Back from BookExpo – not bad for having a booth in East Jabib! Installment #1
How was it? Not bad for having a booth in East Jabib. Where’s East Jabib, you ask? As far as I know, it doesn’t exist. That’s how remote our booth was. But, that didn’t stop us from having the best BEA ever.
Really.
After I did my little publicity dog and pony show at Publishing University on Thursday offsite at the Roosevelt Hotel with the delightful Marika Flatt, proprietor of PR By the Book (an Austin firm I often subcontract to), and a little shopping (big surprise), I took a deep breath for the three day (really two and a half) whirlwind at Jacob Javitz.
Friday morning, I was greeted (one at a time) by producers from Rachael Ray, Good Morning America and the Today Show. Not a bad way to start a show and a good omen for the rest. Good sit-down meetings and even a little big time media interaction for a few lucky HCI authors who happened to be present. (Get your sound bytes ready authors. You never know who’ll you’ll bump into!)
Friday at the HCI booth was smooth and steady. Constant flow of traffic but not too overwhelming. I think all the tweeting, Facebooking and eblasting that we did got the attention of the BEA herds. Not to mention the beautiful booth that’s designed by our art director/wizard Larissa Henoch. And, just to make sure that our unfortunate location didn’t create a problem, I sent out some helpful, handsome husbands of HCI editors with flyers in hand into the throngs of conference goers to seal the deal.
It worked.
The stars were lined up just right for us. A pre-planned visit from Inside Edition for the purpose of interviewing Mary Jo Buttafuoco happily spilled over into an impromptu interview with our author, Kevin Harrington. He’s the “King of the Infomercial” and soon one of the “sharks” on the new Mark Burnett reality show, “Shark Tank,” which debuts on ABC in August. His book is Act Now!
We had an awesome full page ad in PW Show Daily, a story and a nice mention in an article about Young Adult titles. (Thank you dear Daisy Maryles) A lot more happened on Friday that I’m too burned out at the moment to recall but before I go back to my actual work work, I want to give a shout out to an amazing restaurant in Soho.
Called, Woo Lae Oak, it’s an enchanted place to dine on Korean food. Fabulous for lovers of Korean barbeque (think striped bass, yellowtail snapper and tuna) and a haven for fans of not just exotic food but for veggie people. Never before have I seen a section of a menu dedicated to “artisan tofu.”
I mean, can you imagine? Artisan tofu?
Even the miso soup was remarkable. Beside the perfunctory seaweed in it was delectably tender spinach. And, the kicker – I’m pretty sure the soup was laced with chilis. Brilliant, simply brilliant.
I want to eat there today.
Woo Lae Oak is now up there with my very favorite places to dine. I saw that Los Angeles and Beverly Hills folks can enjoy meals there, too.
I’m fading. The thought of Friday’s meal will keep me going for the rest of the day until I can CRASH for some hours without interruption. Sleep offenders! You know who you are!!!
I’ll be back with more BEA joy tomorrow and will try to get some pictures up, too. I would LOVE it if you shared with me your BEA experience/wrap up in my comments section. And, if I saw you there, I was charmed, I’m sure.
Until next time.
p.s. stay tuned for “partying with Mary Jo Buttafuoco and Jane Velez-Mitchell”, the never-ending autographing line of Tom Wilson, the adorable “Nutrition Twins,” Hannah Friedman – HCI’s new Y/A sensation… on and on it goes!!!
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Hi Kim! Love your blog. I actually thought “Shark Tank” was going to be about our finned friends in the Atlantic. (I say Atlantic because I’ve yet to encounter one over here in the Pacific.) Kevin Harrington’s book sounds great! I was completely out of the BEA loop this year as I was producing SMT’s back to back with firemen in Boston and rollercoasters in Austin.