The 51st Bologna Children’s Book Fair will be held on Monday, March 24 through Thursday, March 27. As children’s publishers from around the world are preparing to travel to Italy, we caught up with Lori Benton, VP & group publisher at Scholastic, to learn more about the fair. She’s been to Bologna at least fifteen times over the course of her career.

For those of us who aren’t familiar with what happens at Bologna, can you describe the setting?

As the only International Rights Fair that is focused solely on children’s books, the Bologna Children’s Book Fair is very much like a family reunion. Once a year we all come together to share our publishing lists and to get an overview of what’s going on in the global marketplace. When you first enter the fair, you immediately feel the buzz. Every year, one country is selected as a guest of honor and is showcased in a large gallery. This year’s guest of honor is Brazil and I’m looking forward to seeing their exhibit. 

Is it at all similar to BEA or any of the book expos we might have attended here in the US?

At BEA it’s easy to walk the halls and browse the booths. Bologna is a rights fair, so the stands are organized differently and are appointment-driven. Most attendees fill their schedules with thirty-minute appointments from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. every day. It’s a bit like speed-dating, but with books! You really see how our business transcends borders, and you also form friendships with colleagues and counterparts from around the world. It’s exhausting and energizing at the same time!

What do these 30 minute meetings with different publishers look like?

Most of my appointments are to buy, but there is a bit of selling that happens also. The meetings have to be very focused, since you have such a short period of time. Most conversations start with a quick overview about what’s going on in the market. Then we look through their catalog together. They give me a topline of what they’re working on, skipping over things that won’t fit our list and focusing on the things I’m interested in. If they are savvy, they’ve already targeted titles that will fit our list. And you’re always hoping to discover something new and surprising. 

Do you commit to buy right there at the stand?

If something gets really hot, it can get bought right away, but it’s more common for follow-up to happen after the fair is over. When I come home, the samples start arriving: either manuscripts in my inbox or finished copies in the mail.   

Have you ever experienced the fair from the opposite perspective?

I had the opportunity to sell with our foreign rights team last year, and it was loads of fun and very informative. We even got into a very exciting auction situation for Spirit Animals, one of our big multiplatform properties. And this year, I’m especially excited about our Maggie Stiefvater publishing, including new jacket treatments for the Shiver trilogy. 

What are you looking for most this year?

I am always looking for good storytelling, new formats, emerging technologies, and inspiration.

Catherine Laudone, an editorial assistant at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, had the  privilege of attending ALA Midwinter this year in Philadelphia. Read on for a Q&A with Catherine that highlights her takeaways and experience at the conference.

What was your biggest takeaway about librarians, libraries, or the library market from ALA Midwinter 2014?
My biggest takeaway from ALA Midwinter 2014 is that every librarian has a different set of criteria for middle grade books, which are based on the needs of the readers that they serve. I know that you’re probably thinking that this is an obvious assumption that anyone could make. But from a publishing perspective, I found it was a really valuable lesson. When I first started volunteering at the Simon & Schuster booth at ALA, many school librarians came up to me and asked what middle grade titles I was the most excited about. When I began showing them some of my favorite picks from our upcoming lists however, the librarians made comments like, “oh, that has too many words for my middle schoolers” or “are you sure that’s middle grade?” At first, I was confused by their reactions because all of the titles that I was showing them met the normal word count, content, and cover requirements for middle grade readers. But then these same librarians started picking up different middle grade and chapter books off our display tables, saying “this looks more manageable for my readers” or “oh, I have one girl who would love this.” It was then that I realized the librarians weren’t reacting negatively to our books. Rather, they were responding and tailoring their preferences based on the reading levels and personal interests of the individual children that they interact with on a daily basis.

Once I understood how the librarians were selecting books, I was able to ask the right follow-up questions like: “are you looking for younger or older middle grade?” and “what books are your students reading right now?” These specific questions helped me to recommend books that better fit the librarians’ needs, which also led to more positive reactions in general. Overall, understanding the librarians’ mindset and basis for criteria was a big takeaway because it reminded me to not make generalizations about age categories and genres — especially middle grade — when evaluating and marketing books.

What was your role at ALA Midwinter 2014? And, what were your goals?

My role as a volunteer at ALA Midwinter was to help work the Simon & Schuster booth in the exhibit hall. My responsibilities included talking to librarians and bloggers about our upcoming books, handing out free ARCs and bound galleys, and taking business cards whenever we ran out of giveaways for a popular title. I also had an opportunity to help set up for the Simon & Schuster librarian preview luncheon in the Marriot. All in all, my goal was to help the Ed/Library Marketing team with whatever they needed and to just enjoy the experience of attending ALA.

Please tell us about one session that you attended and your thoughts.

I was able to attend part of the YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Teen session. Prior to the conference, students in local high schools had been given a list of titles to choose from and read. During this panel, students gave their recommendations for the books they had read, explaining whether or not they thought a title belonged on the YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults list, and why. I was impressed by the fearlessness of some of the reviews. It didn’t matter if the publisher or editor was in the room — if a teen didn’t like a book or its cover, they said so and often elaborated on what they didn’t like about it. Likewise, the reasoning behind the positive reviews was often well articulated and in-depth. It was fun to guess which teens had a future in publishing, based on their reviews. All in all, the panel was really informative; it was good to hear unbiased feedback on so many different books and covers, regardless of whether your house had published them.

Were you able to see Philadelphia at all while you were there? See/eat/do anything good?

Since I was volunteering for the day and didn’t stay overnight, I didn’t get a chance to see much of Philadelphia either; plus, it was snowing pretty hard there on Saturday — not the best weather for sightseeing. If it counts though, there was one episode where two assistants and I made a mad dash across a muddy street (without coats), to get from the convention center to the Marriot where the YALSA teen session was being held. On our way back from the session, we realized that there was a connecting breezeway between the two buildings and that our first trip into the cold, snowy outdoors had been unnecessary. We definitely had a good laugh over that one.