Of course we’re back, but I was just so tired yesterday, couldn’t bear to start blogging. Plus, I had that 2-hour interview w/Fr. Ron Lengwin on KDKA last night which wore me out, as well. Comments are open, if you have anything to say.

Thursday and Friday were devoted to Book Expo and doing stuff in Chicago. Michael and I traded off going to the show and watching kids, although he spent more time at the show than I did, given that he had workshops to go to and all. Which was fine. Frankly, the show is so incredibly massive that there’s just so much one can absorb at one time. The thought of going to another monstrous book trade show in three weeks (CBA) almost makes me weep.

It’s like any trade show. Vendors (mostly publishers, of course) are there trying to seduce buyers (booksellers and librarians). Buyers are there to get bags full of free stuff. Oh yes, we got our share.

Almost everyone is there at BEA, with the exception of smaller evangelical Christian publishers and the vast majority of Catholic publishers – Loyola and Paulist were the only two with independent booths, I believe, although Ignatius was there as part of some sort of consortium of publishers, under the wing of a larger company. Exhibiting at BEA is a complicated thing. There is a pecking order of sorts – the longer you’ve exhibited, the better booth placement you get, so not exhibiting (which might mean traveling a long way, spending a lot of money to be stuck between the dog calendars and Britney Spears notepads) is not necessarily a sign of indifference to the broader market beyond the religious goods store. It simply may not be worth it, although we had to wonder why, for example, a group of Catholic publishers hasn’t formed to jointly exhibit at BEA every year, joining forces to encourage chains, big box stores and independents to meet the needs of the something like 60 million Catholics in the US.