Bookplanet: authors at BookExpo

For Kathleen McGowan, a Reversal of Fortune at BookExpo America -- by MOTOKO RICH

Kathleen McGowan's trip to this year's BookExpo America, the publishing industry's annual convention, was, she said, "an experience that every writer dreams of."

Since arriving at the four-day convention, a literary jamboree of some 25,000 publishers, booksellers, authors and agents that ended Sunday, Ms. McGowan was given a lunch for 23 booksellers invited by Touchstone Fireside, the publisher of her first novel, "The Expected One." She met with foreign publishers from Germany, South Korea, China and Russia, and on Saturday she signed autographs for an hour, as bookstore owners and others who had heard advance buzz about her book, which will be published in August, came by to pick up galleys.

It was a far cry from last year, when Ms. McGowan and her husband, Peter, racked up thousands of dollars in credit card debt to fly out from Los Angeles for the convention, then in New York. They were trying to draw attention to the novel, a thriller about a descendant of Mary Magdalene and Jesus that Ms. McGowan self-published before it was picked up this year by Touchstone, an imprint of Simon & Schuster for a seven-figure advance.

As a self-published author on the exhibition floor where about 2,000 publishers were touting hundreds of thousands of titles, "it was overwhelming," Ms. McGowan recalled. "You had to really beg people to come talk to you." Returning to the couple's hotel room one night, she broke down in tears. "I was, like, is there any point for us to be here? I felt like I was giving people my book, and they didn't even want it."

This year Ms. McGowan, who once sold shoes on eBay to finance her research, was a Cinderella of the expo, an author with a unique perspective on its two extremes: the dazzling bonanza of lavish dinners, cocktail parties and autograph signings on the one hand, and on the other, the hardscrabble, entrepreneurial slog of trying to be heard above the din of major publicity campaigns.

Both extremes were in evidence throughout the gathering. At one end were celebrities like Barack Obama, Arianna Huffington and Anderson Cooper, who were given slots at breakfasts and lunches attended by 1,000 people each where the authors could promote their books. Most of the major publishers gave extravagant parties throughout the long weekend, highlighting authors including Mary Cheney and James Patterson.

Random House cranked up the hype with a last-minute appearance and book signing by Charles Frazier, author of "Cold Mountain," whose second novel, "Thirteen Moons," will be published this fall.

Conventioneers were told that only booksellers and librarians would be allowed to snag one of 250 tickets being given out at 9 a.m. on Sunday for the autograph session. By 7 a.m. Alan Turner, owner of Port Book & News in Port Angeles, Wash., was waiting outside the exhibition hall so he could be first in line to get one of the galleys, which have not been fully copy edited. "I'm a big Charles Frazier fan," he said. By 10 a.m. Random House publicists had given out nearly 225 tickets, and a long queue snaked through the aisles.

Then there were the unknowns, like Steve Brown, who with his girlfriend Nina Louvier, drove 15 hours from Pensacola, Fla., toting 1,000 copies of his self-published book, "Jesus Drank, Judas Repented and God Divorced His Bride." In it Mr. Brown attempts to correct what he sees as long-held fallacies about the Bible. Example: He says Noah took 14 of each animal on the ark, not 2.

Mr. Brown, a real estate developer, said he had spent $3,000 to rent a booth, where he had installed two 6-by-9-foot models of his book built out of plumbing pipe and corrugated plastic sheeting. As a few people walked by, he pressed copies of the book into their hands. "I don't have a publisher, and I don't have the big bucks," he said cheerfully, "but it's O.K., it is going to work out."

At the other end of the exhibition hall, Rodger Noe, a business consultant from Santa Clara, Calif., sat quietly behind a table featuring the four titles put out by his fledgling company, Over the Wall, which publishes works by current prisoners. Early on Saturday, Mr. Noe said he had handed out only about 20 copies of each book.

"My goal in this business is to help people who are incarcerated to have a means to get their work out and gain some self-worth," said Mr. Noe, who has poured about $200,000 of his own money into the venture. He said he had come to the expo in the hopes of attracting a large bookseller, but so far, no one had bitten.

Getting the attention of the booksellers, who are besieged by the blitzkrieg campaigns of the large and medium-size publishers, is particularly difficult for small presses or self-published authors, who often must overcome negative perceptions.

Mitchell Kaplan, owner of Books & Books, an independent store in Coral Gables, Fla., and Miami Beach, said he liked to trawl the exhibition floor looking for interesting titles. But self-published books, he said, gave him pause. "There is a validity," he said, "to the selection process" of a known publisher.

But even well-known authors could have trouble drawing large crowds. Mitch Albom, the bestselling author of "Tuesdays With Morrie" and "The Five People You Meet in Heaven," filled less than half a 400-seat conference room on Friday when his publisher flew him in on a private plane from Detroit to read from the manuscript of his newly finished novel, "For One More Day."

Robert Miller, president of Hyperion, Mr. Albom's publisher, said the author's appearance at the convention was not essential to sell the book.

"Even if we had not had him here, we would have gotten the same number distributed because people are buying off of his track record," Mr. Miller said. "But he felt that you have to make a point of being there and showing that just because you have achieved success doesn't mean you stop talking to booksellers who want to talk to you."

Laurence J. Kirshbaum, the literary agent who represented Ms. McGowan, said the expo was still vital for authors and publishers. "It's like a political event," he said. "You are pressing the flesh and rallying the troops."

And occasionally even a self-published author generated some enthusiasm in the exhibition hall. A steady flurry of people stopped by the booth that featured "A Very Good Guide to Raising a Daughter," by the father-daughter team Bill and Jenny Good, who had formed their own company to publish and market the book. Several family members passed out copies along with T-shirts, temporary tattoos and purple cloth bags that somehow became one of the must-have goodies of the convention.

Ms. Good, who benefited from her father's contacts as a marketing consultant and published author with Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, said she had had promising conversations with representatives from Barnes & Noble, Borders and Books-A-Million.

Asked how she felt about competing with the publishing behemoths and famous authors at the convention, she said, "Like a pit bull fighting for our share."