I love Chicago. My first visit was on a college exploratory tour and I was hooked. My undergraduate years were spent at Northwestern and I seized every opportunity to explore the city and use it as my classroom. And my spare time was taken up with explorations of ethnic neighborhoods, unfamiliar foods and head-spinning music and culture. Even today, a chance to revisit this long-time friend is filled with anticipation.
When you attend a big convention in Chicago it takes real effort to see anything of the city at all. McCormick Place is an enormous complex sitting as an island on the South Side. It’s really not far from the science museums but you can’t get there from here, even if you were to have the time. To get here you need to take a taxi or a conference bus – like I said, it’s on an island among highways.
I arrived Wednesday just after the fog lifted enough for air traffic to move. My flight, and countless others, was delayed living up to the reputation of airport chaos. A fairly quick ride from Midway dropped me into familiar turf in a new locale: Book Expo America 2016, Chicago style.
Book Expo America is the largest annual conference of publishers, authors, booksellers, librarians, bloggers and all the ancillary industries that work to bring books to the attention of readers. Huge banners hang from the ceiling and cover large surfaces in the massive corridors, hawking upcoming titles.
Snake-like lines of attendees wait to enter the convention floor to find unreleased treasures. Booth after booth of different genres and audiences, primarily in English but with international pockets here and there. Everyone is carrying (or picking up) large tote bags to bring books home. While e-books may be huge, here paper is king.
Hour-long lines form to get 15 seconds and a signed galley/ book from a top author. Debut authors are introduced, ” if you enjoy xxxx, s/he will appeal to a similar audience with this twist.” Faces of other attendees become familiar as you stand in the same lines and periodically compare notes on what portion of the book world you inhabit.
For many, a periodic stop is the shipping room where you can fill boxes and ship them home for an exorbitant service fee. A carefully filled box may contain 30+ titles and enough cloth totes for a week’s supply of groceries. So if you would buy 3 or 4 of the books anyway, it seems a fair deal.
I was prepped before my first BEA 7 years ago so I know the right shoes are key. Think Keens or Merrills if sneakers are too casual. Even with hours in endless lines, 5 miles on concrete crisscrossing the aisles is normal. So between that and carrying heavy bags of books, ibuprofen is my friend.
It’s Friday morning and I’m in line for my final day on the floor. Having set the stage, I’ll tell the stories over the weekend. Thanks for listening.
by 
