This year’s BookExpo America event has possibly more concurrent events than any other year. There are entire conference sessions dedicated to technology, others strictly dedicated to blogging, library sessions, educational tracks, editors-only meetings, and more. Also on slate this year are the off-site events that are still related in some way to BEA, as companies and firms take advantage of the buzz surrounding BEA and the wealth of industry people who arrived to attend in order to host their own niche-specific gatherings.
Last night’s book bloggers event, hosted by Austin, Texas-based PRByTheBook, was essentially a celebration of book bloggers and a chance to appreciate the individuals who—often without any form of compensation and even at expense to themselves in the form of purchasing titles to review—provide their followers with valuable marketing information on new releases from English-language markets.
The patio dinner brought together book bloggers from literally around the world. While many were local bloggers and book reviewers who attended this year’s BlogWorld Conference, some reviewers like Inga Kupp-Silberg, CEO of Me and Reading, traveled from Estonia with her Chief Marketing Officer, Maria Papli. Silberg explained that her focus with the Me and Reading site is to make readers in Europe aware of new releases that are available in the English language markets.
Many of the book bloggers limit themselves to specific niche markets in books, one strategy that helps them to stand out in the sea of book bloggers. Elizabeth Bales Frank, herself an author, blogs specifically about World War II literature on her site So Much So Many So Few. There were also religious, spiritual, and specifically Christian book bloggers at the event, as well others from foreign language markets.
While GoodEReader has written extensively for indie authors on the important contributions that outside professionals can make towards developing the best possible book or ebook by offering services such as cover design, formatting, and extensive editing, the need for advice doesn’t stop once the book is created. Firms like PRByTheBook, who represents Michael Wigge’s book How To Travel the World for Free and Kim Alexis’ title Beauty to Die For, help garner vital attention for a book in order to help readers discover it.
Mercy Pilkington is a Senior Editor for Good e-Reader. She is also the CEO and founder of a hybrid publishing and consulting company.
