Trade Posting #3.
I should add that Portland, OR for many years had a small but successful fair that ran in opposite years from Seattle's fair. The original producers sold the show to a lone bookseller who worked very hard by himself for three years but with the slow demise of open shops and the lack of support from Powell's it gradually lost momentum and ended with the producer's untimely death. Book fairs are part sales venue, part advertising mechanism and part educational opportunity whereby new buyer/collectors learn about, physically handle and discover the world of books. Far too many exhibitors put too much emphasis on just one leg of this three-legged stool, especially those without an open shop. The Portland show is sorely missed but I'm afraid it would be a steep uphill struggle to re-institute it given the lack of open shops and the existence of the 800 lb gorilla that has no desire to have 50-75 booksellers come to town and threaten their bottom line.
Response from John:
"If I understand you correctly, David, you are suggesting that dealers who get discouraged after one or a few fairs and drop out, are missing out on 2/3 of the benefit of doing fairs, because they only f...ocus on the first aspect of the three you mention. If your fair costs are charged to advertising and marketing in your expense account, you will not be doing any advertising or marketing if you are not present. The educational aspect I guess is where the charisma (or lack thereof) of the dealer comes into play. I have always thought that dealers who are successful at selling high-end material are those who can impart their enthusiasm for any given piece to their buyers. I reckon this is what you mean by the "educational opportunity?"
My reply:
John. The advertising aspect of a book fair is all encompassing. First you get to put 'a face' to your book operation; very important today given how many 'faceless' book operations exist on the net. Your personality, your enthusiasm, your knowledge, your scholarship all get a chance to separate you from the herd of faceless entities. Visitors get a chance to see your material, how particular you are in the quality of your inventory, how broad or diverse your holdings. Your have the opportunity to 'sell' potential customers on why they shop with you over anyone else. None of these aspects are possible in a static display ad, phone book listing or database listing. The other 'educational' aspect goes to the point that there are fewer and fewer open shops where customers of old used to drift into, chat up the owner, learn about editions, condition, points of issue, the importance of a particular tome, the difference between an original print and a copy, an important writer in the vein of other writers the customer enjoys and on and on. So when I say that book fairs are the new open shops, this is what I am referring to. Book fairs are where neophytes can learn about the importance of our printed material and hopefully get exposed to the book virus that will keep them coming back for more.
