JacketFlap connects you to the work of more than 200,000 authors, illustrators, publishers and other creators of books for Children and Young Adults. The site is updated daily with information about every book, author, illustrator, and publisher in the children's / young adult book industry. Members include published authors and illustrators, librarians, agents, editors, publicists, booksellers, publishers and fans. Join now (it's free).
Login or Register for free to create your own customized page of blog posts from your favorite blogs. You can also add blogs by clicking the "Add to MyJacketFlap" links next to the blog name in each post.
Blog Posts by Tag
In the past 7 days
Blog Posts by Date
Click days in this calendar to see posts by day or month
Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: kidlitosphere conference, Most Recent at Top [Help]
Results 1 - 25 of 41
How to use this Page
You are viewing the most recent posts tagged with the words: kidlitosphere conference in the JacketFlap blog reader. What is a tag? Think of a tag as a keyword or category label. Tags can both help you find posts on JacketFlap.com as well as provide an easy way for you to "remember" and classify posts for later recall. Try adding a tag yourself by clicking "Add a tag" below a post's header. Scroll down through the list of Recent Posts in the left column and click on a post title that sounds interesting. You can view all posts from a specific blog by clicking the Blog name in the right column, or you can click a 'More Posts from this Blog' link in any individual post.
Hi ho. Time to round-up what Jules and I have been up to over at our Wild Things blog (book promotion for bloggers means more blogging, you see). Here’s the long and short of what you may have missed:
Tra la! It’s coming! The greatest conference of children’s and YA literary bloggers is coming! And Liz Burns not only has the info but also the reason such an event is cool. Quoth she: “What I love about KidLitCon is it’s about the bloggers. Full stop. That is the primary purpose and mission of KidLitCon. It’s about what the bloggers care about. Oh, there may be authors and publishers there, presenting, and that can be great and amazing. But it’s not about them. They are there to support the blogging community: they are not there saying, what can the blogging community do for us.” Amen, sister. Preach! By the way, the theme this year is Blogging Diversity in Young Adult and Children’s Lit: What’s Next? Be there or be square.
So there’s a new Children’s Book Review Editor at the New York Times and by some strange quirk of fate her name is NOT alliterative (note Julie Just, Pamela Paul, and Sarah Smith). Her name? Maria Russo. Which pretty much means I’ll be tracking her like a bloodhound at the next Eric Carle Honors event. Trouble is, we don’t wear nametags at that event so I’ll probably be the crazy lady grabbing all the women, staring intently into their eyes. Wouldn’t be the first time.
The 10 Children’s Book Series That Deserve TV Adaptations list at Flavorwire is perfectly nice, but you can actually pinpoint the age of its writer. Which is to say, she’s my little sister’s age. Not a new series of children’s books as far as the eye can see.
I blame Saving Mr. Banks. One little children’s writer biopic comes out where the writer isn’t seen as all kittens and sunshine (I still loathe you Miss Potter and Finding Neverland) and all hell breaks loose. Now we hear that McG is going to do a Shel Silverstein biopic on the one hand and that there are plans to examine the relationship between C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien on the other. I’m just counting the minutes until someone tackles Margaret Wise Brown or the whole Anne-Carroll-Moore-didn’t-like-Stuart-Little story (which you just KNOW is in the works somewhere).
Speaking of films, when I heard that Alan Snow’s delightful Here Be Monsters was being turned into a film called The Boxtrolls I was incredulous. That book? The one I couldn’t get kids to even look at until they made a blue paperback version? I mean I liked it (it came out in a year when sentient cheese was all the rage in children’s literature) but how long was this film in production for crying out loud? Doesn’t matter because according to iO9 it’s brilliant. Good to know.
So Phil Nel, our ever intrepid professor with a hankering for children’s literature, went to ComicCon. Best of all, he’s willing to report his findings to us (so that we don’t have to go!). Read up on Part 1, Part 2 (my favorite for the cameo of Bananaman), Part 3, and Part 4. Phil was there promoting his Barnaby books (which he co-edited with Eric Reynolds). These include Barnaby Volume One: 1942-1943 (2013) and Barnaby Volume Two: 1944-1945 (2014).
