Ringer Spy Kinch sends along word on the recent Book Expo that was attended by Houghton Mifflin and suits from New Line, Kinch also sends along word of not one but TWO TV specials coming this fall!!

I was at the BookExpo and had a front row seat for the LOTR presentation, and I can assure you it went over big. The trailers made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, but the stuff they showed at the presentation was just . . . awesome.

Afterwards, New Line and Houghton-Mifflin took some of us to a very nice dinner over Harvest on Huron, where we talked about the films and film in general. I had a blast.

HM is really guarded with the amount of artwork they’ve let us see, it’s nothing you haven’t seen and posted already. For example, the new pix of Frodo in Rivendell you recently posted were things I saw at the BEA, but couldn’t get copies of. I do have a calendar that summarizes the promotion rollout.

Basically there are two rollout dates. In September new editions of all three books in the trilogy will be released in trade paperback and hardcover by HM, plus they’ll release posters. There will be a 1-hr TV special. Then, in November, the Visual Companion and Movie Guide will be released and TV ads for the movie will begin.

Ballantine will then exercise their option on the mass market paperbacks, but I don’t really know what they’re planning. Around Thanksgiving there will be a second TV special. Obviously New Line wants to make the uninitiated aware of the backstory and history of Middle Earth.