Art at the LDSBA

There were lots and lots and did I say LOTS of artwork at the convention. Here are just a few that were there.

Altus Fine Art
Altus represents Simon Dewey, Jay Bryant Ward, Judy Cooley, Lynde Mott, Al Rounds, and many others.

Amalphi Arts
Their website is still under construction but they represent some pretty amazing artists. This is one of them. (Guess who?) (I don't know the answer.)

This is Armor On—artwork featuring the whole armor of God.

Here's a close-up of one of their products. Pretty cool.

(Thanks Sandra for the URL link and the images.)

Inspirational Art
That's what the sign says. Don't know if that's the company name. Don't have a URL.

Real Hero Posters

Love the concept here. Some of the posters are pretty awesome. Others are just so-so.

This is Mary, Mother of Jesus. One of the awesome ones!



If you have LDSBA photos to share, e-mail them to me and I'll post them.

National Family Institute and The Success Choice

National Family Institute is a newcomer to the convention.

They were fun to talk to and had some great items for sale. Including The 3 Word Journal by Randal A. Wright (pictured above). Interesting concept for "non" writers who want to keep a journal.

They also had a planner for women from The Success Choice, which I thought looked great for moms.

And they had these darling bronzes.

Called "Moments of Life" they are sculpted by Mary Adams. She does not a have a website but can be reached by email: mothera [at] gmail [dot] com.


If you have LDSBA photos to share, e-mail them to me and I'll post them.

Distributors

Although some publishers also act as distributors for smaller presses and self-publishers, there are two nice-sized distributors that service the LDS market.


Brigham Distributing carries a lot of books by smaller presses, like Valor Publishing Group, Walnut Springs, Windhaven Publishing and others.


Sounds of Zion distributes a variety of audio, games, music, jewelry, stickers, books and more.


If you have LDSBA photos to share, e-mail them to me and I'll post them.

Some Smaller Publishers

Best Books Publishing & Distribution had a booth. I couldn't find them online. (If anyone has a link, let me know .) They had an amazing two-volume set of books with CDs called We Believe. A 1525-page reference book by Rulon T. Burton, organized alphabetically by topic. I was impressed.



Newcomer Greenjacket Books had a small booth. They five titles out and will be releasing more this fall. They seem to cover the gamut from fiction to non-fiction.



Signature Books , known for books on Mormon history and the Rocky Mountains, had a display of their newer releases and bestsellers.


If you have LDSBA photos to share, e-mail them to me and I'll post them.

Granite Publishing & Distribution

Granite had a nice big booth at the convention.

They had two author signings early Thursday morning.

Above is Dorothy Keddington, who is a favorite for traditional romance readers, signing her latest, The Fairy Thorn.


This is new author, Kristoffer Neff, with his debut book, No Place to Hide. So hot off the presses that it's still warm to the touch, it should be available in bookstores soon.

(Thank you to Karlene for these photos.)


If you have LDSBA photos to share, e-mail them to me and I'll post them.

Cedar Fort

I thought I had a photo of the Cedar Fort booth, but apparently, I only got one of the bookshelf.


CFI and its imprints had a slew of books new books and books about to be released on display. A few of them looked pretty interesting. Like this one...
...about a woman who wakes up to find her brain transplanted into the body of an 11 year old girl. Hmmmm.

CFI also carries sidelines. I thought these purses were darling. (Sandra, thanks for the photo.)


If you have LDSBA photos to share, e-mail them to me and I'll post them.

LDSBA 2010: Covenant

Somehow I only ended up with one photo of Covenant's booth.

They have a lot of great books coming out in the next few months. One's that I'm especially looking forward to seeing are The LDS Christmas Songbook (pictured above)...

Chocolate Never Faileth by Annette Lyon


Cold as Ice by Stephanie Black

Also, Cross My Heart by Julie Wright, Trespass by Sandra Grey and Murder by Design by Betsy Brannon Green. (Could not find images online, although I saw some of them at the show.)

More photos to come. If you have some to share, e-mail them to me and I'll post them.

LDSBA 2010: Deseret Book

What I like about Deseret Book's display is the giant posters of their new releases.

Here you can see Key Lime Pie on the bottom.
That's one I'm looking forward to seeing.

Deseret Book is always the busiest booth. In addition to displaying new products and taking orders, they almost always have an author or artist doing a signing. Just a few of the authors signing at the trade show were:

• Josi Kilpack, Key Lime Pie
  
  
• Gale Sears, The Silence of God
  
  
• Jeff Savage, The Fourth Nephite and A Time to Die
  
  
• Lisa Mangum, The Golden Spiral

If you have LDSBA photos to share, e-mail them to me and I'll post them.

