Attention Birmingham, the Emmet O’Neal Library is hosting a sudsy summer benefit on July 30th. It’s a gourmet beer tasting (now possible thanks to FTH). they’re calling Books and Brews. You’ll need a membership to get in. They are $30 a pop and are available at the door. Though they’re saying only 250 memberships are available.
The event kicks off at 6pm and runs until 8:30pm.
I wasn’t able to go to BEA this year, so my online stalking of every attendee and panel confernce has been relentless. So far lots of slides and podcasts and enough video to keep me from running down the street mad. But one trend I started noticing a few weeks ago were the lack of publishers sitting in on all the great panel discussions. With panels titled: The Concierge and the Bouncer: The End of the Supply Chain and the Beginning of the True Book Culture and even Jumping Off a Cliff: How Publishers Can Succeed Online, one would think a publisher would be on stage… but no. Lots of authors and technology commentary, but not a lot about workflows and editorial processes that actually get a finished product in front of customers.
So I was glad to see Yen’s post about this today and even more excited to see some of the groups online that she highlighted. I’m familiar with all she mentioned and would only add a few of the discussions over at the Book Blogs ning site and the discussions at O’Reilly’s TOC community (also a ning site). And if you’re on Twitter the #followreader back-and-forth every Thursday are fantastic!
Someone on Twitter also said that they left BEA more pumped than ever, which is great news. Publishers need to adapt quickly if want to be able to continue adding value to an author’s work. And industry events like BEA and TOC are just the places to hear how… if the right people get to speak.
Yes, once again, it’s that time of year and BEA is in full swing up nawth in New York. And once again I’m down south… not at BEA. But the bourbon is cheaper here and I didn’t have to stress over what books to pack as my “trip books”, so I guess I have that going for me. Well that and BookTV, which has a great line up of live and delayed BEA coverage all weekend long. So check out the schedule to see what you can see. One note, I see that Pat Conroy was in the lineup on an author panel, but today had to pull-out due to his still recovering from surgery.
Alabama First Lady Patsy Riley will be at Milestone Books this Saturday, May 9th, 10am-12pm. She’ll be signing her new cookbook When the Doorbell Rings at the Governor’s Mansion. And if you want that book, you better go to Milestone because I can’t find it on Amazon or Indiebound.org. It seems to only be available at the Montgomery Gift Shop and select local bookstores.
