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News & ArtsMonday, October 26, 2009
Books A Mini-Rant About Seattle Bookfest
Posted by Paul Constant on Mon, Oct 26, 2009 at 3:36 PM
I have no doubt that the (few) people who attended Seattle Bookfest this year as visitors had a lot of fun and enjoyed themselves. But it was a disaster for many of the exhibitors. I talked to a few people who were near tears because they spent money for a booth at the Bookfest and didn't earn back their table fees in sales. I talked to authors who were annoyed that they had fewer people at their readings than they do when they read in town at any other time. I just talked with a publisher who said it was probably the saddest book-related event he'd ever attended, and this publisher has been around for a long time.
This is what I think: The organizers of this Bookfest were downright irresponsible. In 2009, of all years, to ask bookstores to lay out money and extra employee hours for an event and then to produce the terrible attendance of this Bookfest is a goddamn travesty. Nobody in publishing has any extra money this year, and if the producers of this event were honest about what it really was to the exhibitors—a Columbia City Book Festival—I bet half of the people who took part in this year's Bookfest would have opted out. If you had any stake in this thing—if you were an author or an exhibitor—the odds are very good that you put in way more than you gave out. It's a testament to the exhibitors that none of that stress showed to the people who attended Bookfest. But somebody has to call it what it is: An ill-conceived mess.
1
I didn't see any posters for this anywhere.
In the entire U District.
In all of Fremont.
From the bus going down 45th in Wallingford.
hmmm. I wonder if that might have meant something.
Not everything is from FB events listings - oh, never got any of those either, nor did any of the people I know who are writers say anything about it.
.... just saying.
In the entire U District.
In all of Fremont.
From the bus going down 45th in Wallingford.
hmmm. I wonder if that might have meant something.
Not everything is from FB events listings - oh, never got any of those either, nor did any of the people I know who are writers say anything about it.
.... just saying.
2
I feel bad for the exhibitors but c'mon...it was SCHEDULED to be in COLUMBIA CITY! What were they expecting--thousands of attendees? Of the 500,000 people living in Seattle I'm guessing 400k of them couldn't find Columbia City on a sunny day with a good map...it's not exactly that happenin' of a locale and it's not centrally located.
3
I saw more flyers for the Anarchist's Bookfair than ever I did for the Seattle Bookfest.
That thought makes me chuckle.
That thought makes me chuckle.
6
why would you go to a bookfest in columbia city when you could be smoking weed and having oral sex?
7
its a shame cuz it really was charming...
however, we had a LOT of trouble finding it once we were IN Columbia City... the web site was not helpful in that regard... and it was very poorly laid out. I was ready to skedaddle after tripping over many white-haired ladies wielding large bags and baby strollers...
But..nonetheless, found a couple books from a publisher I hadn't heard of before and had a great time with the Seattle library book swap. Unfortunately, we had tried to seek out a book from Fantagraphics - but alas, anything we were looking for there wasn't there. We will make that trek another day.
however, we had a LOT of trouble finding it once we were IN Columbia City... the web site was not helpful in that regard... and it was very poorly laid out. I was ready to skedaddle after tripping over many white-haired ladies wielding large bags and baby strollers...
But..nonetheless, found a couple books from a publisher I hadn't heard of before and had a great time with the Seattle library book swap. Unfortunately, we had tried to seek out a book from Fantagraphics - but alas, anything we were looking for there wasn't there. We will make that trek another day.
8
The Friends of SPL did very well with our book swap and $1 book sale. We enjoyed the community feel and chance to get down south, since our large sales are only held at Magnuson Park. I was disappointed by the venue too; I expected more from a building called a "community event center." It really is a shuttered school. Even if this event doesn't happen again, I commend the organizers for taking the risk by trying.
9
I asked one publisher out in a portable if people had been finding them, and she said yes...after they had made a few signs and taped them up themselves. So the signs were scribbled in red Sharpie. It wasn't cute or funky.
