BookExpo America, an annual event for the American publishing industry (and some international interests), was held this year at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City. For the event, Tourist Town Guides has a booth within the Midpoint Trade Books section.

Day 1: Friday, May 29, 9:00AM – 5:00PM:

BookExpo America 2009 kicked off today at the Javits Center. The Tourist Town Guides booth has on display the 2009 books, and samples for vendors and bookstores to browse. The day was spent handing out flyers to book buyers, libraries, and other interested parties.

Day 2: Saturday, May 30, 2009, 9:00AM – 5:00PM:

The Midpoint Trade Books section (booth #3240) continued throughout the day to buzz with a constant stream of activity. Midpoint generates a lot of foot traffic for its publishers, given the booth’s central location and their comprehensive marketing.

Day 3: Sunday, May 31, 2009, 9:00AM – 3:00PM:

The last day of the show was the slowest, but there was still constant activity within the Midpoint booth.

The Midpoint Trade Books Section

Tourist Town Guides Booth

The Show Floor, Top Level, North Section

Kim Kash signed copies of her new Ocean City book at Daedalus Books at Belvedere Square in Baltimore, Maryland. The signing took place on May 16, 2009, from 1pm to 3pm.

The announcement is on the Belvedere Square website:

http://www.belvederesquare.com/index.cfm?page=events&id=66&pg=1

Lynn Marie-Ittner Klammer, author of Frankenmuth: A Guide to Michigan’s Little Bavaria was interviewed for WEYI NBC 25, Mid-Michigan News. The interview, which aired on May 21, 2009, appeared on various newscasts throughout the day (5pm and 11pm EST).

A link to the video interview and online commentary is below (click on the video icon to view the video):

http://www.connectmidmichigan.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=302957

Channel Lake, Inc., the publisher of Tourist Town Guides, will have a booth at the upcoming BookExpo America, held at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City from May 29-31. The booth will feature the 2009 Tourist Town Guides books, which will be on display.

If attending the show, you can visit us at the Midpoint Trade Books section, booth #3240.

Columnist Janet Martineau featured the new guidebook Frankenmuth: A Guide to Michigan’s Little Bavaria, by Lynn Marie-Ittner Klammer, in a recent article for The Saginaw News.

In the article, Martineau notes that, before the publication of this new book this year, Frankenmuth “never had an official tourist guide.” The article goes on to discuss how Klammer, a Frankenmuth resident, spent months researching and writing the guidebook with the help of her family.

“In the book I answer a lot of the common questions tourists ask,” Klammer says, according to the article, “but it goes much deeper.”

In addition to the standard tourist fare, the guidebook covers the area’s history, natural and geologic information, and little-known facts about one of Michigan’s favorite tourist destinations.

The full article is available on the Michigan Live website:

View Full Article on MLive.com

Jay Kirschenmann, author of Black Hills: A Guide to South Dakota’s Classic American Frontier, signed copies of his new book at the Dakota Conference, held at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The annual conference, which features an autograph party, was held April 24-25, 2009. The theme this year was “Abraham Lincoln Looks West,” but the conference also focuses on area authors and regional topics. The Black Hills is a top tourist draw for South Dakota.

A video interview of Kirschenmann discussing his book at the conference is available on YouTube here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pqnk0DXNNn0

For information about the Dakota Conference, see the Augustana College website:

http://www.augie.edu/cws/dakotaconference.html

The Greenbelt Gazette in Maryland recently announced the publication of Kim Kash’s Ocean City: A Guide to Maryland’s Seaside Resort, which went on sale last month. Kash will hold a book signing at 1 p.m. on May 23, 2009 at Daedalus Books, 9645 Gerwig Lane in Columbia, Maryland.

The article announcement can be viewed online (about 1/2 way down the article body):

http://www.gazette.net/stories/04302009/greenew174118_32523.shtml

Just two days before its official release, Mackinac: A Guide to Mackinac Island and Mackinaw City, by Donna Marie Lively, has achieved the #1 bestseller status for Michigan travel guides, and #2 for travel guides of the entire Midwest, based on Amazon.com‘s ranking system.

See a screenshot of the ranking here.

Is the book still at #1? Check the book live on Amazon.com

The Brimful Curiosities blog posted a review of Wisconsin Dells by Dirk Vanderwilt. In the review, Brimful says that “the book does a good job covering the basics of Wisconsin Dells. An excellent reference resource, libraries especially may want to consider adding this one to their travel section.”

The full review may be found on the following website:

http://www.brimfulcuriosities.com/2009/03/wisconsin-dells-tourist-town-guides.html

In a recent article in the Lifestyles section of the Chicago Sun-Times, columnist Andrew Herrmann describes the best Wisconsin Dells-area waterparks. In the article, Herrmann uses Dirk Vanderwilt’s Wisconsin Dells guidebook as a reference, referring several times to Vanderwilt’s opinions about the waterparks. Herrmann also summarizes Vanderwilt’s description of the Dells area history.

The full article may be found here:

http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/1404770,TRA-News-dells01.article