Fifteenth Annual Central Valley Antiquarian Book Fair
- By Karen Wright
Jim Kay, Director of the Sacramento Book Fair, assists a customer.
By Karen Wright
Our big Chevy Suburban was loaded down with twenty boxes of really cool books, eight collapsible bookshelves (whoever invented them deserves a big kiss), and all the falderal one could need to survive a book fair. A quick stop at Starbucks for a passion lemonade and lemon scones, and we were off and running to the Fifteenth Annual Central Valley Antiquarian Book Fair in Sacramento on September 20. We are very fortunate in that we have a very good friend who lives just a couple of miles from the fair so, for once, we didn't have to pay for a motel.
One of the fun things about going to book fairs is that you never know what or who you might run into. I was book-snooping along down the aisles after we got our booth assembled Friday afternoon, to see who was selling what and for how much. I came upon a booth called the Barque Jane Avila. Well, being a former square-rigger sailor, and a barque being a type of old square-rigged sailing ship, I thought maybe I might find a great book to add to my husband's maritime collection. I walked up to the pretty blonde women who seemed to be the dealer and said: "Hey, where did you get that name?" She looked at me, cocked her head quizzically and said: "I used to be a square-rigger sailor..." and before she could finish the sentence, we both grinned ear-to-ear and realized that we both used to sail on the same ship - The Elissa out of Galveston - and that we were friends who hadn't seen each other in about twenty years. Then it was hugs time and we both had to zip back to our booths so she could say hello to my husband, better known as "The Captain." It was a fun reunion. Jayne only does the Sacramento Fair each year, and also sells antiques and things at other shows. She, like we, has retired from sailing and is now in El Sobrante, not far from Lori Hughes, our friend the Cookbook Lady, who had a booth just around the corner.
I also located Chris Volk from Bookfever.com. She and her partner, Shep Iiams, sell books online from El Sobrante. Chris was at the Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar and was the faculty member that taught the class on accounting and online selling. She is a board member of IOBA and has convinced me that I should join. If you sell online, you might want to look into it, www.ioba.org (Independent Online Booksellers Association).
|
Fifteenth Annual Central Valley Antiquarian Book Fair
- By Karen Wright
The Wright Books' booth.
The next acquaintance to come down the aisle was Ed Glaser (Edwin V. Glaser Rare Books in Napa), the gentleman after whom the scholarship was named that I won for the Colorado Seminar. (There's a mouthful.) It was good to see him again and to meet his very nice wife, Lorraine.
The Sacramento Fair is run by Jim Kay. He corralled sixty booksellers this year, twelve more than last year. He managed to pack us all quite neatly into the Scottish Rite Building on 61st in Sacramento. I don't think anyone felt squished in or crowded, there seemed to be plenty of space. In fact, I could probably have brought two or three more boxes of books. There were, however, sellers in the front hall and the back meeting room...sellers, sellers everywhere! I like the building a lot because it is clean, has beautifully maintained wood floors, is nicely lighted, has lots of sunlight and windows, and for once, it wasn't too hot in Sacramento to leave the doors open. We could actually breathe some fresh air. We asked Jim later how successful he felt the fair had been.
"In my judgment, it was an acceptable event. The attendance was down about 20% from last year but the crowd was reasonably large, considering the post-internet book fair micro climate in which we sell. The attendees were buying, as evidenced by the high percentage of people leaving with bags."
Jim is considering doing two fairs a year from now on, one in winter or very early spring, and the annual September fair. He says he is never fully happy with his fair promotions and so, he tells us, "I will continue to grow this book fair, with new marketing and fresh ideas. The last two years have shown me it is possible to have a successful book fair even with the ever looming internet marketplace. I believe that Sacramento is a good town for books and will support two fairs per year." Jim swears that "There will be no increase in booth rents next year."
