Show Profile: Book Festival Writes Own Story

By Margo McCall -- Tradeshow Week, 6/21/2004

If stereotypes are to be believed, no one in Southern California reads anything but scripts, right? But if that were entirely true, how would you explain 150,000 people setting aside part of a beautiful spring weekend to celebrate books?

First conceived in 1996, the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books has grown into a popular local event that draws tens of thousands of attendees and about 300 exhibitors. Held on the sprawling grounds of the UCLA campus during the last week of April, the free annual event features readings on seven stages, book signings and strolling entertainment.

Big draws are the nearly 100 free panels, filled by hundreds of new and established writers of fiction, nonfiction and poetry. Among the nearly 400 authors appearing at the 2004 event, held April 24–25, were Sherman Alexie, T.C. Boyle, Carl Hiassen, Arianna Huffington, Elmore Leonard, Robert Sheer and Tobias Wolff.

The key to navigating the event is a pullout in the previous Sunday's Los Angeles Times that lists the times and locations of all the festival's parts. The newspaper's book review is closely tied to the festival. L.A. Times writers and columnists also participate.

"It was conceived as a way of connecting with our readers, of extending our enthusiasm and the passion we have for books to the entire Southern California community," said Glenn Geffcken, senior project manager for the event.

Attendance has grown from 90,000 in 2000 to 120,000 in 2001 to 140,000 in 2002. The festival peaked in 2003 with 150,000 attendees. This year's event, held during a weekend of unseasonably warm weather, attracted an estimated 130,000.

Organizers have signed high-profile national sponsors Barnes & Noble, Borders, Starbucks and Target, in addition to a variety of local media and cultural groups. Most of the exhibitors are local booksellers, publishers or writers' organizations.

Each year, the festival adds a few more. In 2003, the event featured 512 booths housing 300 exhibitors and spanning 50,000 net square feet. That compared with 476 booths and 287 exhibitors spanning 47,000 net sq. ft. the previous year.

The University of Hawaii Press is one of 28 exhibitors that have participated in the festival since its inception. Specializing in Asian-American academic works, the state university press mostly participates in scholarly conferences. But Southern California, with its large population of former and future islanders, is too big a draw to resist.

"We still continue to go," said Steven Hirashima, who handles UHP's advertising and public relations. "It's grown exponentially since the first year. It's really a great show for us in terms of outreach."

For California Literacy, an exhibitor for the past two years, the festival spreads the word about the portion of the population that can't read. "It gives us a lot of exposure," said program coordinator Julie Vazquez.

Besides the festival, the newspaper's consumer events department sponsors a travel show, career expo, health and fitness expo and weekend event intended to foster childhood literacy. Organizers describe each event as "a newspaper section come to life."

Sister newspaper Chicago Tribune is hoping to tap into the book festival's formula for success with the Printers Row Book Fair, which the paper bought from the nonprofit Near South Planning Board in 2002. The fair was founded in 1985 to attract visitors to the Printers Row neighborhood, once Chicago's bookmaking center. When the Tribune purchased it, the event spanned five blocks and featured 170 booksellers, 80 literary programs and six stages.

Last year, the two-day street fair took in nine venues and drew an estimated 85,000 people. This year's fair, held June 5–6, expanded to 13 venues featuring more than 200 authors. "We tried to maintain the grassroots charm of the festival while using our sister paper as a model," said Alex Kostovski, a producer with the Tribune's community events department.

Besides the book fair, the Tribune each year holds two health fairs and a career expo. The book fair is part of the newspaper's initiative to promote literature and the literary arts. It also hosts fall literary awards. "This is just part of that effort to promote literacy," Kostovski said of the book fair.

A number of other newspapers host consumer events. The New York Times puts on a travel show each February that is produced by MSE Management and attracts about 200 exhibitors and 19,000 attendees. The Baltimore Sun hosts two career fairs, a travel expo, a women's lecture series and a yard sale.

Earl Wilkinson, executive director of the Intl. Newspaper Marketing Assn., said newspapers seem increasingly selective about events, concerned about their return on financial and brand investment. He said health, travel, career and book events are a nice fit because they dovetail well with content and advertising. Strategic partnerships are generally preferred over a go-it-alone strategy, he said, unless "the newspaper has a big image and deep pockets."

Promoters of the Festival of Books say Southern California buys more books on a per-capita basis than any other area. "It does reshape that perception that New York is the reading capital. Los Angeles has an extremely diverse culture. Its population is very literate and very enthusiastic and passionate about reading," Geffcken said.

The event is also popular among authors, Geffcken said. Many turn out for the book awards and appreciate the chance to sit on panels and autograph books. Past festivals have included the Rock Bottom Remainders, a band that counts Stephen King, Dave Barry, Amy Tan and Barbara Kingsolver among its changing membership.