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Speaking of ReedPOP, BookCon, the festival of literary superstars that owes more to Comic-Con than to a book faire, was held as a one day event following this year’s BEA (Book Expo America) in Chicago. According to PW’s Claire Kirch, it was a hit: The biggest complaint from attendees at this year’s BookCon literary fanfest […]

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Golden Globe-winning actress Jamie Lee Curtis will host the Children’s Author Breakfast at BookExpo America (BEA).

As Master of Ceremonies, Curtis will also talk about her new children’s book, which comes out next fall. Authors Sabaa Tahir, Gene Luen Yang and Dav Pilkey will join Curtis on the stage to speak about their upcoming books.

The Children’s Author Breakfast is usually attended by more than 1,000 attendees from across the book business.

The event will take place on Friday, May 13.

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  Kim: Well folks, another year, another BEA. Layla: Says Kim! Another year, and BABY’S FIRST BEA. (That’s me. And it was my first BEA.) Kim:I was so overwhelmed by my first BEA I can’t even believe I signed up for another!  Layla, you were such a pro babby BEA-er. *sniff* So proud! By the way, did you know that it is actual magic when co-bloggers meet irl for the first time? You can actually wish upon a star from the magic of co-bloggers meeting. Or maybe that’s just us. Layla: Oh, I second this. My heart grew three sizes that day.     Some of the highlights from our trip: On the floor at BEA     Layla: I can show you the world … replete with shining, shimmering, and splendid ARCs. A herd of bloggers amassed for the drop of Disney’s A Whole New World, a retelling of Aladdin in an... Read more »

The post BEA 2015: Event Recap + Giveaway appeared first on The Midnight Garden.

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The main conference and exhibit halls for BEA 2015 started mid-day on Wednesday, and ran for half a day. This unusual late opening was convenient for travel, because I was able to drive up in the morning and save a day in the hotel. However, it gave an odd feel to the exhibit hall, almost as if it were a preview and not fully open for business. Although there were plenty of people in the hall, it seemed to me less crowded than usual, and the mood seemed subdued. It'll be interesting to see if things are different today, the first full day of the conference.

I spent most of the afternoon in meetings with publishers, talking about the Cybils Awards and Kidlitcon 2015, but I did find time to catch most of the Best in 2015 Fall Graphic Novels panel and the Marvel Presents: Star Wars panel.

The graphic novel panel included Derf Backderf (Trashed), past Cybils Awards winner Ben Hatke (Little Robot), Jeremy Sorese (Curveball) and Maggie Thrash (Honor Girl). I was particularly interested in Ben Hatke's discussion about how working on a picture book in turn influenced his comics art style, and Little Robot looks adorable. Jeremy Sorese's Curveball sounds like a fascinating science fiction comic, and I'm glad I picked up a sample from the Nobrow booth.

Marvel Editor Jordan White moderated the Star Wars panel, with writer Charles Soule and artist Alex Maleev. I've been a Star Wars fan since the original movie came out in 1977, (I was 13) and I was interested to learn about the new Star Wars comics coming out. Kanan: The Last Padawan tells the story of how Kanan from Star Wars: Rebels survived Order 66, and it's exciting to see Lando get his own comic series.

During the Q&A at the end of the panel, @MizCaramelVixen, creator of BlackComicsMonth.com, asked whether there would be an effort to increase diversity both within the Star Wars universe and among the creators. The panel's response to her very important question was disappointing. Editor Jordan White at least tried to address the question seriously, but Charles Soule basically dismissed the question by saying the Star Wars universe has always been diverse, and Alex Maleev asked whether it wasn't enough diversity to have a Bulgarian working on a comic about a black man (Lando). Both either missed the point or intentionally ignored it. Saying that the Star Wars universe is diverse is a smokescreen. Sure, there are many different species of beings, but all that CGI doesn't hide the fact that Lando has been, for a long time, the Star Wars universe's token person of color. And having a Bulgarian working on the comic does not address the very real need to have writers and artists of color working on the comics.

Much as I love Star Wars, how much more awesome would it be with a real diversity reflecting the glorious variety of people in our world? And one way to improve on that would be to employ more creators who represent that diversity in all its forms. (I do have hopes for The Force Awakens, and look forward to seeing John Boyega and Lupita Nyong'o, and I hope other diverse cast as well.)