Friday night before I was even set up, the book dealer next door dropped in for a visit. He bought two hardcover, sci-fi pulp novels with dust jackets which made a peachy start before the GP even arrived on Saturday. From my point of view as a bookseller, I thought there were a lot of wonderful books for sale. I'm always astonished at the variety of books that are out there in the world. It did seem to me that many of the books were very high priced and that a lot of sales could have been made with just a bit trimmed off. My philosophy of bookselling is - I'm a seller, not a collector, so I want to sell them. They look really pretty on the shelves, but they look even better going out the door in bags while I deposit the money in my bank. In this rather grim market and with the Internet biting our butts for every sale, it makes perfect sense to me to sell for a bit less than my optimum price and make up the difference in quantity of sales, because if we don't, the buyer will just go home and order it from ABE or Amazon. Of course, I'm not talking about a $50,000 book, but about the books that are under, say, $100.
|
Fifteenth Annual Central Valley Antiquarian Book Fair
- By Karen Wright
Jayne Avila Books.
We did okay on sales, though gas is, of course, for those of us who have to come from out of town, the big bugaboo. Most of the dealers present were from California, but Utah dealer Ken Sanders, a couple of Washington State dealers, and at least one from Oregon, were there. We will probably come back next year just because it's so much fun. I probably won't do the winter fair as we have to depend on the weather being good coming from the Reno area over Donner Summit. It's a given that if we decide to go, we'll have six feet of snow in our driveway the night before and the pass will be closed down.
Saturday all the dealers arrived early so they could shop all the other dealers' booths. My husband always laughs and says that's why we have book fairs; we are all book junkies and we love the social part of it all. I had to chuckle because about three-quarters of the booksellers had on Hawaiian shirts (I don't think they planned it) but somehow you can spot a book dealer walking by whether they have on a Hawaiian shirt or a seller's badge. At one point, at the booth across from me, there were six dealers and one public buyer. The general public seemed to be older than last year's attendees. I think there were more thirty to forty-something buyers last year. This year the majority of the buyers seemed to be forty-to-sixty something (that included us and most of the other booksellers, too.) Maybe the thirty-somethings got caught in the mortgage crunch.
I rounded out the day by visiting with a number of sellers, all of whom said that they did okay. I found one book that I just loved. It was The Raven by Poe, but it was the large pictorial folio with the gilt cover. It was a mere $2000, so it did not come home with me.
I know one of my stories wouldn't be complete without discussing food. We have found that Sacramento has a lot of good restaurants. Our favorite, bar none, is Tower Café on Broadway and 15th. You can sit inside or outside, though at dinner it is dark outside for lack of enough lighting. We myopics need enough light to read the menu! They have good wines, an international menu, and a wonderful international décor to go with it. Their desserts are all made there and decadent to the point of euphoria in every bite. I love the place because you could just about eat there every night and never repeat a dish or have a bad meal. Also, we have a little history with Tower in that Russ Solomon, who was the founder of Tower Records, was a friend of ours way back when he first started and his first store was located there.
|
Fifteenth Annual Central Valley Antiquarian Book Fair
- By Karen Wright
Chris Volk from Bookfever.com.
We had pizza and calzone at Gonul's J. Street Cafe at 38th and J. We usually have lunch there when we are in Sacramento. They have Middle Eastern and Italian style foods, yummy ice tea, great wines, nice desserts, and really fun art on the walls. When it isn't too hot, we sit outside. The crust was just fabulous and the toppings were really garlicky and delicious. Another good place is a great little Thai restaurant, Amarin, at 900 - 12th Street. The food's great and reasonable. Try the duck!
So there you have it. We survived the Fifteenth Annual Central Valley Antiquarian Book Fair and lived to tell good stuff about it. If you get a chance, drop in next year. They don't have a website, but you can reach Jim Kay at his bookstore, www.argusbooks.com, or his email address - jimkay@comcast.com - if you want more information about being in or attending his great book fairs. Tell him we sent you!
|