Anxious exhibitors and attendees of next week’s Book Expo America are scrambling to draw up contingency plans to move to another venue in case predictions of Judgment Day, set for the Saturday before the book fair opens, turn out to be accurate.

Though countless end-of-the-world prognostications have not materialized to date, this one, posited by Biblical authorities, is disturbingly convincing. The End Times theorists have calculated a precise timeline from Creation, which they date at 11,013 BC, to final destruction on May 21, 2011. That spells bad news for attendance at BEA,which has been flagging for several years.  “The last thing we need is an apocalypse,” said one Expo executive. Unfortunately, conference organizers and the brass at International Digital Publishing Forum were not aware of the projections, ignored them or failed to take them seriously.  This misjudgment may cost dearly, as few insurers cover exhibitors for losses or damages incurred when Kingdom comes.

There is a slim possibility that some publishers or visitors will be spared. According to the Doomsday website, “God declares that only a remnant, a relatively small number of people, will be saved.”  Here, thanks to their deep pockets and abundant resources, Big Six publishers like Random House and HarperCollins, and large retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble, have a better chance at salvation than small presses and independent bookstores, who fear that we may see another round of consolidation by major companies at the expense of smaller ones.

There is also a small window of hope that the prediction is premature. Convention organizers researching the matter think that the prophets may have confused Saturday’s cataclysm with the one predicted for 2012 in Mayan scriptures.  BEA-goers will breathe a huge sigh of relief but will think twice about attending next year’s bookfest.

Not all publishers are preoccupied with The World to Come. One exhibitor we spoke to said “Rapture?  Screw Rapture. If my goddamn books don’t arrive from the warehouse I’m gonna freak out.”

What do you think? Comments submitted after the world ends will not be considered.

Doomsday details here. Exhibitors and attendees are advised to check the BEA website for updates.

Richard Curtis