The only way to figure out who was stationed in each classroom was to find the sign taped to the door--smallish print and only viewable as long as you were facing east and standing still. Never found a schedule of who was reading when. The few publishers I was interested in AND was able to find, all seemed to be pretty frustrated, and this was mid-afternoon on Saturday. I'm surprised they came back on Sunday.
Coming in from the food court (outside), I somehow ended up walking right through the men's room, where all the sinks were knee-high.
I ran away shortly after that. If they want to be annual, they really need to step it up with some basic event planning skills.
The only way to figure out who was stationed in each classroom was to find the sign taped to the door--smallish print and only viewable as long as you were facing east and standing still. Never found a schedule of who was reading when. The few publishers I was interested in AND was able to find, all seemed to be pretty frustrated, and this was mid-afternoon on Saturday. I'm surprised they came back on Sunday.
Coming in from the food court (outside), I somehow ended up walking right through the men's room, where all the sinks were knee-high.
I ran away shortly after that. If they want to be annual, they really need to step it up with some basic event planning skills.
10
Thanks! I keep forgetting to look up where the hell Columbia City is.
*looks up on google maps*
HA! I would never go there.
*looks up on google maps*
HA! I would never go there.
12
paul- u nailed it. that thing was sad, i even kept playing the donnie darko theme on my i-pod to go along with the sadness of the event. the saddest panel was the one u were on. no offence.
the food was sad, the attendance was sadder, the authors were sad, though i did buy a great fantagraphics deluxe edition of palestine.
it was the saddest book fair ever. u felt suicidal afterwards. good thing i live a few blocks away from the old orcas school.
the food was sad, the attendance was sadder, the authors were sad, though i did buy a great fantagraphics deluxe edition of palestine.
it was the saddest book fair ever. u felt suicidal afterwards. good thing i live a few blocks away from the old orcas school.
13
Promotion for the event sucked.
Finding the location sucked. (Parking was awful too!)
The layout at the location sucked.
The programming sucked.
The vendors were very uncreative for the most part. I'll be writing up my impressions sometime later today or tomorrow for my blog, including some suggestions on what could be done differently.
Finding the location sucked. (Parking was awful too!)
The layout at the location sucked.
The programming sucked.
The vendors were very uncreative for the most part. I'll be writing up my impressions sometime later today or tomorrow for my blog, including some suggestions on what could be done differently.
14
I agree w/ Paul. It was a disaster. The promotion. The website. The execution of the fest itself. The location. Disaster. Disaster. Disaster.
And the exhibitors. Uggh! While a precious few were wonderful, the rest made me hate books. And especially writers.
Not exactly the response I'm guessing they were going for...
And the exhibitors. Uggh! While a precious few were wonderful, the rest made me hate books. And especially writers.
Not exactly the response I'm guessing they were going for...
15
I was an exhibitor there and shared a table. Pretty much just broke even.
But I will let everyone get back to the hating.
But I will let everyone get back to the hating.
16
I feel the worst about it because I walked into it as a volunteer. They were talking about press releases and media relations when I interrupted and asked about social networking. They looked dazed and confused and then decided that since I brought it up I should do it. O.K. I asked if they had a logo - no. No logo, just some poster done with magic marker. Seriously? Well, I threw up a Facebook and a Twitter and did a logo myself. I sent the logo as a jpg to the event organizer if she wanted to use it elsewhere - but she sent me the magic marker poster for me to "fix." Well, I spent hours of my time updating only to get absolute silence from the organizers. When I finally got huffy (asking if the email address I was sending things to actually worked) I got a snippy remark saying that they were "busy" working on Bookfest. Uh, that was what I was doing for them - for FREE! Well in a little over two weeks (which is not enough time to promote anything - Internet or no) I got a bit of a buzz going (neither of the organizers became fans or followers and my contact told me that she didn't participate in social networking because she was "too old.")The guy who was the organizer hired someone who admittedly never put on an event. When I offered to come to the event to post updates to Twitter and Facebook and photograph the event, etc. It was met with shrugs. They really needed volunteers to schlep things around not use their skills. (I happen to do it for a living.) I ended up not even going to the event because I just felt dumb for even getting involved. This is why SIFF always kicks ass. They know how to treat their volunteers and they know how to put on a show. When it came right down to it - I didn't want to go all the way down there for what I knew would be a huge disappointment.