Two Little Free Libraries have sprung up near my home across the street from the Harlem branch of NYPL. I couldn’t be more pleased because they mean just one thing to me . . . a place to give away my books!!! Culling books is terribly enjoyable. It’s also part of BookRiot’s incredibly useful post 8 Tips for Moving When You Have a Ton of Books.
Many thanks to this year’s Registration Coordinator, Maureen Kearney from Confessions of a Bibliovore for creating the registration form, and managing the registration process.
If you blog about children's and/or young adult books, or you write children's or young adult books, or you just care about getting the right books into the hands of kids, KidLitCon is the place for you. KidLitCon is a small conference, not at all intimidating, and a perfect place to meet (or catch up with) friends who share a common interest. This year's KidLitCon is in Sacramento, California on October 10th and 11th. You can find more information about KidLitCon here. There's also still plenty of time to submit a session proposal. Contact program coordinator Charlotte Taylor from Charlotte's Library if you have questions.
KidLitCon 2014. Sacramento, CA. October 10-11. It's going to be an amazing time! I hope to see you all there. Register now!
Giving birth! All the kids are doing it these days. And you know what giving birth means, right? It means having a little extra time to blog and get my non-work related projects done. Though, naturally, I wrote 50% of this post a day ago and then must have failed to save the darn thing. *sigh* C’est la vie, kids.
I was called upon recently to speak with a writer from the National Endowment for the Arts. The topic? Why Children’s Books Matter. Done in conjunction with Leonard Marcus’s exhibit at the main branch of NYPL I answer all sorts of questions. Mind you, it was a oral interview so I wasn’t able to parse my own speech. Read it and you’ll get a real sense of what it sounds like to talk to me (weirdo grammar and all).
Let’s talk exhibits again. This time, those in Chicago. Particularly those in Chicago involving Edward Gorey. You lucky midwesterners. Thanks to Mr. Schu for the link.
And going back to the topic of NYPL, I recently interviewed middle grade author Claire LeGrand. Claire is the organizing genius behind the upcoming Kids Authors Carnival happening this month on the 31st. Talking with me, she answered some of my questions about the carnival, the authors who will be there, and where the idea came from in the first place.
Summer Reading is coming up. Want a reading list for your kids? ALSC came up with this one and it’s rather nice.
Hat tip to Travis Jonker for the hat tip to my book (co-written with Jules Danielson and Peter Sieruta). It’s coming out in August fer sure, fer sure, and Travis included it in his 10 to Note Summer Preview 2014. Thank you, man!!
Oh, I rather love this. 25 Movie Cameos by the Authors of the Original Books. Because there are children’s book adaptations included that I never knew about. Michael Morpurgo? Louis Sachar? They forgot Wendy Orr in Nim’s Island, Brian Selznick in Hugo, and David Levithan and Rachel Cohn in Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist but no one’s perfect. Love the snarky comment about Stephenie Meyer, by the way. Thanks to Cynthia Leitich Smith for the link.
Woo-hoo! The next Kidlitosphere Conference (the greatest, biggest, best conference of children’s & YA literature bloggers) is nigh. Nigh, I sez, nigh! The focus is on diversity, the location is Sacramento and the guests include everyone from Shannon Hale to Mitali Perkins. Don’t miss it.
New Podcast Alert: Little, Brown & Company’s School & Library division has their own podcast channel? Well, who the heck knew? Not I, said the fly. And then there’s the podcast Dear Book Nerd which appears to have some connection to the great and grand Brooklyn children’s librarian Rita Meade. I am so out of it.
Kids aren’t reading! No way, no how, not happening. Unless of course they are. Common Sense Media recently decided that kids weren’t reading anymore and they went and made a huge deal about it. Two alternate takes on the study are worth noting. The first is from Forbes. The second, from Liz Burns. And quite frankly, I probably don’t have to tell you that it’s Liz’s take that I prefer.
Nothing I love more than a new children’s book prize. Particularly when I get to help to narrow down the contenders. The New York Historical Society was looking for great books of American history, either fiction or nonfiction for kids. The winner? The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine. She gets a $10,000 prize and is the inaugural winner. Check out the other finalists here and an interview with Kristin about the book here.
