For those of you unfamiliar, BEA—Book Expo America—is “the largest publishing event in North America”: a yearly gathering at which book publishers tell the rest of the world (via media, booksellers, librarians, other publishers, etc.) what books they’re excited about. It’s huge, and a little overwhelming, and the energy there is one of my favorite things about working in publishing.

For those of you both familiar and planning to attend, we thought we’d give you a quick rundown of Smart Pop at BEA:

Smart Pop Itself. Jennifer and I will be at Table #4112 (under the Perseus Distribution banner) with the rest of BenBella whenever our schedules permit; come say hello! We’ll have copies of our 2010 Smart Pop Sampler, which includes essays from…

I’m pleased to introduce you to Jennifer Canzoneri, previously BenBella’s general marketing manager and newly in charge of Smart Pop’s marketing and online efforts. Jen and I have always spent a lot of time talking about television and books in the office, and it’s been a blast making those conversations an official part of our jobs!

As of this morning, she’s taking over chief hosting duties for our blog, Twitter account, and Facebook page. I’ll still be blogging, giving book updates, and sharing the occasional comment or link. But when you @message us or comment over on Facebook, chances are Jennifer will be the one answering.

I’ll miss getting my daily Twitter fix, but—as you’ll see over the next few days—having Jennifer take the reins is…

The original Dollhouse essay deadline was February 1. The final episode of Dollhouse airs January 22. Seemed like a shame, not giving essay writers enough time to really take that final episode into account.

So we’ve extended the deadline two weeks.

Dollhouse essays are now due on February 15.

Happy writing!

We’ve just done something we really should have thought of doing from the start: added a form on the Dollhouse Essay Contest page where you can put in your email to automatically receive

• updates on the contest and book (including the first look at the cover)
• notice that we’ve posted another essay tip on the blog
• a reminder a couple of weeks before Feb 1 so you don’t miss the deadline

It’s right up at the top and hard to miss; just go to our contest page, enter your email, and hit submit!

Hope your essays are going well!

There are two ways, theoretically, to start a blog (or Twitter account, or heck, real-life chat): in medias res, or with an introduction. Most people choose the latter. (It’s why we usually start conversations with the word “Hi.”) Who are we to buck the trend?

I’m your de facto host, Leah, Smart Pop series editor—and this is the new Smart Pop Books.

I wanted to use this inaugural entry to give you a feel for the site: what we’re aiming to be, and what kind of content we’re trying to provide.

Overview

First and foremost, you’ll find essays we’ve published in our Smart Pop series—a new free essay every day.

Over the past six years we’ve put out nearly 50 anthologies, each with an average…