Thursday, June 15, 2017

THE FUTURE OF ARMCHAIR BOOK EXPO


The 2017 Armchair Book Expo event was a great success.  We were so excited to see the enthusiasm from all of our participants, the on-site correspondents, and our sponsors.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Armchair Book Expo came into existence thanks to a large number of bloggers wanting to experience Book Expo America way back in 2010.  We have been able to bring Book Expo into your homes in a variety of ways, with hundreds of participants throughout the years and dozens of volunteers working diligently behind-the-scenes.

Since its inception, we have seen many changes in the book world.  The publishing industry has changed.  Blogging has changed.  The Expo itself has changed.  And, within each of those changes, we have attempted to adapt each year to meet those needs.

However, as always, all good things must come to an end.  And, it is with great sadness that I share with you that our 2017 event will be our final Armchair Book Expo.

A lot of discussion has been bouncing around among the current team as well as the original founders of the event.  And, the majority of the conversation has centered around this very decision to discontinue the event.  A lot of work is needed to run an event like this.  Volunteer help throughout the years has dramatically decreased.  We have seen a large drop in the amount of participation through the years.  And, let's be honest, bloggers are not as welcome as they have been in the past.  With all of these factors facing the team, the executive decision was made to call this year our final event.  We really could not ask for a better year to finally say good-bye.  Because you all are awesome!

So today, we say good bye and good night.  Thank you all for your support throughout the years.  Thank you for your enthusiasm.  Thank you for spreading the bookish love.  Keep on reading.  Keep on sharing the love.  Keep on keeping on!  

15 comments:

  1. Awwww... Thank you all for your hard work through the years. I've really enjoyed taking part.

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  2. This is very sad news and this is one of the best blogging events I've participated in. Any chance there will be some kind of spin off event?

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    1. Donna H ... It is possible, but it will not be coming from us here at Armchair Book Expo.

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    2. Donna, I have the same thoughts. My favourite part of ABE was the daily topics to blog about and the Twitter discussions. Perhaps someone/some of us might pull together an event to continue that thoughtful interaction...

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    3. I would be interested in working on something if there are others interested. I have a time each year to discuss bookish things. And if anyone is interested I'm starting a monthly book chat on Twitter. It will be on June 24 at 7 pm ET, the topic is Summer Reads. Use the hashtag #BookTalk.

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  3. I'm so sorry to hear this, but I want to say thank you for all the hard work you've all done. It's been such a rewarding experience participating these last couple of years.

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  4. Thanks for these wonderful years!

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  5. So sorry to hear this will be my first and last armchair. I do want to say thank you for the wonderful experience participating this year and all of the hard work from the planners and bloggers who put out live updates. The Twitter chats were awesome and I met so many nice bloggers. Just wanted you to know it was much appreciated.

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  6. Aw this is so cute, congrats on the final expo!

    Amy;
    Little Moon Elephant

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  7. Sad to see this end but understandable considering Book Expo and its changes.

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  8. Sorry to hear that this was your last year, but totally understand your reasoning. Thank you all for all of the hard work you've put in to make this event such a long-running success! Going to miss you guys!

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  9. That's so sad. It's the end of an era.

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  10. Sorry to hear this. I guess I didn't realize that bloggers were not as welcome at Book Expo any longer. That's sad. I never got the chance to go and now there may be no point.

    Believe me, I know what an undertaking an event like this must be so it's understandable. I haven't had the time to particpate myself the past couple of years, but it was always nice to know it was there. Like Tasha said...the end of an era. Thanks for all the years we had.

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  11. I'd already said this on Twitter but I'll reiterate here too: I had fun participating in my very first #armchairbookexpo. Met a lot of new people and got to experience blogging in a new way I hadn't before. I did some different Twitter chats and stuff but ArmchairBEA made it possible for stay-at-home bloggers like me to enjoy something that the Booktubers were also apart of. Hope someone or something similar comes up next year because it's too good to just end like that.

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