Book Expo sluggish

The lead headline in today's Publishers Weekly Show Daily calls it a "mellow mood," which is a polite way of saying that things are slow at the L.A. Convention Center - at least slower than a year ago when the book industry's annual gathering was held in NY. I took a quick spin around the exhibit floor this afternoon and noticed that while the big publishers were drawing lots of attention - William Shatner had a long line for his new book "Up Till Now" – other exhibits seemed on the empty side. Not that you should put much stock in my little survey, but it happens to match what PW and others are saying about this year's event. The economy is an obvious culprit - as is the L.A. location (numbers were higher last year in NY).