This year's BookExpo America in Los Angeles was my fifth year in attendance. Every year, I return home exhausted, no matter how long I stay or what agenda I follow. For me, it's an intense concentration of people and experiences—the most intense of the year. Take all the important (and beloved) people you know, along with a bunch of important people you don't know, then shake and stir (e.g., stand in line for 45 minutes for a Starbucks beverage, after standing on your feet for 4-8 hours without sustenance, followed by an end-of-the-day line for shuttle, taxi, dinner, etc).

But I digress.

(Note: For anyone who doesn't yet know the basic texture of BEA, I recommend reading a piece I did for Identity Theory in 2007.)

My company, F+W Publications, has a booth presence at BEA, and I was there on Friday to lend support to my authors who were signing books, as well as meet with a variety of agents and prospective authors (and marketing partners). Unfortunately, in the five years I have been attending BEA, I have yet to see any correlation between a great BEA book signing (or promotion) and great book sales. I wish I could say otherwise, given how much of our staff's energy, talent, and creativity are on display.

If there's a bright side to this, industry-wide people are starting to notice that BEA is a significant expense that looks more and more like a party where we (the publishers—or authors) are the only ones who show up. Take for instance this snippet from AP coverage of the event:

"I think when this is over, we're going to do some soul searching," said CEO David Shanks of Penguin Group (USA). "There are people in this hall who have spent way more than a million dollars at a time when we all should be pinching pennies."

Also, Michael Cader at PublishersLunch reported:

Publishing executives who used to gamely tell us how nice to was to see everyone gathered together and be part of the community even if they couldn't measure the return on investment were talking more this time about the "waste of money" the show has come to represent. One ceo, admitting that "you have to be here," nonetheless said to us, "I don't know what the solution is. People are going to have to take a hard look" at the show and its relevance and value.

In the days leading up to this year's BEA, everyone within the F+W book division was asked to evaluate our participation going forward, considering the expense of attending this show. It appears that, next year, F+W will have a reduced presence at the show, in terms of booth space, staff attendance, author attendance, and other marketing & promotions. It's hard to argue against such a move when our efforts don't translate into definitive sales. Our marketing dollars would likely be more effective in direct-to-consumer events or promotions.

That said, from an editorial perspective, the face time that editors have with authors and agents at BEA has been invaluable for acquisitions. One of my colleagues, Writer's Digest Books executive editor Kelly Nickell, met author James Scott Bell in 2003 on the show floor of BEA. That interaction resulted in a book that has been our No. 1 bestseller for Writer's Digest Books for several years (with sales increasing year on year). Would this project have happened without BEA? I'd argue probably not. One would think this kind of interaction wouldn't be necessary in a world where it's so easy to connect online in seconds, but in fact, I think the reverse has become true. Making time to meet someone face-to-face has become even more treasured and valued. People pay attention when you make that kind of effort.