Up to this point, my trade show life has been brief and consisted of some state library shows, a national library show and some comic conventions during college. Even though I had been told several times while at ALA Midwinter that it is NOT the end all and be all of trade shows, and its not even close to the biggest, in my head the only logical explanation about this information was that the people telling it to me were complete liars and that their information indeed had no basis in reality.
When I first got “assigned” to “cover” the International Toy Fair for the CBE Newsletter, I figured it was going to be more of the same: aisles of exhibits, demonstrations and companies fighting for the attention of attendees. I was right and wrong at the same time. The hall of Toy Fair was aisle after aisle of exhibits and demonstrations and companies struggling for attention, but the scale of Toy Fair was one that I have never seen before. I can only imagine what the NY Comic Con and BEA are going to be like in this same venue.
The following is my diary from my day at Toy Fair. My angle on the show was to get the points of view of book publishers and maybe grab some insight into whether or not a Combined Book Exhibit could find a home among the electronic Rubik’s Cubes and Extreme Pogo Sticks. With my press pass around my neck and my Palm in hand, I set off for some real investigative reporting.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
6:45 AM: My alarm is going off, but I’m already awake. Today I’m heading to Toy Fair to see about books. At least that’s what I’m telling everyone. In reality, I’m going because of a combination of three reasons: one part investigation for publishers, one part to make my roommates (past and present) jealous and one part to see if I can get my hands on a free Optimus Prime toy.
7:39 AM: I just got on the train. I’m surprised to find that there is actually parking available during this peak time, and quite frankly I regret parking in space 88 when there were several other open spaces that were closer. I’m also both surprised and elated to find an open seat on the train. When I put this away I’m going to set my iPod to shuffle and finish “Klosterman IV.”
8:38 AM: I just got into a cab and told the driver to head for the Javits Center, but because he didn’t respond to me, I can’t quite be sure if he acknowledged where to bring me, or if he’s just driving around waiting for me to tell him where to go. I don’t know how to get there from here. We’re currently going through Times Square, which reminds me a lot of Los Vegas. While I’ve never actually been to Vegas, I assume it’s a lot like Times Square only with warmer weather and legalized prostitution. I’m about ready to just tell the driver to let me out because his driving makes me nauseas, but I think we’re almost there, so I’m going to try and stick it out.
9:02 AM: Remind me to only attend anything as a member of the press. Not only did I not have to pay to get in, but I also have a coat room, free coffee and bagels (and tea, but a writer from PA and I both decide the tea is a let down because they only have Lipton original and some other teas that don’t interest us) and internet access. The pressroom here is overlooking the hall, and I think I owe my boss and apology for not believing him when he said Midwinter isn’t the biggest show in the world. I can tell my opinion on trade show sizes is about to get a makeover. Looking out of the window that overlooks the hall, I can see huge signs for Lego, Mattel, and (to my surprise) Scholastic all hanging from the ceiling. I’m about to go live a childhood dream. I’ll keep you updated. (Seth’s Note: I would end up being very disappointed because Lego is apparently very full of itself. Their booth is completely closed off and its contents were only available by appointment only. Even with my media “credentials” I would not get the chance to see the next generation of one of my childhood favorites. This feeling is sort of like when you hear that your favorite band just sold out: you want so bad for it not to make a difference to your opinion, but you can’t help but admit that it does)
9:22 AM: The outside of the upstairs part of the hall is decorated with Lego flowers and from that vantage point, it looked like the inside was decorated with happiness. I can tell you now that it is. I had no idea where to start inside the hall, so I walked the perimeter with wide eyes and made mental notes of the exhibits I wanted to visit. It’s all very intimidating because as much as I love Toys, I’m here alone and so far have not found any stuffed animals to calm my nerves. Luckily, I ventured down a hall to find a familiar face: Houghton Mifflin! I asked the lovely lady operating the booth her opinion on books at Toy Fair and she said that HMCo. does rather well. She said books are a good product to bring to people who supply children with the next big thing. Score one for books.
