MBA Trade Show

This upcoming weekend is the Midwest Booksellers Association (MBA) Trade Show in St. Paul. I'll be attending as a bookseller with Micawber's. Last year was my first year at MBA as a bookseller. Tom and I walked around together and met the sales reps from many, many publishers. It was a lot of fun because Tom has been in the business for over 30 years and basically knows everyone!

This year, I will also be attending two author meals - The Moveable Feast Lunch on Friday and the Children's Author's Breakfast on Saturday. The Moveable Feast Lunch works like this. You sit at a table and the authors rotate tables every 15 minutes. I won't meet all the authors, but I will receive signed copies of books by the authors that do visit my table.

Some of the Moveable Feast children's authors include Marion Dane Bauer, Janet Graber, Maggie Stiefvater, Patricia C. Wrede, and Kathy-jo Wargin. I'm especially interested in reading SHIVER, the new YA book by Maggie Stiefvater.

Then early Saturday morning, I return to MBA for the Children's breakfast and hear keynote authors M.T. Anderson, Neil Gaiman, Loren Long and Catherine Gilbert Murdock! I seriously can't wait to meet these folks. I absolutely loved THE GRAVEYARD BOOK by Neil Gaiman!

MBA, for me, is all about meeting authors and getting free books! (It's certainly not about the quality of the food, sad to say.) MBA is also about making connections. Since I'm now buying the children's books for Micawber's, I look forward to meeting with the children's sales reps, some of whom I've only met "over the phone."

The only bad thing about MBA is the rule against rolling carts, strollers (without babies inside), and suitcases on the Trade Show floor. Without rolling assistance, how will I possibly lug all my free books home:)?!