A. James Editing, Inc.

I was fortunate enough to be able to volunteer at both the and the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association (PNBA) Tradeshow this year, both held in Portland, OR. Though both events revolved around authors and the written word (two of my very favorite things), it was obvious to me that I highly preferred one to the other.

The PNBA Tradeshow…

…took place in September and it was excellent. It was my first time volunteering for their annual event, though I had written the author/book blurbs for their program this year and the year before.

Unfortunately for book lovers, the event was not open to the public and was attended exclusively by authors, booksellers of the Pacific Northwest, publishers, and volunteers like myself. Volunteers had considerable access to the authors and I spend quite a bit of my time conversing with one of my favorite authors, Jennie Shortridge.

The volunteers were fed, pampered, and allowed to take complimentary copies of books and get them signed by the authors. It’s a great event for book lovers and aspiring authors. If you live in the Portland Metro Area and would like to volunteer with PNBA next year, I would strongly recommend you do so. You won’t regret it. I’ve linked to their Web site above.

The Wordstock Festival…

…took place earlier this month and was egregiously lacking in comparison. This was also the first time I had volunteered with Wordstock and it makes me a little sad to say that I don’t plan to do so in the future.

The staff members were absolutely fantastic, but there were way too many volunteers. That’s great that so many people wanted to be involved, but it was awful because there was truly nothing for me, and many others, to do. I spent my entire four-hour shift sitting in a chair, listening to authors (Jeff Mapes, Robert Spector, Michelle Huneven, Dan Chaon, Tom Malterre, Shannon Borg, Piper Davis, Ellen Jackson, and Julie Richardson) speak about their books. The authors were all worth listening to, but I’m more of a doer and would have preferred something more active or at least interactive.

There were some fabulous sponsors of the event like Powell’s City of Books and Columbia Sportswear. Powell’s had a mini bookstore set up in the middle of it all so attendees could purchase the books of the authors who were speaking. Columbia provided these amazing yellow shirts, made from a very soft, very comfortable material for the volunteers to wear.

I found the event to be very large and extremely impersonal. My job was to shuffle the authors from the stage to the signing area…as if they couldn’t read the sign hanging from the ceiling: “Author Signing”. There was little time and even less atmosphere to pursue a conversation with an author.

Resolution

I suppose I had been spoiled at the PNBA Tradeshow and my expectations were a little higher. The Tradeshow was held at a hotel so it was very comfortable, intimate, and the venue was pretty small when compared with the Oregon Convention Center where the Festival was housed (the purpose of the building being to host large events of various lengths, widths, and heights).

My disappointment at the Wordstock Festival was so great that I informed a relevant staff member that I wouldn’t be returning the next day to work my second shift. I knew there were plenty of people to take my place.

For non-volunteers, I definitely recommend the Wordstock Festival (only because you can’t get into the PNBA Tradeshow). For volunteers, the PNBA Tradeshow is second to none and before the event had ended I was already looking forward to next year.