More...
18
We liked the building (a neat old school building), the location was great for us (we took the train and walked one whole block to the Bookfest -- no parking hassles! And then we walked another block or so over to Rainier and had good food, then ice cream and video games at Full Tilt, then went to the used book store), but the frustration was that the organizers were running around (apparently -- this is what vendors told us) telling the vendors to close up and be out BEFORE 6:00 pm on Saturday. The scheduled closing time on the website was 6:00 pm, so we expected it to close to the public then, but be open until then. At 5:30 there were vendors long-gone already, including one I was absolutely going to buy from. I could not. (They left their books out on the table so I was half-tempted to just leave them the cash and take the book anyway... but figured someone would steal it.)
One of the rooms (the one with the Amma people) had something that smelled like strong incense burning, I think. (Or someone had outrageous perfume on.) It drove me out of the room almost instantly, so none of the vendors in there got my business. I don't even know what they had available.
I am not sure if it was some of the vendors' fault for leaving really early, or the organizers' fault, or both, but I really wish that when an event is publicized as "open until 6" that people would stay and sell me stuff until 6:00. I was there with my wallet primed and ready at 4:30 or so, and I did buy a few things, but too many vendors took off early.
We did see a lot of people there checking things out, even late Saturday afternoon as it was. Also, at least one vendor that we didn't buy from AT the event is one we plan to visit and buy from at their shop -- just because they didn't sell us the book on the spot doesn't mean they weren't successful in making the connection to sell to us.
More...
One of the rooms (the one with the Amma people) had something that smelled like strong incense burning, I think. (Or someone had outrageous perfume on.) It drove me out of the room almost instantly, so none of the vendors in there got my business. I don't even know what they had available.
I am not sure if it was some of the vendors' fault for leaving really early, or the organizers' fault, or both, but I really wish that when an event is publicized as "open until 6" that people would stay and sell me stuff until 6:00. I was there with my wallet primed and ready at 4:30 or so, and I did buy a few things, but too many vendors took off early.
We did see a lot of people there checking things out, even late Saturday afternoon as it was. Also, at least one vendor that we didn't buy from AT the event is one we plan to visit and buy from at their shop -- just because they didn't sell us the book on the spot doesn't mean they weren't successful in making the connection to sell to us.
19
I had a GREAT TIME at the bookfest. Attendance seemed pretty bustling to me. All the volunteers that put this together FOR NOTHING should be thanked for their hard work. Good first annual, I will go to the second.
20
Yes, there were some problems. Signage was a big one, but this was not a well produced bookfest that had a lot of backing but a grass roots effort.
People have talked for years about putting on a bookfest again, and nothing has happened in 6 years. NOTHING.
So someone did something about it and a lot of people came out to support the effort.
Thousands of people made a visit to the festival 3 to 4,000. I talked to several exhibitors who were very happy about the sales they made. The cost of the booth was less than half of any other festivals.
A handful of exhibitors were put into the pod buildings which was unfortunate because without a lot better signage and traffic flow they were almost hidden from many of the visitors.
Yes a lot of visitors had trouble finding the right place for a panel because of the signage problems, but there were programs and maps and all one had to do was walk down a few hallways or ask a volunteer.
There were many exhibitors who thought the Bookfest was excellent or a very good start. A few were disgruntled but that seemed to be a minority opinion. Seems irresponsible to represent a few squeaky wheels and be utterly negative about a festival that many many people and several exhibitors seemed very very excited and positive about.
Is the Stranger involved in sponsoring or promoting another Bookfest?
Quite a harsh overly critical attack on a solid effort that many people enjoyed.
