Been away for a while, but just concluded the book season for 2009 at least in Southern California. From April to last week, all eyes were on our community book festivals since the economy has forced a number of bigger events to either downsize or postpone until next year. It’s not exclusive to our literary fests either, but for now I feel it was a decent year.

All events, from the Black Writers on Tour to the West Coast Educational and Cultural Black Writers Festival had good productions, each of the staffs did their jobs and made sure the authors or exhibitors/vendors were happy, so no problem there. What was a big issue for each of the venues was lack of media exposure. Although the numbers weren’t as what each of the coordinators expected, the severe lack of noticeable crowds hopefully gave us something to work on for 2010. Radio spots surely helped in driving the crowd and print media by sending out press releases also helped alert the reading public to each of our expos and festivals. However, I can see the author’s point in this too. If they’re willing to spend their time and money to show up for several hours and sit behind a booth or table, we as coordinators have to put in the time and effort to promote our book fairs.

That being said, I have noticed what we’re not taking advantage of the tools offered to us. I’ve spent the entire book season checking out various websites, going to these same literary fairs and the one thing I’ve discovered is that we’re not taking advantage of sites like YouTube to promote our events, authors, exhibitors, etc. For example, during the Black Writers on Tour, I was part of the Empire Beat Magazine interview team speaking to different authors about their books and works. I also interviewed quite a few more for Mixed Matters, the Internet radio show I co-host. The reason why my partner in crime Michael Thomas and I do this is to showcase authors who aren’t known by the general public and to give these writers a sense that if they don’t make their expected sales, at least they were filmed on tape which they can also use to post on their blogs, websites, etc.

Placing our festivals online works because it builds up excitement for the following year. I’ve seen clips from the Harlem Book Fair and Book Expo America and if you also have the opportunity to watch them, I believe they will inspire a bit of curiosity as well. Whenever I spoke with people about the expos or festivals, they don’t know they exist. Due to our coverage of the bookfairs the L.A. Black Book Expo has had with Barnes and Noble, knowledge of our annual celebration has increased and traffic to our website has grown. A picture is worth a thousand words, especially when it comes to watching it unfold on one of the video sites available to us.

So there is a way we can improve our events without the costs of newspaper ads or radio spots. We just have to use what is available and to our advantage. The website Empire Beat Magazine and LABBX post their videos, Blip TV, is also another good way to post content on your blogs or website. I imagine after Taste of Soul, the African Marketplace, and the L.A. Black Business Expo are done; you will be able to view clips of the event over and over at home, which becomes their marketing tool. Our book events have to follow the same route in order to attract the crowds we hoping to reach in the future. It can be done and the technology is out there. It’s time for us to start using it.

P.S. The interviews taped for Empire Beat Magazine will be out soon.....

P.P.S. We also have a new site for all future events and book signings, the LABBX Network!

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