May 4, 2009
Lance Fensterman On BEA and Issues Regarding Reed’s Comic Con Business
So I wrote a small item
in a post last week expressing some doubts about a Reed publication's coverage of claims made on behalf of its convention arm regarding the forthcoming Book Expo America. I felt the story was undercooked in a way that it raised more questions than it answered. The irony of claiming someone undercooked a story in a post that's essentially a salad made from someone else's leftovers wasn't lost on me. Luckily, the BEA's Lance Fensterman -- also the driving forced behind their comics show in Chicago and New York -- took my questions.
I asked Fensterman about the discrepancy that bothered me, that Macmillan's appearance at BEA was asserted as an arrangement issue by Fensterman but was a marketing priorities issue for the book giant. Fensterman said both factors were in play. "Macmillan felt that they needed to spend there marketing dollars differently this year and particularly around BEA. We worked with them at length to find a solution that accomplished that and kept a Macmillan presence on the show floor of BEA. Ultimately, we could not make that work, so they are just taking a meeting room this year." He added that Walker & Company, a publisher distributed by Macmillan, will have space on the floor.
I was also confused by Fensterman's assertion that Book Expo had something to learn from comic convention in terms of presenting their authors to the public. At the pair of BEAs that I had attended, it seemed like authors were everywhere, easily meetable and greetable in a variety of places and ways. "My comment was more to
how publishers use their booth," Fensterman said, acknowledging that a number of significant authors are on hand. "At [Reed's] New York Comic Con publishers want creators to appear in their booths to drive traffic and create buzz. Often at BEA booths are used for meetings and to hand out catalogs while author signings take place away from the booth. My suggestion to publishers is to take a page form the New York Comic Con book and think about how strategically the booth they build can serve as a center of activity and a place to drive interaction between the attendees and authors -- which ultimately is one of the three major reasons most attendees come to BEA."
In a follow-up, Fensterman spoke to the issue why BEA exhibitor might learn from a comics show, given how dicey a proposition many convention are for comics publishers. "One of the things cons do well in my estimation is create a connection between creators and consumers and build magnificent buzz within the community and the media in general," he said. "I think that traditional trade only events like BEA have a challenge in replicating that same outcome, but some of the decisions we have made for the show and the strategies we are encouraging our customers to take will make tha6t connectivity and buzz more attainable." I'm not sure this spoke to my concern about the limits of publicity and buzz as a driving force for publishers to make a continued investment into an expo or convention, but the message is clear.
As to DC deciding not to attend the show as an exhibitor, Fensterman declined to speculate on their behalf in terms of why they made this decision. He did point that because they're being distributed by Random House, and that this may afford the trade-conscious comics publisher enough of a show presence to fulfill whatever they see as their needs. He repeated his assertion that NYCC may obviate some of the need for to publisher to exhibit at BEA as well.
Finally, I did ask the convention organizer about their recent kick-off event for a planned Chicago comic convention starting in 2010. He declared it "outstanding," and said that event included meeting with a formal, fan-constituted focus group in addition to representatives from local schools, a number of local artists and a bunch of area retailers.
posted 8:30 am PST |
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