People have talked for years about putting on a bookfest again, and nothing has happened in 6 years. NOTHING.
So someone did something about it and a lot of people came out to support the effort.
Thousands of people made a visit to the festival 3 to 4,000. I talked to several exhibitors who were very happy about the sales they made. The cost of the booth was less than half of any other festivals.
A handful of exhibitors were put into the pod buildings which was unfortunate because without a lot better signage and traffic flow they were almost hidden from many of the visitors.
Yes a lot of visitors had trouble finding the right place for a panel because of the signage problems, but there were programs and maps and all one had to do was walk down a few hallways or ask a volunteer.
There were many exhibitors who thought the Bookfest was excellent or a very good start. A few were disgruntled but that seemed to be a minority opinion. Seems irresponsible to represent a few squeaky wheels and be utterly negative about a festival that many many people and several exhibitors seemed very very excited and positive about.
Is the Stranger involved in sponsoring or promoting another Bookfest?
Quite a harsh overly critical attack on a solid effort that many people enjoyed.
21
I'm sure it could be improved, but I had a great time at Bookfest. There seemed to be a lot of people there, and it had a good vibe. LOVED that I could walk there from my house. And the school was funky but so much better than the sterile Convention Center when it was housed there. Also better than the big warehouse on the waterfront where the noise from all the readings overlapped and made it impossible to hear.
22
Lighten up, everyone! It was a good first-time effort in a great location where we could celebrate our love of books and reading. My wife and I went both days and really enjoyed listening to authors and discovering some small presses we hadn't thought of before. Of course there's plenty of room for improvement. I'd suggest better promotion and hopefully a couple authors from out of town. I'm sure the organizers would be happy to have extra help so let's rally to make next year's better!
23
I guess I went to a different Book Fair. Didn't you get a schedule? Everything was spelled out. I went to almost all the events, at least 10, they were packed, and all were excellent. Now if not all the books were sold, do you get it, its a recession!
24
Book Publishers Northwest sold 4x the cost of our booth at Seattle Bookfest and talked to the organizers about buying an entire room next year. We did have a great location, just inside the front door. Many of our members that I talked to, and we had members scattered throughout the exhibits, were satisfied with sales.
The portable where we held our at 11 am on Saturday was packed, not enough chairs for everyone, and the crowd was fine and friendly.
I attended, exhibited, and worked at all the Northwest Bookfests, both as a bookstore owner and later a representative of Book Publishers Northwest. Although truly a wonderful event, I remember the first year there was major grumbling from exhibitors due to many problems at the pier: lack of electricity, lack of hot coffee until well into the morning, pigeons dive bombing exhibits, and so on. We rarely did more than break even at subsequent Bookfests -- my booth made money the first year because we were one of the few actually SELLING books (Kitty marketed space to publishers to DISPLAY but not sell in the now fabled Year One).
Kudos to both Paul and Molly for tackling this. It's a huge amount of work. May it come back in some form next year!
The portable where we held our at 11 am on Saturday was packed, not enough chairs for everyone, and the crowd was fine and friendly.
I attended, exhibited, and worked at all the Northwest Bookfests, both as a bookstore owner and later a representative of Book Publishers Northwest. Although truly a wonderful event, I remember the first year there was major grumbling from exhibitors due to many problems at the pier: lack of electricity, lack of hot coffee until well into the morning, pigeons dive bombing exhibits, and so on. We rarely did more than break even at subsequent Bookfests -- my booth made money the first year because we were one of the few actually SELLING books (Kitty marketed space to publishers to DISPLAY but not sell in the now fabled Year One).
Kudos to both Paul and Molly for tackling this. It's a huge amount of work. May it come back in some form next year!
25
Lee and Low Books is an independent children’s book publisher specializing in diversity. They take pride in nurturing many minority authors and illustrators who are new to the world of children’s book publishing.
For more about their history and their books, visit:
Minority Book Publisher
For more about their history and their books, visit:
Minority Book Publisher
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