After the exhibit halls closed, I headed to the Hudson Theatre in Times Square for a party and presentation about Brian Selznick's new book, The Marvels. The party started with wine and hors d'oeuvres, which wasn't as much fun as it sounds, because it mostly consisted of fighting through crowds and battling in Hunger Games-style death matches over trays of hors d'oeuvres. I've never enjoyed crowds, so I managed to get a glass of wine and then tried to stand out of the way in the corner until it was time for the presentation.

The presentation was worth it, though! Brian Selznick is a terrific speaker. He started with a video presentation of a series of art from the book. The art was incredibly beautiful, and the part of the story it told was so sad and moving that I wasn't the only one wiping my eyes at the end. Then he talked about the creation of the book, including spending time in London doing research at the Dennis Severs House, which was an inspiration for the book. He also showed his process of creating the art for the book, starting with tiny thumbnail sketches of each page which he then bound into a tiny book.

After the presentation, we all got copies of The Marvels ARC, which Selznick signed for us. They also gave us a surprise gift: an adorable tiny book of art similar to the one that Selznick had created as a mockup! The Marvels looks like an incredible book, and I look forward to reading it.

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Book Expo America (BEA) is looking for book-related startups to feature at the show this year in Startup Alley.

Sponsored by Sourcebooks and Ingram, twenty startups will be selected to showcase their companies at the show. These emerging companies will compete for the opportunity to be named BEA’s 2015 Most Promising Publishing Startup. Follow this link to apply. Here is more from the press release:

In addition, this year the BEA Startup Challenge will add the People’s Choice Award, selected by the attendees and exhibitors to BEA.  All Startups selected to be included in the event are eligible for prize consideration. A select few will have the opportunity to make their case to the judges at this year’s event.

The judges for the event include: Jordan Bettman, Bain Capital Ventures, Dominique Raccah, CEO of Sourcebooks, Brian Napack, Senior Advisor, Providence Equity, Jason Saltzman, Alley NYC and Ed Klaris, Managing Director, DiSilva+Philips.

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Book Expo America has revealed the authors and books that will be featured on the Editors’ Buzz Forums at this year’s event.

Three separate committees which included booksellers, librarians and other industry professionals selected the titles. It took about two and a half months to come up with the titles.

We’ve got the entire list after the jump.

ADULT EDITORS’ BUZZ ‘15 BEA Adult Editors’ Buzz
Wednesday, May 27
4:15 pm – 5:30 pm
Room 1E12/1E13/1E14BEA Editors’ Buzz Adult Books – Author Stage
Thursday, May 28
10:00 am – 10:45 am
Downtown Stage

Black Man in a White Coat: A Doctor’s Reflections on Race and Medicine by Damon Tweedy
Publisher: Picador
Publication Date: September 1, 2015

City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Publication Date: October 20, 2015

Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh
Publisher: Penguin Press
Publication Date: August 18, 2015

Home is Burning by Dan Marshall
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Publication Date: October 20, 2015

In A Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware
Publisher: Scout Press
Publication Date: August 25, 2015

The Three-Year Swim Club: The Untold Story of Maui’s Ditch Kids and Their Quest for Olympic Glory by Julie Checkoway
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: October 27, 2015 YOUNG ADULT (YA) EDITORS’ BUZZ ‘15 BEA Young Adult Editors’ Buzz
Thursday, May 28
10:00 am – 10:50 am
Room 1E12/1E13BEA Young Adult Editors’ Buzz – Author Stage
Friday, May 29
10:00 am – 10:30 am
Uptown Stage

Dream Things True by Marie Marquardt
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Publication Date: September 1, 2015

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: September 1, 2015

Nightfall by Jake Halpern and Peter Kujawinski
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: October 13, 2015

The Death And Life Of Zebulon Finch, Volume 1: At The Edge Of Empire by Daniel Kraus
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: October 25, 2015

This Raging Light by Estelle Laure
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: January 5, 2016 MIDDLE GRADE EDITORS’ BUZZ ‘15 BEA Middle Grade Editors’ Buzz
Friday, May 29
11:00 am – 11:50 am
Room 1E12/1E13BEA Middle Grade Editors’ Buzz – Author Stage
Friday, May 29
1:00 am – 1:30 am
Uptown Stage

