center crew for all their help.  You step onto the street and BEA 2007 is officially over.  What’s the first thing you’re going to do?

LF:  Have a drink.

Actually I’ll walk on the door on Sunday and directly into meetings that evening soliciting feedback from our customers.

CBE:  If you weren't doing this, what would you be doing?

LF:  Stand up comedy.  Which really means making bad YouTube video waiting for my break.

CBE:  What would the title of your life story be?

LF:  But Seriously Folks

CBE:  If you wrote your life story, what 3 adjectives would appear on the dust jacket to describe it?

LF:  Frenetic.  Loquacious.  Moderately Juvenile.

CBE:  What's the worst part of your job?

LF:  Having an office in Norwalk, CT (sorry Nutmeggers)

CBE:  I’m having a hard time remembering…when the Vikings played the Jets last season, who won?