More on Bookfairs

There are several interesting comments to my recent post on bookfairs, which was a response to Casa Malaprop's blog entry on the same topic.

I just received the latest issue of Book Source Magazine and British bookseller Roger Treglown made similar points. Is there a trend here? Mr. Treglown wrote about his experience at book fairs:

"...Over the last 18 months I have noticed an unwelcome trend in the appearance of fellow exhibitors...I am not suggesting that we all wear Armani, Gucci, or Calvin Klein, but surely we can dress in a way that looks more professional. It does the trade no good when at book fairs some of our colleagues eat and drink at their stands, wear tatty old jeans or shorts, crumpled dress shirts or tee shirts, are unshaven and otherwise give the appearance of not having had a shower for a week."

With the decline in open shops, book fairs are more important than ever for attracting new people to book collecting or at least serious book acquisition. As Don Lindgren wrote in his comment:

"...We have one shot to convert a one-time book fair visitor to a repeat customer. We need to acknowledge that that the ball is in our court and that we can do better."

We can't afford not to.