2010 LDSBA

The LDS Booksellers Association Trade Show is this week.

They have a Bookseller's University on Tuesday and Wednesday, sort of a school for resellers.

The trade show/convention itself is only two days this year, Thursday and Friday.

The theme for this year is Camelot:

With origins in the 12th Century A.D., the Arthurian legends have inspired, uplifted, and encouraged people through the ages. In a time when the isle of Britain was divided and in need of a unifying force for good, a new kingdom was conceived out of the hopes of good people for a better way of life, and then born out of the valiant efforts of heroes like King Arthur, Sir Galahad, Sir Gawain, and other Knights of the Round Table—pursuing quests for the good of the whole.

I will be there. I will be the one in the pink princess dress.

Who else is going? If you take photos, e-mail them to me and I'll post them here.

Books (Part 2)

All of these photos were sent to me from Sandra, who attended the convention on Thursday. She also felt it was small and sad. She said she saw everything in just a couple of hours. Thanks for the photos.


Cedar Fort's booth tied with Deseret Book for having the largest floor space. I think they were this same size last year, but not sure. They weren't having any author signings while I was there, but I think they did have a few scheduled.

This is one display of new Cedar Fort books. I think most of these have already been released. They had another bank of books this size that held new releases, as well. Some of them looked interesting. I would have been tempted to swipe a few but 1) they didn't have any that were just sitting around asking to be swiped, and 2) Lyle Mortimer was sitting right there giving me the evil eyeball. (Not really "evil"—just suspicious. I think it was the peacock feathers. I was molting all over his booth.)

CFI has really been picking up a lot of authors lately. It's a smart move on their part, if they can maintain the schedule.




Covenant's booth was smaller than last year, again, I think. They had the most traffic while I was there. They also had two banks of New Releases. Some of these are already out and others are coming out over the next couple of months.

I'm particularly interested in seeing the book on the bottom right shelf. (Click here for close up.) I really don't remember posing for that shot. Maybe I should sue them for endorsement infringements?


Another release I'm anticipating is the one on the bottom left of this bank. (Click here) While I think Jennie Hansen is a fine writer, I don't personally groove on historicals or westerns. This is a current day suspense, which I do like.

I would have swiped some of these books too, but they weren't real. They were old books with a new cover wrap for display purposes only. Bummer.



Deseret Book wins the "are you kidding me?" award. I was absolutely stunned by the size their booth wasn't. They are usually THE big spot each year, sometimes having more than one booth area. This year, while still the biggest (w/CFI), they were just so much smaller than before.


From another angle. And don't assume that it extends much beyond the picture because it doesn't. They only had one signing station this year. So disappointing to see that. But totally understandable. Why should they put out a bunch of money for a huge booth, when reseller attendance is at an all-time low?


The last photos I have here are of Brigham Distributing. Brigham doesn't publish but they distribute for small presses, like Leatherwood Press and the new Valor Publishing. They also carrying close-out titles for Spring Creek and Rosehaven Publishing, both companies are pretty much out of business now. I've been really impressed with Brigham Distribution over the years. I very much admire Barry Reeder.


This is Valor Publishing holding a mock-up of their first title, Am I Not a Man? The Dred Scott Story by Mark L. Shurtleff, scheduled to come out this fall. Tristi Pinkston (left) is acquisitions editor, BJ Rowley (center) is business manager, and Candace Salima (right) is president.

I did not see WiDo Publishing there (which I've heard pronounced as both "wee-doo" and "wid-doh"), although I heard rumors that a representative was strolling around there one day. I also don't know if they're self-distributing, or if they're going through another distributor.

That wraps it up for now. If you have more photos, corrections, comments, you know how to get them to me.

Now for Books (Part 1)

Let's go with the smaller book publishers first, as in smaller than Deseret Book, Covenant and Cedar Fort.


Granite publishes a few titles each year, but they also distribute for a variety of small presses. They had a teensy booth this year. (Click to see last year's booth) Last year, they had several booth spaces (4? 6?) combined together, lots of author signings, a huge display. This year, they had two booth spaces and there were two authors there signing books when I went by.

Sandra sent me this photo of her with Granite author, Kae D. Jacobs, and her book, Beyond the Masque.




Millennial Press seems to have found their niche in the market. They are solidly doctrinal. They have two great series, Setting the Record Straight, which features various authors on LDS topics, and Know Your Religions, which compares Mormonism to other religions.