9:29 AM: I just spoke to a woman working in the Creations by You booth. Creations by You is a company with a great idea: they provide you with a kit, you fill in the information and include pictures and send it to them, then they give you a bound book. The woman that I spoke to told me she thinks that books would do really well at Toy Fair because they’re pretty unique when you consider the fact that the ratio of books to toys is about 1 to several.
9:52 AM: One of my favorite board games is Scene It and the Scene It people are awesome and gave me an expansion pack for the game and some candy. Everyone should go out and buy Scene It now.
10:19 AM: I got a little lost and ended up somewhere near gigantic stuffed animals and Yomega. On my way back to someplace familiar, I stumbled across Chronicle Books’ booth where the woman told me they’ve been “hoppin’” all day, but admits that a lot of their traffic has been directed more towards novelty items rather than books—the first negative (if you can even call it that) book talk of the day.
10:46 AM: Even with six shows under my belt, it’s still apparent that this is my rookie season. I just looked in the show directory for the first time all day, even though a seasoned vet would have looked there first. Apparently there are two aisles that are almost completely comprised of book publishers so I’m on my way there now.
11:09 AM: I just had a great discussion with the woman holding down the fort at the Harcourt booth. She said they always go to Toy Fair and despite the fact that the last few years have each shown a decline in traffic and orders, this year was a particularly good year for them. (Seth’s Note: According to today’s Publishers Lunch, it seems Harcourt hasn’t been generating the appropriate sales figures. I assume this is directly connected to the past three years’ decline at Toy Fair, and I urge Reed Elsevier to not sell. After all, this year was on the up again and who knows about next year?)
11:28 AM: HarperCollins and Usborn both said they do really well and wouldn’t think of missing Toy Fair.
11:49 AM: Holtzbrinck’s single booth is representative of what a smaller company might bring to a big show like this, not of a company the size of Holtzbrinck. The woman not busy with attendees gave me perhaps the most insightful information of the day, and why they have such a small booth. She said they attend Toy Fair mostly for exposure. While they write a fair amount of orders, they probably only break even. She also told me that its difficult to decide which show they should attend because the International Gift Show, Toy Fair, and the New York Comic Con are all at the same place within just a few weeks of each other. And since they all target essentially the same books audience (retailers and special markets) its difficult to justify a particularly big booth at any of them.
12:36 PM: I kid you not: Santa Claus just walked by me. I swear.
12:49 PM: Scholastic’s giant booth is so busy that no one seems to notice that I’m there. I don’t know the exact dimensions, but their booth here might be bigger than their booth at ALA. It makes me happy that almost the entire thing is filled with books and not toys or anything else. It doesn’t even represent their Klutz line—that has its own booth. (Seth’s note: I would revisit Scholastic several other times throughout the day, and each time would be equally as crowded.)
1:13 PM: After talking to some small presses (Come Learn With Me, SENSEsational Alphabet, Brighter Minds, Son Schein) I made my way to the lower level of the hall where I am now. Down here the only company I’ve found that might have some insight into the book world is this company representing Professor Woodpecker (this may or may not be the company’s name). They claim they are having a good show, but the man’s sales pitch scares me away before I learn everything there is to learn (which he seems completely willing to tell me).
1:30 PM: I just saw Santa Claus again. He was looking at Gwen Stefani toys.
1:54 PM: I had a nice discussion with Vivian from Brighter Minds about showcasing some of their books at future library shows, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a good future together. Unfortunately, no matter how much I try and avoid it, there’s a lot of chatter about a snow storm, and seeing as I have to ascend two rather steep hills to get back to my apartment, I’m going to have to call it a day for Toy Fair. (Seth’s Note: I beat the storm home.)
That was my day at Toy Fair. Overall, I would say I accomplished half of my goals. While I didn’t get or even see any Optimus Prime action figures, I did make at least one of my former roommates jealous, and I discovered oodles of good things for books at the show. Baby, one and a half out of three ain’t bad!
But the lingering question is: Will there be a Combined Book Exhibit at Toy Fair? Well, the only way to answer that is to see if there is any demand for it. As a publisher or author, would you want your books at Toy Fair? Let me know! Send an email to seth@combinedbook.com and give me your opinion!
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