Editor Deb Werksman with the BEA Report

Each year at Book Expo America, I think that we can’t possibly top last year, but I’ll say once again that we had the best BEA in the history of Sourcebooks. 

BEA 2014

In past years, agents have sometimes expressed surprise at Sourcebooks’ breadth (“I didn’t know you published Romance and Children’s Books, and Women’s Fiction, and Study Aids, and YA…”). This year the agents were thoroughly familiar with Sourcebooks and how successful we are.  We met with so many literary agents and other industry professionals who pitched many promising projects that we are actively pursuing. Everyone was very excited to meet with us and stay a while in our exceptional booth.

Melanie and Suzanne Brockmann

I saw that the agent community is working hard to keep abreast of and understand the numerous changes in the marketplace. Across the board, we all agreed that a robust and multifaceted publishing industry is best for everyone. This includes the importance of:

·         Open communication across all channels: author, agent, and publisher

·         Marketing, marketing, and more marketing: authors doing their best to promote their work through social media with emphasis on the promotional opportunities their publishers get them with the retailers

Miranda Kennealy signing

·        Face-to-face networking: Only 8% of word-of-mouth marketing is done online; nothing does more to break out an author than promoting in person

This is shaping up to be another year of extraordinary promise and opportunity, and I can’t wait to see where we go from here!

Author Sara Humphreys and Marketing Director Valerie Pierce