At BookExpo, silly dress is optional. (Unless you're an unknown author)

The country's largest book trade show was spread out over five blocks in the Jacob Javits Convention Center – a meeting place so far on the western edge of Manhattan it seems about ready to topple into the Hudson River.

While by no means a buttoned-up affair, BookExpo America (BEA), which ran May 31-June 3, wasn't exactly the type of circus where you'd expect to see a woman in a firefighter's suit – complete with helmet. Or a young man with an oversize name tag plastered across his entire chest and then some. I, for one, was certainly not expecting to come across God.

But here they all were, roaming among the estimated 36,000 attendees and 2,000 exhibitors where book publishers were offering up their newest and best to ambling booksellers.

The annual convention is mostly about the business of books, though many of the transactions were social. Many of the writers in attendance tended to be of the marquee-name and celebrity variety: Ian McEwan, Khaled Hosseini, Rosie O'Donnell, Jenna Bush. Their appearances were carefully doled out by invitation or ticketed breakfasts and book signings.

The firefighters and God, not to mention a man wearing a giant name tag and a woman wearing a decorated safari hat, on the other hand, could be found more easily. They were wandering the convention center floors, past publishers' booths, and through the food courts. They were mostly here on their own dime.

In a business where just shy of 300,000 books were published last year, finding a way to be seen is essential – particularly if you are self-published or with a small press lacking deep pockets for marketing.

"In that whole pile, you have to somehow stand out or have some unique way of reaching booksellers," said Diana Guerrero, who traveled here from Fawnskin, a tiny town in California, to promote her book, "Blessing of the Animals: A Guide to Prayers & Ceremonies Celebrating Pets & Other Creatures" (Sterling Publishing).

I first spotted Ms. Guerrero in a crowded, stuffy room. In a sea of heads facing the dais before them where panelists were discussing how authors and publishers could more effectively use MySpace, a social-networking site, there was a safari hat decorated with plastic animal figurines, palm fronds, peacock feathers, and puffy glitter paint. Nestled in the Noah's Ark were shrunken reproductions of the "Blessing of the Animals" cover. (The hat had taken more than 12 hours to make.)

A few hours later, the firefighter crossed my path on her way to another panel discussion. Kathy Gillette was bubbly and warm, explaining that in a traditionally male-dominated field, where only 2.5 percent of firefighters are women, she's been with the Indianapolis Fire Department for 22 years. Her self-published memoir about the experience will come out on Sept. 11.

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