Let me say from the start, that with a background in fine art printing, graphic design, and book publishing, there should be no doubt that I love print. However, I love books more. And with an e-book, the distance between me and the book I want to read is cheaper (sometimes even free) and faster (almost always instantaneous) than ever before.

Moving beyond the obvious cost and convenience benefits, there are some other essential benefits to reading on my phone (with the free Stanza reader app) that cannot be overlooked:

• I can look-up the meaning of a word with the touch of a finger. Though I don't have to know the exact meaning of cortile (an open, internal courtyard) or jocose (abounding in jokes, merry, sportive, humorous) to enjoy the book, I easily can.
• I can make notes and view them at a glance, as well as in situ.
• I can search. No more flipping around scanning pages for the quote I think I remember, no more wondering who some certain character is or when they first appeared, or when it was exactly that that thing happened that I remember reading about somewhere back in Chapter 2.

And last, but not least:

• I have my phone, and so my book, with me everywhere.

Now of course, there are drawbacks. Though I haven't really experienced the eyestrain I thought I would, reading on my phone (or any other e-reader) will mean spending almost all of my day looking at a screen, and this shiny, backlit worldview had got to have negative impacts on my psyche if not on my eyes.

There's also the nerd factor as my phone becomes even more of an extension of me than it already was. My wife in particular, who's future livelihood depends at least in some way on the success of Hol and of e-books, would I think at this point contemplate destitution as a viable option over having a husband who brings his phone to bed every night.

And though I'm not going to get sappy over the smell of paper or the feel of a book in hand, there are also some subtler things lost in e-books worth mentioning. I miss being able to flip ahead to see how much farther it is to the next chapter or section break, and I miss the satisfaction of putting a just-finished book up on the shelf with the others. There are also social aspects missing too, like the fascination of seeing -- on shelves or on the train --  what other people are reading, not to mention the social and cultural importance of the independent booksellers whose existence is built around printed books, but whose value far exceeds those bound pages.

In the end though, it's been a positive first e-book experience. And though e-books won't replace my paperbacks, they will give me the benefit of vast new options when it comes to how, where, and what I might read.

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 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:

In the end, we collected about 70 entries. The bulk came in-person at the conference, six more by email, and one lonely (but no less loved) entry showed up on Twitter. Taking out duplicates, illegibly written titles, and a few books too far outside Hol's normal scope of "writing about art", we were left with about 35 individual titles representing your favorite books on art.

While there are plenty of familiar faces -- Ways of Seeing, Art and Illusion, and Accidental Masterpieces -- there are also plenty you may not have considered before, or may not have even heard of. I've compiled them in the widget below and in our LibraryThing collection. (Or, you can download a spreadsheet of the complete list.) I'd love to continue adding titles. So, contest or not, if you think of a favorite book on art that should be on the list, please let us know!

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 want to know what your favorite book on art is. Tell us and you could win a $100 gift card good at any one of hundreds of independent bookstores across the country!

To enter, simply send the book's title and author by one of 4 ways:

• Visiting our booth at the 2010 CAA conference in Chicago
• Tweeting with the hashtag #favoritebookonart
• Posting on our Facebook page
• Emailing us at info@holartbooks.com

We'll share some of our favorite entries while we're here at the College Art Association conference through Saturday, and will randomly draw one lucky winner to be announced Monday, February 15, 2010. One entry per person please.

Top: Lawrence Weiner, TAKEN FROM HERE TO WHERE IT CAME FROM AND TAKEN TO A PLACE AND USED IN SUCH A MANNER THAT IT CAN ONLY REMAIN AS A REPRESENTAION OF WHAT IT WAS WHERE IT CAME FROM, 1980. © Lawrence Weiner.

Bottom: Charles Ray, Hinoki, 2007. © 2007 Charles Ray. Courtesy Regen Projects, Los Angeles.

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 ...