George by Alex Gino
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Publication Date: August 25, 2015

Last in a Long Line of Rebels by Lisa Lewis Tyre
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Publication Date: September 29, 2015

The Doldrums by Nicholas Gannon
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Publication Date: September 29, 2015

The Entirely True Story of the Unbelievable FIB by Adam Shaughnessy
Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers
Publication Date: September 8, 2015

The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: September 15, 2015

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The Lucky Country. That’s Australia. We embrace difference. Celebrate diversity. Stand up for what we believe in. Be ourselves. Show compassion for those in need.   The following picture books, as chosen for the 2014 Speech Pathology Australia Books of the Year shortlist, all share common themes; diversity, friendship and uniqueness.   The Short Giraffe […]

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We Were Liars
E. Lockhart
YA

I had the great pleasure of listening to a panel on which Emily Lockhart spoke at BEA. She is an adroit, strong, well-spoken writer. I was intrigued and decided to end my year of book reviews with one about her latest, We Were Liars.

Lockhart has a style all her own, somewhat reminiscent of Hemingway - parsimonious, yet emotionally sated. Style alone - doing a lot with so few word - is reason enough to read We Were Liars. Plus, there's that whole, it's a "damn fine story" aspect. Is one allowed to curse in book reviews? I wonder. Ah well. This is YA people. Cursing happens.

I very much like Penguin's recap of this book, so I am shamelessly stealing:

A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate,
 political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

Again, parsimonious, almost free verse.

Lockhart builds in a nice, other worldly experience into the book that the book blurb doesn't reference, and of the four friends, three are cousins, but otherwise, the synopsis captures style and story very well.

I've only met one reader so far who didn't pick up on the other worldly experience early in the story. I'm not sure you're not supposed to pick up on it. In fact, I think you're supposed to sense it but not be sure, paralleling the experience of the main character. There are parallels to M. Night Shyamalan's visual work. 

My oldest has to read two novels for the summer for her Fall Sophomore class English. I've pressed this one on her. Think of all of those coming of age stories you had to read - Lord of the Flies, A Separate Peace, Catcher in the Rye - that's where this book belongs, only written in today's vernacular and thus readily accessible to today's youth without becoming weighty. This could also make a great beach read since it happens in summer, at least partly on a beach.

For other great summer treasures, Barrie Summy's website marks the spot for  reads galore. Have a great summer!

  

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BEA!!! Okay, I still haven't come down from my BEA high. This is seriously my favorite event. Why? Because I always get to hang out with really awesome writers and bloggers and publishing people. Man, I love my job.

So, here's a recap of my BEA 2014 experience:

First, check out the awesome Spencer Hill Press signing chart. (Do you see my name?)


And here I am signing The Monster Within ARCs. Photo courtesy of the very awesome Miss Dvora Gelfond.

Fellow horror writer Charles Day stopped by to get an ARC of The Monster Within.


I got really amazing triquetra necklaces for my book, which we raffled off in baskets and during the signing. I don't think I'm ever taking mine off. It's so pretty!
And here's the beautiful Jennifer Allis Provost who made the triquetra necklaces for me because she's that awesome.

Brooke Delvecchio is one of the most adorable people ever. I love her.


Here I am with Richard Shealy, one of my copy editors.

Here I am with Jessica Porteous, Lisa Amowitz, and Elizabeth Langston.

My agency sister, Vicki Merkel, attended my signing. 

Vikki Ciaffone is not my editor at SHP but I love her.

And I got to meet Eliza Tilton in person finally too! And I met J.A. Ward.


I also had a signing as Ashelyn Drake for my upcoming YA contemporary Perfect For You. Swoon Romance was awesome about getting people to stop by my booth to pick up signed postcards and talk about the book. I also had two amazing dancers (Yes, I said dancers.) bringing people in. A special thanks to Dorothy Dryer and Dan Cohen. You two are the best cheerleaders ever! 


After knowing Rachel Harris online for years we got to meet in person!

Okay, and this has nothing to do with my signings or meeting people, BUT… I finally got to see Rick Riordan!!! Thank you to Dan Cohen for making sure I got a picture of Rick this time. 