The big news last week, aside from the birth of my baby Bird, was the Rush Limbaugh win at the Children’s Book Choice Awards. It wasn’t a surprise but it did make for some good think pieces. And Travis Jonker, bless his soul, rounded them up for you. Amusingly, I had to miss the banquet because of back pain. Had I attended I not only would have gotten to see that particular person give a speech but there was a fire scare that made everyone go outside. Methinks this was not the worst year to miss.
Wait just a minute there . . . there’s a children’s literature conference in Hawaii and I’m only NOW hearing about it? Man! Now there’s a place I’d love to speak. Pity I’d have to win a Newbery Honor to do it.
Daily Image:
It was St. Martin’s Press that advertised this one originally. I don’t know where they got it, but it’s such a brilliant display that I just had to share it with you. Libraries and other bookstores take note (and copy at will!).
7 Comments on Fusenews: “What’s the matter with kids today?” – with apologies to Bye, Bye, Birdie, last added: 5/22/2014
Dear Elizabeth,
First, Congratulations on your the birth of your little boy! I have a little boy who is now 11. (Remember how you helped me find the Three Investigator series?) I wish you so much happiness!!! Second, thanks for all the great sites to check out today! And, I love that display! Too funny!
Stephanie Whelan said, on 5/21/2014 6:24:00 AM
I have to make it to that Jefferson Market event! It looks amazing!
Stephanie Whelan said, on 5/21/2014 6:25:00 AM
Congrats on the new baby Bird by the way!
Tara said, on 5/21/2014 4:44:00 PM
The fantastic photo of “It’s Blue” is from the Amazing Houston Indie Booksellers at Blue Willow Bookshop. As a former employee and current librarian I’ve answered that question many a time!!
Diandra Mae said, on 5/21/2014 6:37:00 PM
The photo of the Blue display that went viral is from Blue Willow Bookshop here in Houston. They are fantastic! http://www.bluewillowbookshop.com/. And congrats again on the newest Bird to your little flock!
Elizabeth Bird said, on 5/21/2014 7:18:00 PM
Well that just makes perfect sense. Thank you Tara and Diandra for the clarification!
Amy Sears said, on 5/22/2014 9:09:00 AM
I saw that Lions of Little Rock had gotten the NY Historical Society award and was thrilled. I really liked that book and like the new cover a lot.
Oh, you lucky bugs. Do you know what today is? Today is the first day of Kidlitcon and for those of you still interested in joining (and who wouldn’t be?) you have a last minute chance to be a part of the fun. Always assuming you’re in the Austin area, of course, but I bet that LOTS of you are located in that general vicinity. As you’ll recall, last year Kidlitcon was held in New York City and we did very well indeed with the vast hoards of people. This year it’s a slightly smaller affair, but no less fascinating and fun. Full details can be found here but don’t worry if you’ve missed the opening ceremonies. The bulk of the action is on Saturday anyway, so you’ve still time to join. So go! Shoo! Why waste your time here?
I don’t know about you but typically I go through blog reading binges. I ignore my favorites for long periods of time and then I consume weeks’ worth of material in a single sitting. I did this recently with the beloved Crooked House. First, I enjoyed the fact that she highlighted the book How to Do Nothing With Nobody All Alone By Yourself (notable, if nothing else, for the Lemony Snicket quote which reads, “Every great book reminds us that we are all alone in the world. At least this one provides us with the means to entertain ourselves while we’re here.”) The second post that caught my eye was a transcribed selection from The Mermaid of Brooklyn which I perhaps enjoyed too much. Too too much.
Now some graphic novel news. There are two horns worth tooting today. First, there is the fact that I’m on ALSC’s Quicklists Consulting Committee and we recently came up with a newly revised Graphic Novels Reading List, broken down not just by age levels but by whether or not they’re black and white or color. In related news, kudos to the folks at Good Comics for Kids as well as Snow Wildsmith and Scott Robins for their A Parent’s Guide to the Best Kids’ Comics: Choosing Titles Your Children Will Love. The SLJ blog and the useful book were both mentioned on the most recent episode of the popular NPR podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour. The episode Making Toddlers Into Nerds is a bit of a misnomer and they do a lamentable job of mentioning any children’s literature that isn’t either 50 years old or part of a huge series, but at least they get the graphic novels piece right.
