Notes from Book Expo America: Books, printed or 'e' are doing fine.

by Jamie Freveletti

I've been attending the BookExpo America here in New York. What a cool convention! It's housed in the Javits center, and filled to the brim with booksellers, readers, writers, and publishing industry executives. I've been attending some of the presentations and will give you a quick overview here. I'm due back there in 20 minutes as I write this, so will update later.

1. Signing lines: long for the "Big Dogs." There are long chutes to aim the hopeful at the right author. Want to get James Patterson's signature? Get a ticket. They were free, but without them it would have been chaos.

2. Brad Meltzer's very funny video about his reviews on a book, which I blogged about on this site a while ago was a highlight of what to do as an author.

3. Five printed books are sold for every "E" book. Paper is still supreme as I write this.

4. The Employees for Amazon were enthusiastic, interesting and friendly. That company knows who to send into the field for maximum impact. Well done.

5. Saw John Lithgow at the Harpercollins cocktail party. He was friendly and smiling. Nice.

6. Some interesting books are launching. One, called "Pure" is about a dystopian future and has one of the coolest covers ever.

7. Jeremy Wagner's (horror writer) new book trailer is awesome.

Clock is ticking and I'm off onto the #6 Subway to Uptown. More, with links, later!