AND…I got Becca Fitzpatrick's new book! Yay! I'm so excited to read it. I loved the Hush, Hush series. I have to thank Dan Cohen for this one too because he totally snagged me a copy early and I didn't even have to wait in line.

I had to leave early on Saturday because the train schedule changed and we are having work done on our house and had to be home for it. I was sad to go and am already counting the days until BEA 2015!

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I'm here to talk about what BEA is really about. I mean, yeah, the books are great.  And seeing people...blah, blah, blah. But what everyone really wants to know is this: WHO GOT THE COOLEST TOTES?? You thought this was going to be insightful didn't you? I totes love totes!!! Here are a few of my favorites totes that I got this year!  When I saw this tote from

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Saturday morning (May 31, 2014) I woke early with a feeling of joy and excitement. Several hundred miles away from me, a group of eight men and women were in New York City, getting ready for their session at Book Con 2014 (BookCon is part of Book Expo America, BEA for short). The weeks, days, and hours prior to their session were--for me--a roller coaster of highs and lows. I cannot imagine what it was like for them. What follows is the story of We Need Diverse Books as I experienced it. It is my thank you and shout out to a group that sparked a moment and movement that may mark the turning point in the all white world of children's books...

In April, two things happened. BEA announced a panel of blockbuster kidlit writers. That panel was composed of four men and a cat. And, BookCon announced its line-up of authors. This "blindingly white" situation prompted indignation amongst a lot of people. A group was formed. That group is We Need Diverse Books. Their goal was/is to promote books that showcase and promote diversity of content, and diversity of authors that create that content. On May 28th, Aisha Saeed wrote about the upcoming trip to NYC.

I followed the campaign when it was launched in late April, offering help as I could behind-the-scenes, but mostly I used social media to promote the We Need Diverse Books campaign. This is the first graphic the WNDB team released:

Gorgeous, isn't it? The energy radiating from the team was inspiring. With twitter driving it, the campaign took off around the world. Media covered it. The result? BookCon invited the team to do a session in NYC on Saturday morning.

On the 29th (Thursday), I made a graphic with the WNDB logo and location info for their session. I started to tweet it:



On Friday morning (May 30), excitement was building. Ilene Wong of the WNDB team sent this tweet:



My excitement grew when I saw tweets of photos of large displays announcing the location of the WNDB session:



That excitement was tamped down a bit as I read tweets from Cheryl Willis Hudson of Just Us Books. She was walking through the exhibit halls at BEA, looking for books within the diverse framework.  She didn't see much, but did take photos and sent them out. Aren't they terrific? Here's her photo of Because They Marched at the Holiday House booth:



And here's a photo she snapped of Jacqueline Woodson signing books. See what Cheryl said? "Long line" --- cool!


 Here's more photos Cheryl sent out:












As I read tweets from Cheryl and those in the We Need Diverse Books hashtag on twitter, I saw that Cinco Punto Press had tweeted a photo of Tim Tingle's House of Purple Cedar. It was there, on their table, at BEA. I retweeted their photo:



There were to be two other sessions at BEA that focused on diversity. I tweeted info on them, too. One was "Multicultural Publishers in Conversation." Here's that flyer. As you can see, Just Us Books and Cinco Punto Press were scheduled for that conversation on Saturday at 12:45.



Here's the flyer for the third session, "Where Are the People of Color in Children's Books?":



And Jacqueline Woodson snapped a way-cool photo of Matt de la Pena arriving at her house. They were going to head over to the Javits center together.

As 10:00 AM drew near, the #WeNeedDiverseBooks tweets from the conference were growing in number.




I saw that the WNDB team had created swag!


And panelist Grace Lin had a "cheat sheet" handout with ways that booksellers can hand-sell books to consumers who shy away from books by or about people of color (get the pdf from her blog):



I wondered how big the room was but when the first photos of the room (as it filled up) started to come across twitter, I estimated 200 chairs. This photo was taken by Ilene Wong, as she notes, 35 minutes before the panel started.


And...


