ATLANTA, Ga. – Spring Book Show 2009, long the South’s largest bargain book show, opens at the Cobb Galleria Centre in north Atlanta on Friday, March 6, and runs through Sunday, March 8.
All 550 vendor spaces for the show were sold out in February, but registrations for buyers are still open.
In addition to book buyers and marketers, more than 100 writers from around the nation will attend educational seminars, and separate educational sessions for booksellers are scheduled by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA).
The SIBA educational seminars for bookstore personnel will address such critical subjects as store marketing and public relations.
More than a dozen regional authors and book business professionals, including Cec Murphey, Kimberley Kennedy, Brad Cohen, Hollis Gillespie and Patricia Sprinkle will lead the educational sessions for writers.
This year’s show will draw more than 100 remainder dealers from around the world. They will be offering more than 50,000 book titles at bargain prices to hundreds of buyers from book stores, specialty retailers, public and academic libraries and school media specialists.
According to show organizer Larry May of Knoxville, Tenn., special attention has been paid to inviting the book industry public from the Southeast, from Georgia and, in particular, from the 14-county metro Atlanta area.
As in the last few years, the show is waiving the $75 registration fee for librarians from Georgia, who may attend the show free. The librarians are also invited to attend some of the educational sessions associated with the show at no cost. The offer to librarians covers all public librarians, academic librarians from colleges and universities and public and private school media specialists who function as librarians. The show provides the librarians an opportunity to purchase books ranging from children’s to adult titles at deeply discounted prices.
May said the largest remainder dealers from the United States, Canada, Africa, Australia and Great Britain will be attending the Atlanta show. They’ll display their wares – the largest collection of remainder books, returns, white sales and promotional books in the nation – at 500-plus display units in over 70,000 square feet of space.
The Spring Book Show caters to buyers who purchase 25 or more copies of individual titles from dealers who specialize in bargain books.
