This is day #2 of the book expo and I’m feeling a bit less confused than I was yesterday.  Yesterday I kind of wandered around unsure of what to expect and what my purpose was.  I found many of the exhibitors to be a bit cold and wasn’t sure why.  During the day I went to the ABA lounge (where I am now) and spoke with an experienced buyer I had met at lunch the day before.  She told me that in the past few years the publishers have become less interested in dealing with “small fry” like me.  (The ID badges are huge, so you can see a person’s name, hometown, and category – bookseller, author, exhibitor, etc. – immediately.)  Today I had a bit more of a plan based on my experiences yesterday.  I went to the other section of the convention center that I missed yesterday and walked the halls there.  I actually got a little more response there.  I spoke with Constant Contact reps here who were kind enough of get my logo onto my account and show me how to translate RGB colors into hex so I can reproduce them on my newsletter.  In a little while I’m going to visit the large publishers’ booths.  I had avoided them, thinking I would have more luck with smaller houses, but that may have been an incorrect assumption.

The ABA’s day of education on Thursday was really helpful.  I went to a seminar on co-op advertising that gave me some good ideas about making additional revenue for the store, and a seminar about negotiating your lease.