Questions I never thought to ask until Marjorie Ingall made me: Why do chickens play an outsized role in Jewish children’s picture books? The answer may surprise you. Or, at the very least, you’ll be impressed with the amount of thought Marjorie has put into this subject.
This is a good one. Always at the forefront of the diversity issues, Lee and Low recently put on their blog the post Literary Agents Discuss the Diversity Gap in Publishing. The agents in question are Adriana Domínguez, Karen Grencik, Abigail Samoun, and Lori Nowicki. Much of what they’re saying echoes things we’ve heard from editors over the past few years. Check it out.
I received this message recently and figured you’d want to know about it. Ahem.
I just wanted to let you know that ABFFE’s 2013 holiday auction will take place on eBay from November 26 through December 2nd. Please let your colleagues and friends know that this is the best place to buy holiday gifts! More than 50 leading artists and illustrators contributed to last year’s auction and we are hoping for even more art this year. Once the auction is live, you will be able to access it from a link on www.abffe.org.
Me stuff. Recently I was lucky enough to serve on the New York Times Best Illustrated judging committee for this year’s books. If you haven’t seen the results I came up with alongside Brian Selznick and Steve Heller you have two choices. You could look at the fancy dancy NY Times slideshow of the winners here OR you could go on over to 100 Scope Notes and check out Travis Jonker’s truly lovely round-up with book jackets and everything here.
Just as I collect children’s literary statues from around the States (I’m STILL updating that post, people, so don’t worry if your favorites haven’t made it yet) I also like to keep tabs on museums of famous children’s authors and illustrators. You have your Eric Carle Museum, your Edward Gorey Museum, and apparently you also have a Tasha Tudor Museum. Or, at least, you will when it finds a new host.
You may or may not have heard about the SpotLit list, created by Scholastic Book Group with the help of scholars, teachers, librarians, and other specialists in the field. Well, two awesome infographics have been created to show off some of the facts behind it. I like them partly because they’re infographics and partly because in the group picture it looks like I’m snuggling up to Harry Potter while Hedwig swoops down mere moments before removing my cranium. This list discusses what the committee looked like and this list discusses what the books on the list consist of.
When a new library branch reopens in my city I don’t always report on the fact, but this recent article about the reopened Coney Island Branch is the exception to the rule. The place looks precisely how you’d want a Coney Island branch to look. Granted there aren’t any half naked mermaids or rides in the library, but those photographs on the walls are worth the price of admission alone.
Jon Klassen’s right. Interviews with the great illustrator Arnold Lobel are few and far between. When you can find one, you post it. And that’s just what he did. Thank you, Jon.
Turns out, there are LOTS of children’s literature conspiracy theories out there that I never even knew about. A hat tip then to Listverse for rounding them up for us. Clearly the Dodgson is my favorite. Thanks to AL Direct for the link.
Hat tip to Travis Jonker. Without him I would have never known that there are TWO children’s literature podcasts out there that had escaped my attention. I need to upgrade the old sidebar on this blog, do I not?
And in the world of grants n’ such:
Greetings! There’s still time to apply for the ALSC Candlewick Press Light the Way grant. The deadline is December 1, 2013. This is a great funding opportunity if you have a project or program related to library service to children in special populations. The application is at this link: http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/profawards/candlewicklighttheway
Daily Image:
Today’s image may be classified as Best Fan Art Ever, or something along those lines. How many of you are familiar with Helen Frost’s lovely middle grade Diamond Willow? Well, it came out in 2008 or so but its fans continue to find it. Case in point, this young woman who, with her Chinook pet dog, reenacted the cover. Compare and contrast:
Original:
Fan Made:
Utterly adorable. Many thanks to Helen for sharing this with me
6 Comments on Fusenews: Why You Should Go to Kidlitcon (and other interesting facts), last added: 11/10/2013
melanie hope greenberg said, on 11/8/2013 8:06:00 AM
I thought the NY Times list was a breath of fresh air. Women illustrators (more than one), new timers, great timers, ethnic timers and non-fiction. Woo hoo! Buh-bye status quo. Bravo!
