Hol Art Books

Following two very slow and frankly, very frustrating days at the CAA book and trade fair, we decided to take matters into our own hands. So, on the third and final day we offered a free Hol paperback to anyone that wanted one. One free paperback, of their choice, absolutely free. The only thing I asked in return was that people also take my business card and email me to let me know what they thought about the book after they'd had a chance to read it.

By the end of the short, five and a half hour day, we'd given away 70 books and 70 business cards and sold an additional nine books to boot. The nine we sold were the hardcover "Documents of the 1913 Armory Show" and additional paperback copies to people who weren't satisfied with only the single free copy we gave them. Notably, we sold more this last day than we did the rest of the fair.

Giving away 70 books was, in the moment, undoubtedly an act of desperation. Though then again, participating in CAA as an exhibitor was never about individual book sales (or at least, not primarily about book sales) it was about exposure for our fledgling effort and networking with publishers and future potential authors and contributors. Establishing ourselves in the field as a source of great books on art.

On a practical level, the manufacturing cost of the books we gave away totalled to less than $250 for the lot. Hol will pay back some royalties to the authors and publishing teams that will add to that cost, but still, when a single, crappy, polyester-wrapped display table at CAA can cost $200 just to rent, spending a similar amount to give away quite a lot of books seems almost level-headed.

For our investment, we got some extra attention at the fair, we got our books into the hands of people who will hopefully enjoy them and tell their friends about them, and we didn't have to shoulder the emotional or financial cost of shipping boxes of unsold books back to the warehouse.

Even now, days later, I think it was a good move. In fact, keeping in mind some lessons-learned, I'd even consider doing it again:

• It worked to have multiple free titles for people to choose from. Were I only to offer one free title, people would feel compelled to take it even if they're weren't really interested in reading it. Perhaps, like LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program, we could host free title giveaways from several publishers who aren't otherwise at the show.
• I like the pressure-less atmosphere created by not even asking for their email in return (just letting them take mine). But were I to do it again, I'd probably reverse this and ask that they leave their email. I'd add them to our mailing list (with the understanding that they can unsubscribe anytime), and I'd follow-up with them once, 3-4 months after the fact if I hadn't already heard from them.
• I'm not sure what I'll do with the emails anyone sends me. I really liked encouraging people to email me personally, but would be great to get them to consider also posting their thoughts to their blog, our site, Amazon, IndieBound, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads or wherever they might be active online. That's something I can do in reply to emails, but I might find some way to formalize it more from the outset in the future.
• Promotion. Given that it was a last-minute decision, I only posted on Twitter about it, and made some signs for the booth to get the word out. Obvisouly worked just fine as far as giving the books away, but I'd want to capitalize on the promotion more by getting some buzz going even among those not taking free books.

For publishers and others who have never participated in a trade conference like CAA, or for those who have or are planning to but who aren't familiar with the nuts-and-bolts specifics of planning it, I wanted to share with you as detailed as possible a rundown of the costs.

For businesses participating in association conferences and meetings, it isn't cheap. Aside from what can of course be very significant travel and lodging costs, booth materials and all the necessary shipping can add up quickly as well.

First, in large conference hotels or convention centers, trade shows fall under the purview of a number of unions. While this eliminates the need for a lot of labor on the part of the exhibitor, it also obviously adds to the cost. At the larger scales of most major publishers, working with union labor to set up booths, move freight, and install electric service, etc. is an unavoidable, but also often beneficial part of the game. At smaller scales though (like for Hol) we don't need, nor can we afford a lot of union labor. While I've found that at our size we are mostly allowed to do as we can on our own, it still takes some care and some cleverness to follow the provided guidelines and not step over the line as far as what should really be handled by union labor.

Aside from this, the major costs of exhibiting are booth rental, furniture rental and site services, and shipping. Booth rental is money that goes directly to the association and presumably helps to cover their costs for the space, if not also adding to the bottom line as to the profitability of the conference. While being the most obvious cost, it's only really half or even less of what the final total will be. The other pieces are furniture rental, site services, and shipping, most of which is controlled (I would say monopolized) by the "official" conference vendor, in this case, Champion Exposition Services. Of course I'm sure there are all sorts of very valid reasons for an association to work with a single vendor like this for a trade show, but the bottom line for the the exhibitor is that you either have to rent booth furniture from Champion at exorbitant prices like $170 for a single table or $100 for an arm chair, or you have to bring in your own, which at $142/100lbs for freight handling (not shipping, just handling the freight at the show site) is anything but money saving.

So, at the CAA conference both this year and last, my strategy has been to rent as little as possible (if only on principle) and to focus on finding a balance of what I could ship in, and what I could carry. Last year, the conference being in Los Angeles and within driving distance of Tucson, I brought everything with me and only paid Champion for freight handling (getting the stuff I'd brought from my car to my booth) and to install an electric outlet in the booth to run my laptop and LCD monitor. This year, the conference being in Chicago, I rented a couple things from Champion, brought quite a bit with me on the plane (thanks to Southwest for not charging for baggage and to REI for selling amazing fold-up aluminum tables), and had a very small shipment of books sent from our warehouse.

Still though, even being extraordinarily careful and restrained, the costs of exhibiting add up. What follows is a breakdown of what we spent, as well as a list of the things we would have been happy to have given the chance.