In addition to their publications, the also distribute for BYU Studies, which specializes in LDS academic publications. They had several new titles on display at their booth.



Millennial combined booth space with One Associated, a company that has developed a POS software which helps both vendors and bookstore owners overcome some of the difficulties of doing business in the LDS market. They had a pilot store set up in Pleasant Grove, UT for several months and I've heard great things from vendors about how the system works. I have no idea why this hasn't taken off like crazy. I was very impressed with it when I first heard about it three years ago.

You can just barely see in the corner of that photo a display for OttoSkins, (their website is under construction so this takes you to a twitter page). These are technically sidelines, not books but it's run by Dave Trammell, who is also one of the owners of One Associated. OttoWear/OttoSkins are thin removeable skins for your electronics—computers, iPods, cell phones. They have an entire LDS line. Totally cool. Wish I had photos of their product to show you. I'm definitely buying some for myself!





Signature Books had a presence at the convention. They had a small booth, but then they generally do. They "promote the study of Mormonism and related issues pertaining to the Rocky Mountain area." Their collection definitely speaks to a particular niche of the LDS market, but they do it right because they seem to be growing.



Sounds of Zion seemed about the same size as usual. They are more of a distributor, than a publisher. They're probably better known for their music and audio CDs, but they carry a decent line of books, as well. They don't seem to have a focus to what they distribute, but will consider anything that they feel is worthwhile,



Walking the Line is a self-publishing venture for Kevan Clawson. He's had a booth there for several years and seems to be about the same as before. His books are doctrinal, missionary, and biographies.



The Wind River booth was smaller than last year, even though they now include Mapletree (Homeschooling & Child Development) and Trumpet Media (Christianity & Religious) as imprints. They carry a wide variety of titles and genres—home schooling, history, politics, fiction, self-help, and more. In this photo, JB Howick (owner) and Ryan Bott (Millennial Press) are discussing solutions to all of the world's problems.

Now for Sidelines

This is just a taste. Like I said before, I couldn't find my camera, so I'm relying on others for these images. If you have some, please send them.


Real Heroes Posters has Book of Mormon and other scripture hero posters. I thought this was a pretty cool concept but the art wasn't quite to my personal tastes. However, I liked Lehi's Dream and Mary Mother of Jesus.



Mormon Wrap, another great concept: LDS-themed wrapping paper and gift bags. Don't know if I buy their "Strengthen their faith with LDS wrapping paper" slogan or the label of "spiritual gift wrap"—I mean, c'mon. Really? Some of the designs were cute. I'm not sure they've hit the niche quite yet but they're close.



Daily Bread—freeze-dried food storage that will last 25 years, and is reasonably priced. I can't speak for their other products, but the lasagna they were giving tastes of was yummy.




Cherished Moments Jewelry featured some cute, dainty jewelry designs for baby blessings, baptism and YW gifts, as well as missionary gifts and tie pins.



RingMasters always wins the best decorated booth—and they deserve it. I didn't go to the awards banquet this year but I'm assuming they won because I really didn't see any other booths doing much to fit the theme. In addition to their popular CTR rings, they had YW jewelry with the new value represented. I also loved their decorator plates and their engraved crystals with mirrored platforms.


Anyone got photos of other booths? Send them in.

Starting with Art

[Thank you to those who've sent photos for me to post! I couldn't find my camera.]

There were a total of 85 vendors at the LDSBA Convention this year; less than 20% were publishers or distributors of books. The rest were what we call sidelines—art, candy, food storage, t-shirts, ties, games, rings, scripture totes, and all that other stuff you can find at your local LDS bookstore.

So let's start with Art. These are just a few of the art vendors who were there.

Altus Fine Art is best known for Simon Dewey's artwork but they also represent B. Laura Wilson, Walter Rane, Joseph Brickey, and Lynde Mott, among others. They had a nice L-shaped booth and their display was wonderful.

Greg Olsen Art had a nice booth too. Loved those columns.

Here are a few other art booths. I'm not sure which companies they represent. If someone wants to let me know, I'll post names and links.

Golden Street Artworks features the work of Scott T. Peterson. He has a really cute calendar (both a 2010 and a generic 2 year calendar), posters, greeting cards, stickers and a bank.

I didn't get a photo of their booth, but I was very impressed with them last year and was happy to see them back again.





A new art company (new to me) is Sculpture Grove. They have a 12"x10" solid cast bust of Joseph Smith. It was really attractive and detailed.

If anyone has pictures of these booths, send them to me.