Dateline BEA: The previews begin

So Book Expo America won’t be held for another month, but that means it’s time for Publishers Weekly to start its preview engines going. And since it’ll be held in Washington — the first time in 17 years BEA has been there — there’s extra special attention being paid in the form of Maureen Dowd’s piece on her hometown, profiles on Mark Gates and Northshire Books (Rep and Bookseller of the Year, respecitively) and more bizarrely, Jonny Geller on whether BEA is good for the Jews:

To determine if BEA is good for the Jews, apply the JISM formula,* which is based on rating a subject according to the following criteria, on a scale of one to seven (according to Kabbalah, God created the world with seven divine attributes):

* Backlash: What is the anti-Semitic potential of the subject under discussion?
* Impact: How influential is the subject outside the U.S.?
* J-factor: How Jewish is the topic?
* Tsuris (Yiddish for “trouble”): How much does the subject foster tsuris, the default position of world Jewry?
* The outcome of this evaluation will be either “Good” or “Not Good,” since there is no such thing as bad in Judology.

Now, speaking as a MOT, Geller’s concerns are legit for the most part, but I was really kind of hoping for some sort of fashion guide like last year, you know?

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