Book other gigs
If you're shelling out all the money to get to BEA (in NYC this year), you should add in a revenue-enhancing event to counter the financial drain a trip to BEA might otherwise be. Lead a workshop or seminar on a topic of interest to your readers, or pull together a group of authors to run an event. Then, rather than coming out financially behind as a result of BEA, you'll have a better shot at of breaking even.

RELATED: Pitching An Agent: After 'Experts In Various Subjects' From the Editors: 'Experience and Passion' Sought Over 'Credits'

Avoid the small press section
Many small publishers succumb to the urge to take a booth at Book Expo. But because they're short on cash, they opt for the (significantly cheaper) Small Press section. Don't do it: If you're going to take a booth, take a booth on the main floor. If you don't want to spring for it, wait another year. The small press section is usually up several flights in an area where nobody except small press vendors walks through. My client (with the trampolines and alligator) took a booth on the main floor, "right up the aisle from Scholastic." That gives her not only great visibility, but also great credibility.

Network like crazy
You can always find transcriptions of the programs at conferences; what you can't bring home are the one-on-one interactions with attendees. So plan to dig up the transcriptions, and spend your valuable time at the show walking the floor and talking to participants, vendors, and the press.

Brown-bag it
Consider bringing your own food. Food lines at BEA are long and tedious; the food at the end is expensive and ho-hum. Instead, pack munchies for quick energy while walking the floor; for lunch, consider buying a take-out gourmet picnic in advance and inviting that new contact whom you'd love to get to know better to join you. (Bringing in some Starbucks in and schmoozing with those desirable people at their booths can also be effective.)

Use BEA's amenities
It can be an exhausting show, so use all the available amenities. Attendee shipping offers boxes for mailing your books home. There's no reason you can't also use your boxes to store your raincoat, extra flyers, and lunch. If you have an appointment at the Rights Center, they usually have cubbyholes for storage, and that's an even more convenient drop-off for leaving your stuff.

Schedule your time effectively
Come armed with a list of important people you want to contact. Schedule your appointments strategically, allocating at least the first two hours of the first day for wandering and collecting galleys. Nobody will want to meet with you during that time anyway, because show veterans will be on the floor, too. Schedule lunch appointments with contacts whom you really want to get to know. It's a waste to spend two hours standing on line and eating with someone for whom a two-minute "run past the booth" visit would have sufficed.

Finally, be sure to allot plenty of time for standing in the coffee line and chatting with random strangers: The serendipity at BEA is amazing, and you're sure to bump into someone who could can change the course of your career.

If your BEA strategy still needs polishing, call Fern for a one-on-one consultation.

[Fern Reiss, CEO of PublishingGame.com/Expertizing.com, is the author of The Publishing Game: Bestseller in 30 Days (book promotion), The Publishing Game: Find an Agent in 30 Days (traditional publishing), and The Publishing Game: Publish a Book in 30 Days (self-publishing). You can sign up for a BEA consultation.