Rosetta Solutions Exhibits For First Time At BEA

We shared a booth with OSoft.com (from Tacoma, WA), a new advanced software reader. BEA was in Washington DC this year, after a 20-year absence. The location was excellent--down one aisle from a main escalator. Show organizers reported that 31,971 people registered for the three-day convention and 20,000-plus attended. Our two primary goals were to generate revenue and to build credibility by being an exhibitor at BEA.

There are currently two sales pros generating sales opportunities and following up on leads for Rosetta. We picked up numerous leads during the three-day event. They included assorted publishers, sales channels, investors and potential partners. The sales team is deep in follow-up activities and has several face-to-face meetings throughout the US.

There were very few peers from digital publishing or technology exhibitors at BEA this year. There was no direct competitor exhibiting. Three major search-the-book vendors exhibited: Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. They all want to digitize the world’s books.

Publisher response is mixed; from excitement that someone else is paying to digitize their books, to extreme paranoia, believing that these companies are becoming their most formidable competition.

Some of our best prospects at BEA came to the booth with advance intent to meet us, as a result of the exhibitor directory. They had specific issues to discuss and wanted to learn what we can do for them.

We met with the VP Business Development and Marketing, and the CEO/Pres of R.R. Bowker. We talked about the NetGalley suite of services, focusing on the ONIX Engine and the eGalley services. It was a particularly good first meeting. They sat in cramped quarters inside our small exhibit, during a very busy time at the booth. The CEO would like a Web-based demo in the next couple of weeks. We invited her to select someone to join our advisory team for the NetGalley blog to contribute to the shaping of the NetGalley services.

submitted by Ted Treanor, Rosetta Solutions

Rosetta Solutions, Inc. (www.RosettaSolutions.com) also does business as Seattle Book Company (www.SeattleBook.com), a publisher and an eBookstore. In 1996, this Northwest company began as an ePublisher called Alexandria Digital Literature. This part of the business is now doing business as AstraTM (an imprint of Seattle Book Company). NetGalleyTM (www.NetGalley.com) is under development as a destination site for reviewers, booksellers, libraries, media and the reading community.