Book Expo America: Day 1

So here we are in NYC! It’s been a crazy week of travel to get here… we were on the first ever Qantas Sydney to Dallas flight, which commenced with Texan-style fanfare in Sydney and end with a huge media circus as we got off the plane in Dallas. To our surprise, Qantas Ambassador John Travolta was there to greet every passenger as we got off the plane. There’s really nothing like walking past a ton of cameras and reporters after being on a 15+ hour flight…

After that was a missing luggage fiasco and the jet-lag that wouldn’t die. But now we are here in New York for Book Expo America. And today was the first day of the event, which consisted of some wonderful educational sessions.

First, we attended Digital Media Marketing. This session featured a panel discussion about the best ways to market books online, and was incredibly insightful… The panel covered Social Media marketing, press releases, market research, a very helpful publicity model and plenty of tools, tips and tricks. Cindy Ratzlaff (Brand New Brand You) was a total stand-out and I look forward to attending her Advanced Facebook session later in the week.

Next up was The eBook Era is Now, which gave statistics about the who, what, when, where and why of eBooks and e-readers. It was the kind of information all eBook creators are searching for on the web to help us better know the customer and their experience reading eBooks.

The third session was The Future of Book Publishing, which was another panel discussion. As a big NPR nerd, I was thrilled to find that this panel was moderated by Steve Inskeep, who is currently writing a book for Penguin about his experience in the middle east. The discussion included traditional book industry leaders and those involved in digital media and crowdsourced funding. It was fascinating to hear where the big guys think this is all going…

The day wrapped up with a talk about Digital Marketing for YA Audiences and a discussion on Cross-Platform Mobile Publishing. Both were great sessions, full of useful information to help everyone keep up with this constantly changing industry.

Tomorrow will be the first day for the exhibition hall. So plenty of mingling, reunions, book signings, more educational sessions, and of course… free books!