And of course, people in the audience were taking/tweeting LOTS of photos of the panelists:


The room itself filled up and people were turned away (media reports later said there were 300 people in the room, with people in the aisles and three-deep along the back wall). Meanwhile, in the room, the panelists received a terrific reception from the audience:



Panelists delivered powerful remarks that were tweeted and retweeted. Again and again I wished I was in that room rather than hundreds of miles away. I was glad to see tweets indicating that Matt de la Pena had a few things to say about the shut down of the Mexican American Studies program in Tucson Unified School district. Over and over, I was glad for twitter. The emotion captured in photos was astounding.

An unedited audio of the session is now available at the We Need Diverse Books tumblr. No doubt the panelists and WNDB team was bursting with joy once the session ended. Marieke Nijkamp's tweet captures some of their emotion:



I was especially moved by Mike Jung's tweets as he left the conference:



It was VERY poor planning on the part of BEA to offer WNDB and the "Where are the People of Color" session at the same time. I assume it and the "Multicultural Publishers in Conversation" session were both in the program. 

A curious thing, though, was the floor announcement, as captured in this photo tweeted by Daniel Jose Older (photo taken by Tiffany D. Jackson). See the title for the session? How small it is in comparison to the titles of other sessions? And doesn't it look like it was pasted on there? Why?!



Of course, Daniel's jab ("Diversity is so awesome!!!!) is directed at conference planners, and not diversity itself. I don't know if he made it to the 12:45 session. Cheryl Willis Hudson was there and tweeted some photos. Here's one:



Today (June 2, 2014), several recaps of BEA were loaded online. I especially liked what Lyn Miller Lachmann said in her piece, and what Allie Bruce said in hers. Both are committed to diversity, and their commitment shows in their writing. I loved hearing the voices of Ellen Oh, Lamar Giles, and Jacqueline Woodson in their interview with NPR. Claire Kirch's recap for Publishers Weekly is here. Among the things you'll read is that WNDB is working with the National Education Association, and that Lee and Low is launching a "New Visions Award." The big news? That a book festival is being planned...

A good many people have been pushing for diversity for a very long time. With respect to Native people objecting, I think back to William Apes, a Pequot man who was raised by a white family for a portion of his childhood. He read the books they gave him, and because of what he read, was afraid of Indians! He wrote about that fear as an adult, in his Son of the Forest, published in 1831.

In June of 2014, it feels like some substantial change will take hold because the demographics in the country are shifting dramatically. I am optimistic. And--I look forward to meeting members of the WNDB team in Washington DC in 2016 at a festival of diversity in children's books! The plans are in the works. Till then, AICL stands with We Need Diverse Books. This is a cheesy closure but I'll use it anyway... STAY TUNED.

A special note of thanks to Cheryl Willis Hudson of Just Us Books for all that she shared from BEA.

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Many, many wonderful sessions and signings at BEA this past weekend but the diversity sessions are what mattered most to me. The diveristy sessions were not all listed in the official program and all schedule within an extremely tight time frame (some at the exact same time!)  yet the #WeNeedDiversity session managed to fill the room. Other sessions included “Where are All the Kids of Color” and “Multicultural Publishers in Conversation”. My presence was in spirit and via Twitter. I leave it to  Lyn Miller Lachmann who was there to give a recap.

Both panelists reminded the audience that in our quest to get the major publishers to take on more diverse books, we cannot lose sight of the diverse books that are available today. Nearly half of those books, according to John, are published by small presses. And those small presses need our love. If it turns out that the major corporations don’t respond to the campaign, or if they support it until the “next big thing” comes along, the small presses need to be there, because publishers like Just Us Books and Cinco Puntos Press truly believe in diversity and are in it for the long haul.

Audio of #WeNeedDiverseBooks is here. I’ve not had an opportunity to listen yet, but I will. The panel included  Lamar Giles Mike Jung Matt de la PeñaGrace Lin Jacqueline Woodson Ellen C. Oh Aisha Saeed and Marieke Nijkamp.

 

Follow #WeNeedDiverseBooks on Twitter, Instagram or FB.

I feel like this Monday is a day for looking back and for looking forward: Sankofa.

Filed under: Me Being Me Tagged: #weneeddiversbooks, bea

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I met Philip Gulley at Book Expo.  He is so warm and F(f)riendly. AND I got his new book.  It seems that Sam got "released" from his Friends Meeting in Harmony for standing in for the Unitarian minister for awhile.  I can't wait to read that one.