Hey, I thought I was the mermaid of Brooklyn! (running out of the comment box for fear of my mermaid loving friends –mobs of them – who think they own that title).
Elizabeth Bird said, on 11/8/2013 9:14:00 AM
It helps a great deal! I switched out the link for your own. Hopefully it’ll work now. Thanks for this!
Jerry Craft said, on 11/8/2013 10:37:00 AM
Hey Elizabeth,
Great blog. Thank for all the info. I read the Lee and Low blog last week and have been depressed ever since. It captures both why I love writing and illustrating children’s books, as well as the part that makes me want to give it up and get a job at Wal-Mart.
Jerry Craft
Author / Illustrator / Future Wal-Mart greeter
Carol Hampton Rasco said, on 11/10/2013 12:39:00 PM
Thank you, thank you as always, Betsy, for a great post, so many valuable nuggets of information!
JMyers said, on 11/10/2013 2:38:00 PM
Great set of items, this Sunday — but please. however momentarily tempting it may seem, do not let Hedwig remove your cranium, especially with winter coming on!
My standards are pretty low when it comes to conferences. Essentially if ursine consumption does not occur, I consider the day a success. Fortunately there are other ways of defining success, and though I was the organizer and therefore not wholly without my own prejudices, everything went well. Amazingly, surprisingly, some might say shockingly, well.
In truth, my personal insanity began on Friday. Monica Edinger of Educating Alice went above and beyond the call of duty by pretty much single-handedly organizing a preconference wherein interested attendees could go to the publisher previews we New Yorkers are normally privy to. Under her sure hand Simon & Schuster, Penguin, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Harper Collins, Little, Brown, Macmillan, and Holiday House all conducted previews for the lucky attendees. That left the dinner that night. Traditionally (and this is only the 6th conference so traditions are sort of flexible on this point) there is a big dinner for the attendees. Normally, when the conference is held at a hotel, this dinner is a standard hotel dinner after the con has occurred. This time around we decided to make it a Friday dinner in the swank Japanese buffet restaurant IchiUmi. Then Little, Brown and Co. gave me an offer I couldn’t refuse. Would I like a special guest? Someone like Grace Lin, one of the very few award winning authors out there who actually blogs? Um. . . . yes, please? The kicker is that she and her family came up for the SOLE REASON of speaking at our dinner. Not only that, Little, Brown sponsored everyone’s dessert. Them’s class. All I had to do was make sure there was an AV set-up.
Fun Fact: If you want to have an event with an AV set-up ALWAYS choose a location that has a private room that doubles as a karaoke spot. Seriously, it’s the way to go. The staff will know how to connect the laptop and make the microphones work. The more you know.
Ms. Lin arrived with husband, world’s most adorable baby, agent, editor, and marketing guru in tow. How good was she? Darling, I had STAFF members of the restaurant coming up to me afterwards desperate to buy her book Starry River of the Sky (which Bank Street Bookstore was kind enough to offer for sale). The manager of the restaurant herself informed me that she wanted the name of that book and author and that if I ever wanted to do another event there they’d be happy to help me out. So we made friends. We also had a good room of folks who enjoyed the company and the food, which consisted of more edibles than I’ve ever been privy to in my entire life. Buffets RULE!
That was Friday. It was, all told, the pregame before the finals that would be the conference itself.
Now when you are organizing an event that will ultimately allow some 175 people to enter your doors, tough decisions need to be made. Actually only one really tough decision is up to you: Do you feed them? And when you have made your conference free the answer is a resounding “Nope”. I wasn’t going to feed anyone. Not even cheap bagels. Not even tiny bottles of cold, clear water. So would they hate me for it? We’d see . . .
The doors opened to everyone at 10 but I was in the building by 7:30 a.m. to get everything set-up on time. Volunteers who should be praised nigh unto the high hills were present and accounted for. Programs were available (anyone who wants a PDF of the program may contact me and I’ll pass it along). Swag was spread out, notebooks stacked, pens available. Here were the awesome Chronicle bags they sent along:
Gorgeous. And Mark Steensland was seven kinds of clever when he offered free notebooks that also happened to have his middle grade novel Behind the Bookcase on their covers.
