[Leslie]

Book Expo America, a big book convention, was just held recently. I found these pictures online.

This is the Harlequin booth:

This is the Amazon booth:

Hmmm.....

L

 

[Kathy]

That's kind of shocking that Amazon doesn't have a bigger booth. I wonder if they had the Kindle DX for people to look at. It looks like there is a K2 on the table.

 

[Cowgirl]

I wonder what the Sony booth looked like. 

 

[Leslie]

I wonder what the Sony booth looked like.

Apparently it was about the same as the Amazon booth. They were right across from each other.

L

 

[suicidepact]

Must have been a very uncomfortable area. Death ray glances across across the aisle and the like.

 

[Leslie]

Some more pictures that I found. This is the Cool-er e-Reader:

and their booth:

I wonder if Amazon and Sony were paying attention to the Cool-er guys? LOL

L

 

[tashab]

hold the phone. there are BOOK CONVENTIONS? how did I not know about this?

 

[suicidepact]

After reading the reviews in that other thread about the cool, that booth about sums it up.

 

[MagicalWingLT]

Ok um maybe someone should of told the people that it's a Book Convention.... Not a Band, or Bakini convention... If they were trying to get people to get the Cooler they made a big mistake...

 

[jaylynn]

Well... you see that kind of thing at lots of conventions....it's not always (sometimes not even usually) about what the convention is really "about"......!!  Case in point-- half-naked women at car shows.  I rest my case!

 

[koolmnbv]

The Cool-er looked like the party that you want to be at when you know you already told your granny you would be at her bridge club. (not that amazon or sony is the bridge club)LOL

Seriously I'm just glad to see that there were several e-reader booths. That can only be good news for amazon and for us because it will lead to more books and authors going digital etc. Alot of the smaller companies will just help the bigger companies in the long run.

 

[Leslie]

Here's an interesting article from the New York Times about the Book Expo America:

Book Fair Buzz Is Not Contained Between 2 Covers

The book publishing industry is notorious for jumping on bandwagons: witness the flood of "Da Vinci Code" knockoffs that clogged tables at the front of bookstores a few years ago, and the stream of novels featuring vampires that are crowding bestseller lists now.

So it should be no surprise that at BookExpo America, the publishing industry's annual trade convention that ended Sunday in New York, publishers seemed to be putting their own stamps on the increasingly frenzied conversation about electronic books that has hijacked the business.

There were the panels: "Giving It Away: When Free eBooks Make Sense and When They Don't," "Red Hot Readers: Market Adoption of Mobile eReading Devices" and "Jumping Off a Cliff: How Publishers Can Succeed Online Where Others Failed." Tina Brown, rasping with a bad case of laryngitis, kick-started a discussion with the chief executives of four New York publishing houses by asking if they were shocked when Amazon.com began charging $9.99 for e-books - "that paltry, pitiful sum."

to read the whole thing:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/01/books/01bea.html?scp=1&sq=book%20fair%20buzz&st=cse

 

[L.Canton]

Looks like everyone is having a good time, but as others have said, I'm surprised Amazon doesn't have a bigger booth.

 

[LaraAmber]

Giving It Away: When Free eBooks Make Sense and When They Don't

Well heck I could have led that panel and it would have finished in enough time for everyone to make a Starbucks run.

When it makes sense:

1. The author has an established series and you give away book 1.

When it doesn't make sense:
1. When the author sucks
2. When the author has an established series and you give away book 7!!!
3. When the author only has one book

Ta-Da!

Lara Amber

 

[Kind]

Looks like Cool-Er probably got more attention but the reviews for the device were not very good.

 

[MamaProfCrash]

Giving It Away: When Free eBooks Make Sense and When They Don't

Well heck I could have led that panel and it would have finished in enough time for everyone to make a Starbucks run.

When it makes sense:

1. The author has an established series and you give away book 1.

When it doesn't make sense:
1. When the author sucks
2. When the author has an established series and you give away book 7!!!
3. When the author only has one book

Ta-Da!

Lara Amber

You forgot: When the author has a series of books that were released many years ago and you want to bring in new readers. I am thinking of the Robin Hobb books. That was a great call on their part.

 

[Ann in Arlington]

Looks like Cool-Er probably got more attention but the reviews for the device were not very good.

Well, their bikini babes, margaritas and pina coladas did, anyway.

Here's what the Washington Post had to say: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/31/AR2009053102119.html

 

[LDB]

Giving It Away: When Free eBooks Make Sense and When They Don't

1. The author has an established series and you give away book 1.

Definitely a good idea. I don't have data to confirm but suspect it has to result in more sales overall than the loss on the single free title... provided of course the remaining volumes are sensibly/reasonably priced.

 

[koolmnbv]

Giving It Away: When Free eBooks Make Sense and When They Don't

When it makes sense:

1. The author has an established series and you give away book 1.

That trick has worked with me several times so far. If I get the 1st book to the series free and if I like it I will keep buying all the following books in the series even if theres 30 more books. I think thats a perfect reason to give away a free ebook