 I think I will avoid BookCon in the future.  It WAS awesome.  John Green spoke and the crowd waiting for him acted like they were waiting to see the Beatles - except most of them only have a vague notion of who the Beatles were.

Another thing about Book Con that was wonderful was the HUGE number - HUGE! - of younger readers on the floor.  What a great marketing idea!  Give your best now-and-potential customers access to their favorite authors?  Feed the future, publisher-folk.

So, maybe?  I might change my mind about BookCon.  The energy was amazing.   However, the Saturday crowd is always bigger.  The lines to meet authors were extremely long.  And I left my schedule of events on the BUS!!!  I will write my must-see events on my skin next time.

Well, I just remembered that I have MUCH to do today and time is fugit-ing.

Be well.  Read.

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1. BEA  I had a blast at BEA. I'll post pictures on Wednesday. I'm still recovering from traveling and packing up my house for an addition.
2. Construction  Construction began on my house the Saturday of BEA. I came home to find I had no ceiling in my living room. I'll have to leave for a few days when they do the demo since my entire roof is being removed. Wish me luck. It's a crazy mad house over here!
3. Editing  I'm working on a client edit this week and copy edits on my MG novel. 
4. Blurbing  I'm reading a book right now that I have the honor of blurbing. I'm excited, but I only have a few days to read and submit my blurb, so eek!
5. Free Monthly Newsletter  My free monthly newsletter goes out later today. If you aren't signed up to receive it but would like to, click here.

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Anyone training for a marathon should consider three days at BookExpo America for building endurance. By the end of day 2, every muscle and joint in my body aches. But it's so worth it to spend three days surrounded by books and book people.

I spent the first part of the day in meetings with publishers to talk about the Cybils. I had some great conversations with some really interesting people. One of the best things about BEA is having the chance to talk to people who are passionate about books, children's and YA literature.

After that, I had some time to walk the floor. Here are some of the things I saw:

The tenth generation Lassie made an appearance in support of the book, Man’s Best Hero: True Stories of Great American Dogs by Ace Collins.

Lassie poses for his photo shoot

Hot Men of BEA

Author Michelle Knudsen was signing her new YA book, Evil Librarian. Here we are sporting cool devil horns:

I wear devil horns now. Devil horns are cool.

Books I got today that I'm excited to read: Love is a Drug by Alaya Dawn Johnson, Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld, Sky Raiders (Five Kingdoms book 1) by Brandon Mull, House of Purple Cedar by Tim Tingle, The Zoo at the Edge of the World by Eric Kahn Gale, Thursdays with the Crown by Jessica Day George, Evil Librarian by Michelle Knudsen. Thanks to my husband Nick for getting some of these for me!


I also attended two panel sessions. "The Craft Of Writing And World Building" was an interesting session on worldbuilding in fiction, featuring:

• Brandon Mull, Five Kingdoms Series, 
• Scott Westerfeld, Afterworlds, 
• Kiera Cass, The One, 
• Heather Demetrios, Exquisite Captive, 
• Michael Grant, Messenger of Fear

This was a wide-ranging session that covered a lot of ground, but here are a few points:

• All the speakers indicated that in many cases, they are not reaching teens directly, and instead most of their audience is adults. For some, this is a change; Jennifer used to have a lot of teens commenting on her blog, but now most of her audience is adults. But they are reaching passionate people who will help spread the word, so in many cases they're reaching teens more indirectly.
• When you do connect with teens, authentic connections are very important; teens are looking for people to be real.
• Two major themes: community and word of mouth. That hasn't changed, but the way those happen has changed.

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My day started bright and early at 8am, as I attended the Harlequin Teen Blogger Breakfast. I sat next to the friendly bloggers from Bookcrastinators in wonderland, who have the fun tagline, "Why put off until tomorrow what you can read today?" This was their first BEA, and I enjoyed chatting with them. The event was organized like speed dating, as the featured authors and their editors rotated around to each table and talked with us. Authors we met included:

