Highlights from APAC, BEA & More

It's been a busy few days for the BBCAA team as we took in the sights and sounds of the Audio Publishers Association Conference (APAC) and Book Expo America (BEA) in the Big Apple.

Thursday was the annual APAC to discuss the future of the audiobook industry. Plenty of topics were discussed in the publishers and narrators tracks including the embracing of new formats (esp. digital download), the pricing scheme of audiobooks, ways to reduce costs but still ensure quality in recordings, new developments like the Kindle's text-to-speech feature, productive ways to market in a budget-challenged economy, and many more. Several attendees lauded the keynote speaker Joshua Cooper Ramo's talk on new business models (his book, The Age of the Unthinkable, discusses this very topic) as riveting and practical, and many confessed they'd be buying his book as soon as possible. Things wrapped up in the early evening with a cocktail function and a raffle of some exciting prizes (Kudos to our lucky friends at Macmillan Audio who swept the goodies, including a Wii and a Tom-Tom! We'll be coming over to play next time we're in the city.)

On Thursday evening it was off to the stately Roosevelt Hotel for the Independent Book Publishers Association's annual Benjamin Franklin Awards ceremony. BBCAA was lucky enough to have all three of the nominees in the Fiction Audiobook category this year, and we were delighted when Martin Misunderstood, written by Karin Slaughter and narrated by Seinfeld's Wayne Knight, was announced as the winner. Then to our further delight, our title The Good Rat, written by Jimmy Breslin and narrated by Richard M. Davidson, Richard Mover, and Kaipo Schwab, was named Best Nonfiction Audiobook. Special kudos to our executive producer Dan Hypes, who was in attendance with our narrators to celebrate at the ceremony.

Friday kicked off the first day of the show floor at BEA. While our publishing, marketing, and sales team were fielding meetings from the spacious and convenient International Rights Center, crowds milled on the exhibits floors and attended panels in the meeting rooms below. The effects of the economy were evident as fewer publishers hosted booths this year and even the big publishing houses had less galleys and catalogs available for the picking. Most of the major houses saved their big copy giveaways for the author signing times, instead of stacking the ARCs on the floors of their booths as in previous years. Nevertheless, excitement was high and booksellers and librarians were still lining up in droves for much anticipated titles like Pat Conroy's South of Broad and the latest installment of the next big YA series, Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games sequel, Catching Fire.

Friday night brought the prestigious annual Audie Award ceremony, held this year at the gorgeous New York Historical Society on Central Park West. Always a good time, the Audies' new format was an unqualified success with attendees. The shorter and more streamlined awards presentation offered more time to mingle and socialize at the cocktail hour and dessert reception. Publishers, producers, and narrators noshed on delicious hors d'ouerves, filet mignon, fingerling potatoes, chocolate cheesecake lollipops, and exotic fruit tarts, while admiring gorgeous landscape paintings and displays of historic documents and statuary.

The awards ceremony was charmingly hosted by actor Tony Roberts and featured some exciting celebrity narrator appearances like Bronson Pinchot, Bobby Carnevale, David Sedaris, and Neil Gaiman. Gaiman, whose The Graveyard Book won the Audiobook of the Year award, has been one of the industry's biggest cheerleaders and he also Twittered throughout the ceremony. BBCAA was thrilled to win an Audie for Best Audio Drama for our full-cast production of Homer's The Odyssey. (You can listen to clips of our award winners on our product pages).

After the Audies, we swept off to enjoy the swanky environs of The Hudson Hotel at the Playaway after party. The cozy library/bar with its quirky Holsteins-in-hats decor and the lovely outdoor bar/courtyard were bursting with folks. The hotel even had a light-up dance floor straight out of Saturday Night Fever. The party rocked on to the early hours (some of our staffers didn't get to bed till the sun came up!).

Saturday morning came early and brought another round of meetings and one last pass--on very tired feet!--of the exhibit floor. Then it was into the car and road tripping back home down I-95. We thought the adventure was over, but a little flat tire problem found us detouring in lovely Rye, New York. We all became experts in packing and unpacking the trunk with luggage, but before long we were back home in the scenic Ocean State once more. 

Another year, another great BEA experience!