With the New York Comic-Con seemingly successfully behind them, Reed Exhibitions has announced major changes to the BEA, the annual book trade fair. The show will stay in New York until 2012, and will move to a mid-week configuration.
While there have been no changes to the 2009 show, starting in 2010 BEA will run from Tuesday through Thursday, rather than its current configuration, which begins with an education day on Thursday followed by exhibition hours running from Friday through Sunday. Under the 2010 schedule, education panels will be held on Tuesday with the exhibit floor opening at 4 p.m. and running through 6 p.m. The exhibit floor will be opened 9-6 on Wednesday and 9-5 on Thursday
In 2010, the show will run from May 25-27 and will be held May 24-26 in 2011. In 2012, BEA will be held after Memorial Day on May 30- June 1.
In other news, HarperCollins is losing the Collins with a round of layoffs expected.
In a dramatic turnaround, HarperCollins announced this morning that it is closing its Collins division and integrating its operations within different businesses in the General Books Group. As a result, Steve Ross, president and publisher of Collins, and Lisa Gallagher, senior v-p, and publisher of William Morrow, are leaving the company. Ross was brought over by Jane Friedman two years ago from Crown to rebuild the Collins brand. In addition to closing Collins, CEO Brian Murray issued a memo today saying that despite efforts to avoid layoffs, a reduction in the workforce will be necessary. “Given the continued uncertainty in the market and soft revenues for the company, we need to take further action to align our cost basis with expected revenues,” Murray wrote. “I have asked each division to evaluate their business and begin the process to meet this goal. Unfortunately, in some HarperCollins divisions, implementing these plans will result in a reduction in workforce.”