• Alexandra Adornetto, author of Ghost House, who asked us if we believe in ghosts. (For the record, the people at my table do. Alexandra said that the previous table most definitely did not)
• Jennifer L. Armentrout with Stone Cold Touch (The Dark Elements). I haven't read any of her books, sadly, but everyone else there loved her books.
• Julie Kagawa talked about her new book, Talon, which is about dragons who can appear as human. She said she figured that, "If dragons existed today, they wouldn't be sitting in caves guarding treasures, they'd be CEOs of multinational corporations."
• Adi Alsaid with his book, Let's Get Lost, a road trip book told in five parts from different points of view. Adi likes to travel and has been on his own road trips, but he likes to write about places he hasn't been to so that he can use his imagination.
• Robin Talley talked about her book, Lies We Tell Ourselves, which is about school integration in 1959, and the attraction between two girls, one black and one white. Robin was inspired to write it after hearing about her own parents' experiences during that period.

Boba Fett, where?

Will someone get this big walking carpet out of my way?

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Happy Monday! Here's my mishmash of thoughts:

1. BEA!!!!  I'm heading to BEA Thursday morning! Here's my schedule if you're going to be there and want to find me: Thursday-3pm signing at the Spencer Hill Press booth (2567) for The Monster Within. Friday-7:30am author breakfast. Friday-4pm signing at the Swoon Romance (PDZ638) for Perfect For You (writing as Ashelyn Drake).
2. Memorial Day  Happy Memorial Day! We're spending the day packing up our house for an addition that is going to take place right after BEA, weather permitting.
3. The Monster Within Monster Giveaway  Don't forget to enter the MONSTER giveaway for The Monster Within. The giveaway is open until June 17th when The Monster Within releases and you can tweet each day for additional entries. Enter here!
4. Deadlines  I'm trying to meet the last deadline I have before BEA. It's been another crazy month for me with deadlines, but BEA will be a great reward when I'm finished. :)
5. New teaser for The Monster Within  Check out the latest teaser for The Monster Within. This one focuses on Sam and Ethan.

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Once again I'm very happy to participate in this year's ABFFE Silent Auction event at BookExpo America. Here is one of two pieces that I've donated...

I'll be at the auction Wednesday night and will be in NYC for the rest of the week for various events including signing lithos of my upcoming picture book DRUTHERS (more on that later this week).

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Next week is Book Expo America at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City, and I'm super excited to be making the trip up for it. I get to visit with all my New York buddies, plus share my two new books The Troublemaker and Nana in the City at the conference. It's going to be a fun few days!

·Wednesday, May 28th: BEA kicks off with the 20th Annual Children's Book Art Silent Auction 

This is one of my very favorite events of the year! If you're attending BEA (even if you're not, but happen to live nearby) come to the Javits and bid on some great original art to raise money for the ABFFE (click on the link for all the deets). This little guy below (from Nana in the City) is looking to go home with a new friend.

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Allison thought it was crazy enough when she found out her father, Liam, wasn't entirely human. But now she has to join his magical allies to unravel his former mistress's plans. Aoife wants to keep Allison's parents apart forever.
Beautiful, confident Tabby Karim has plans for the winter: nab a role in her school’s dramatic production, make the new boy Michael hers, and keep bigoted Heather—with her relentless Ay-rab comments—at bay. When a teacher’s lie and her father’s hastiness rob her of her beautiful hair, her dreams are dashed. The fastest barber in Miami Beach has made her look practically bald. 

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That's it for me. What's on your mind today?

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I’m super excited to be apart of this years Children’s Book Art Silent Auctions at the BEA this May, 28th! This years auction has a special showcase tribute on everyones beloved storyteller Dr. Seuss.

This 8×8 print which is printed on Premium Giclee Paper is on its way to the ABFFE offices and ready for its new home! If you’re interested in participating in this years auction which supports the fight against book censorship please visit the ABFFE website more information about attending this years showcase. {www.abffe.org}

Excited to see you at the show!

 

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So, yesterday I read this article in PW about Reed Exhibitions' plans for the new BookCon on the last day of BookExpo America (BEA). I posted an off-hand comment on Twitter and Facebook that I was thought the new plan was great. Apparently, my comments weren't clear, and some people are confused and upset by the new plan. "Why is excluding the public a good thing?" I was asked, and that wasn't what I meant at all, and I don't think it's what BEA intended. In fact rather the opposite. BEA is working to include the public and craft a positive experience for them. Since it's difficult to clarify my thoughts in 140 characters, I thought I'd write a blog post.

