For years, friends in the book industry have been telling me: “If you want to be a successful publisher, you have to exhibit at BookExpo America.” BEA is the Super Bowl of book festivals; the literary equivalent of New York Comic Con. For book people, it’s the place to be.

Problem is, exhibiting at BEA is insanely expensive—an average 10×10 booth can cost up to $4,000! And recouping that fee onsite is out of the question: publishers are there to tout their books and try to convince librarians and booksellers to order them, not to physically sell copies to them at the expo. And the general public is excluded from attending because it’s a trade show. So without a chance to make money at the expo, I saw no reason to put StarWarp Concepts in one of those sky-high-rent booths.

But then came the recent announcement of BookCon.

According to industry magazine Publishers Weekly:

“Reed Exhibitions [which also runs New York Comic Con] has made no secret about its interest in drawing more consumers to BookExpo America. Today the company released new details about its plans for the consumer-focused third day of the trade show, unveiling an event called BookCon that it is describes as a ‘show within a show.’”

Bottom line? Unlike its parent convention, BookExpo America, BookCon is open to the general public. Also unlike BEA, BookCon publishers are allowed to sell their books, and the booths for this one-day event cost less than the same 10×10 space at either BEA or NYCC. So now StarWarp Concepts has a reason to be there.  😉

BookCon takes place on the last day of BEA: Saturday, May 31. Show hours are 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. It’s being held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, 34th Street and 11th Avenue, in Manhattan. Adult tickets are priced at $30; tickets for kids 6–12 are $5. Go here to order.

Question is, Will you be there to greet us? If so, you’ll find us at Booth 3061, right between the booths for Publishers Weekly and Penguin’s online imprint, Book Country.

For more information, visit the BookCon site.