Sarah Mlynowski greets visitors to the Quirk Books booth while her former Red Dress Ink editor, Farrin Jacobs, signs a copy of See Jane Write, their guide to writing chick-lit fiction; Simon & Schuster children's marketing director Michelle Montague guides illustrated book character "Franny K. Stein" around the show floor.

Little, Brown vice-president Sophie Cottrell wanders over to the Henry Holt booth to say hello to publicity director Claire McKinney; Laurel Snyder signs copies of Half-Life, an anthology of essays from writers who grew up in Jewish-Christian interfaith marriages she edited for Soft Skull Press.