First, some history: BookExpo America is the largest U.S. conference for the book industry. It started in 1901 as the American Booksellers Association convention, and eventually grew to encompass much more. But it has always been a conference exclusively for the book industry. To attend, you had to be a bookseller, librarian, publisher, publishing service provider, or someone else working in the industry. Attending wasn't cheap, either. Badges can run several hundred dollars, depending on your role. That wasn't not intended to be exclusionary. It was always a conference oriented around the business side of books.

However, since books and authors are a big part of the conference, I think increasingly so in recent years, BEA recognizes that it would also be of interest to passionate book lovers, and in turn, those are people whom publishers exhibiting at BEA would like to reach. So for the last year or two, they've been experimenting with opening the conference to the public.

Last year, that took the form of "Power Reader" day, which provided tickets giving power readers access to the show floor on the last day. I think that Power Reader Day both was and wasn't a success. I think the idea was great, and some publishers took advantage of the opportunity to interact with readers and have special events and giveaways just for the public. For the readers, it provided a chance to meet authors and get autographed books, as well as a peek behind the curtain to see books in advance of publication.

However, the problem was that the BEA show floor is very large, and many exhibitors are not of interest to the public, nor are they interested in interacting with the public. So I saw many power readers wandering around booths with remainders dealers, printers, distributors, app developers, book display manufacturers, and publishing service providers of various types. In addition, some publishers publish books not intended for a general audience, and even some of the ones that do publish general interest books didn't seem interested in interacting with the public. Many exhibitors break down early on the last day, and walking the floor and hearing the tape guns, some starting as early as 11-12:00, I couldn't help but think that if I were a Power Reader, I would have been disappointed to see what looked like a conference winding down, on the only day I could be there.

Thankfully, Reed Exhibitions also recognized this problem, and they made some changes to address it. This year, if I understand correctly, a part of the BEA show floor will be sectioned off as the area for BookCon (replacing Power Readers) attendees. Exhibitors are given a choice whether they want to be in the BookCon area or not. The ones that choose not to be in this area are ones that wouldn't be offering anything to the public anyway: the business to business service providers, the specialized publishers, and those general trade publishers who, for whatever reason, aren't interested in taking part.

So if you attended Power Reader day last year and are worried about the changes, you won't be losing anything! (Disclaimer: I'm not associated with BEA in any way, other than as an attendee for the last 10 years, so I'm just going by what I read in the press and on their website). You'll still have access to a feast of books and authors; it's just that it will all be consolidated into one area, so that you don't have to hunt through aisles and aisles of irrelevant (to you) booths to find the things that interest you.

I think that what's confusing people is on the ticket page it says, "BookCon Tickets do not provide access to BookExpo America (BEA). BEA is a trade only event (not open to the public) and BookCon Tickets do not provide entry into BEA." What I think this means - and again, this is just me interpreting - is that you don't have access to the first two days of BEA, which Power Readers didn't have last year, either, and you don't have access to the area of BEA which is primarily for business to business exhibitors (which most of the public wouldn't be interested in anyway).

This BookCon FAQ addresses a lot of the questions and concerns.

If you haven't attended before and you're within an easy drive of New York City, this is a great opportunity to find out about new books, meet authors, and maybe pick up some freebies. Tickets to the one day BookCon event are only $30 for adults (and teens, apparently) and $5 for children. Ticket information is here.

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I'm not posting a Monday Mishmash because the one thing on my mind is BEA! I don't even know where to start because BEA blew me away. First, I have amazing publishers. Everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) from both houses was absolutely sweet and personable. I'm going to explain things with some photos for you too. :)

I met some really awesome Spencer Hill Press people, like:

Me with Kate Kaynak, owner of Spencer Hill Press Yes, it's blurry, but I swear it's because Kate is so busy she never stands still. ;)

Timothy Miller signing his book Awoken for me!

LM Preston, Lauren Hammond, me, and Lisa Amowitz

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Enter to win $16,000 in prizes! There’s getting published in style and then there’s getting published in a way destined to make every other author in the world jealous.
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Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

Filed under: Contest, earn money, opportunity, Win Tagged: BEA, Book Baby's Sweepstakes, ebook, Print book, self-published book package

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