What we spent:

What we might have spent:

Update on Tuesday, February 16, 2010 at 10:08AM by Hol Art Books

And today in The New York Times, an article on convention crashers who set up shop in hotel rooms and other unauthorized venues to avoid the costs of exhibiting officially. Of course, their prime example was the enormous Consumer Electronics Show, which I have no doubt makes our couple thousand dollar cost seem piddling. Still, interesting that the issues resonate despite the scale of the show.

I kept a diary of the day's events at the Book and Trade Fair yesterday. Frankly, it was a hard day for us. Foot traffic in the area we're in was extremely light. And for reasons I haven't yet pinned down, I didn't feel like we (our books, the contest, or me) were effectively engaging the attendees that did come by. Not to say it was all bad, I'll elaborate more positively on our experience here in a future post. For now though, here's the blow by blow account, unedited, and with nothing left out save a lot of small talk with my booth neighbors and occasional visits from friends:

10:40 almost two hours into second day. Have only sold one book, Museum Legs, talked to one person, and gotten two contest entries ... slow.

10:55 met Frances Pohl, author of Framing America: A Social History of American Art (Thames & Hudson), one more contest entry.

11:04 one query on book price, Museum Legs.

11:55 a brisker hour. Three more entries, one longtime enthusiastic supporter, one introduction, one free book given: Thoughts on Landscape.

12:00 one word of encouragement.

12:11 two more entries.

Surprised by how many people ask us where we're based. Answer: Tucson.

12:15 met someone who'd ordered and received a free desk copy of Museum Legs, but hadn't read it yet.

12:27 two more entries. Trickling in.

12:32 suddenly deserted, must be lunch time.

12:40 a rep stopped by from a previously recommended mid-west independent sales group.

12:45 two more entries.

12:58 day took a surreal turn. Was just interviewed by Columbia College student for the CAA blog.

12:59 one more entry.

Has anyone written a book on the psychology of the art conference/trade show attendee?

1:10 small talk with fellow exhibitors.

1:52 eating lunch in the booth

1:53 one contest entry and a promise to checkout our website.

2:11 ready for, hoping for, the afternoon rush.

2:20 sold four books to our generous booth neighbor from the great state of Oklahoma. 20% professional discount and free shipping thrown in of course.

2:35-2:36 straightened booth.

2:48 first e-book fan, and only second person to comment on e-books at all. Says she'll buy from us particularly because they're drm-free.

2:56 hear the din of chatter from other aisles, see champagne flutes going by.

3:05 met a liberal arts college librarian/professor who already subscribed to our emails; sold a book, For & Against, to someone else.

3:06 there are only three people in our aisle not affiliated with a vendor.

3:07 make that two.

3:24 report from established press in one of the main aisles: "insanely busy".

3:50 sold one book, Whistler As I Knew Him, after convincing the buyer to pay full price ($9) to support a startup, independent publisher. She also entered contest.

4:18 still here

4:19 just got word there will be wine in the University of Chicago Press booth at 4:30.

4:30 wine's not until 5:15.

4:47 encouraged a Sargent fan to read Sargent's Daughters: The Biography of a Painting (MFA Publications), one more entry.

5:05 wine, early.

5:17 brief conversation with CAA official. She was surprised it was slow for us, says attendance is up from last year. Translation: it's not CAA's fault.

5:28 one more entry, no book sale.

5:29 implemented new display strategy, marked prices on books very prominently, starting at only $9! Very reasonable.

5:55 someone thanked me for letting them sit down and rest for a moment.

6:00 and that's all she wrote.

We've just arrived in Chicago for the annual College Art Association Conference. This is Hol's second year as an exhibitor in the Book and Trade Fair (our 2009 CAA posts) and we're thrilled to be back. Heck, we're thrilled to still be a company a year after our first public foray. Not that there's any real danger of us disappearing anytime soon, but these are eggshell times for everyone -- startup publishing company or not -- and it does feel like a bit of a milestone to be back. We don't take it for granted.

Setting up the Hol Art Books booth

Although today was a setup day for the exhibitors, and only a percentage of them are yet on-hand, it's nice to already be seeing some familiar faces. (Folks from CAA itself, from Penn State University Press, and Brepols, not to mention some familiar booths like Actar D and my booth neighbors from last year, the Henry Moore Institute.) Though admittedly, when I first walked into the hotel lobby where the conference is being held, my first reaction was "Ack, art historians!" They're a distinguished group. My lovely wife included.

My other exclamation of the day came when I found out that there is no internet or cellular service in trade fair hall and, I believe, in the rest of the conference as well. In fact, it seems the closest opportunity might be three floors, and multiple escalators up to the hotel lobby. So while the Art History Newsletter's point that this would be the first extensively tweeted CAA conference was a good one, it may not hold in the face of a baffling lack of network connection. Never fear technophobes, in the Hyatt Regency Chicago it's still 1998.

Of course all this means for us, besides almost assured base-level Internet-withdraw symptoms for the next three days, is that our conference reporting will more often take the form of interspersed dispatches rather than live, on-the-scene reportage. Nonetheless, we hope you'll stay tuned to us here, on Twitter and Facebook for the next several days. Should be fun!

And if that isn't enough to entice you, we're giving away $100 indie bookstore gift card at the end of the conference, and you don't even have to be attending to enter to win. Details tomorrow ...