We also set up an area for promotion:
And another area for people to trade galleys they’d received. This cart was full, then looked like this, then was empty 3 seconds later. I put out a second galley cart for the folks just to make them happy. I mean, they loved these books!
Finally, every single computer in the six rooms that would be hosting the conference was set-up and prepped. That’s right, folks. I had to make sure the AV would work without a hitch in SIX friggin’ library rooms.
Small downside to being a mammoth marble structure – you are a mammoth marble structure. Say what you will about the main branch of NYPL, it is impressive. Massive and impressive. And sad to say, sometimes incredibly difficult to navigate. I had managed to get rooms on three different floors, one on the opposite side of the library in a hard-to-get-to location. That means much of my time was spent herding attendees from one area to another. Sure, they had maps in their programs, but trust me when I say that when you are standing on the second floor of a building that threatens to overwhelm you with its grandeur, teensy tiny maps don’t quite cut it.
One final problem: Here we had a blogger conference but the very auditorium, which would remain our base of operations, hadn’t any cell phone reception! As Rocco Staino tweeted so eloquently, “I will be tweeting from #KidLitCon today that is If the walls of @NYPL will let me. The building is grand but also a #Bombshelter.” Fortunately, it did have Wi-Fi and folks would definitely use it. You can tell when you go online and see all the comments under our hashtag #kidlitcon12.
At any rate, I am pleased to report that at 10:30 on the nose everything began. Our 175 attendees looked more like 150 which, let us face it, ain’t no small potatoes. I had spent the better part of the previous day arranging everyone’s schedules and printing them out for them. I was therefore eager to set them on my way. So I gave an opening speech that delved a tiny bit on our history and scope. Truth be told, they weren’t there to see me so I cut myself short, explained to them how the day was going to go, and then shooed them off to their various locations.
From 11:00-11:45 there were four parallel sessions:
#1 – In the Children’s Center on the friggin’ other end of the library (two full city blocks away) was Sheila Ruth (Wands and Worlds) presenting the talk Who’s In Charge? The description of the event described it as a presentation that, “will help anyone who is using social media for professional reasons to take charge and manage it in an effective way. Participants will learn to create a strategic plan by answering the questions what, where, when, and how, and learn about technology tools that can reduce the amount of time and effort needed for social media management.”
Sheila was in a room that had to do battle with the sounds of the Children’s Center across the wall, which she did admirably and very well. She had no mic but commanded her audience. Folks were quite pleased with the results.
#2 – In the South Court Classrooms A & B (which are easy to get to since they were directly above the auditorium) was the very Goddess of YA herself, Teri S. Lesesne. Her talk was Don’t be a Twitt! Building a PLN Using Social Networks. Said her description, “Twitter and FaceBook and Pinterest and other social networks can be the place to begin developing a Personal Learning Network (PLN). How do we begin? What are the steps in bringing disparate people and sites into a cohesive whole? These and other questions will be tackled during the session.” I sat in on Teri for a little while because I was beginning to get a bit tired and she was well and in her element. I wish I’d seen more.
#3 – The lucky people presenting in the South Court Auditorium didn’t even have to move after the opening words. Sheela Chari, Sayantani Dasgupta, and Michelle Schusterman (From the Mixed-Up Files…of Middle Grade Authors) had an ambitious program called Community-Building On and Off the Blog: Secrets, Tips, and Cautionary Tales. Essentially the three shared their success stories and cautionary tales for building and sustaining communities, based on what has worked on their blog for the past two years, including book, Skype and other giveaways, special interviews and industry spotlights, news bars, twitter chats, and real-life meet-ups. It was the Skype element that was a killer since they attempted to use it in the aforementioned bomb shelter that is the auditorium and were duly thwarted. Fortunately they were well prepared for this eventuality and sallied on, undeterred.
#4 – Finally, the scariest room of all. Room 207. Not scary for the presenters so much (though it might have been a bit daunting to find) but scary for me. This was a room straight out of a James Bond villain’s lair. I had to make the AV work and it was hugely intimidating. Therefore I would like to give copious thanks to Marcia Lerner. While I left her in that room earlier that morning, she managed to single-handedly figure out how to make all the screens and computers work using my half-assed scribbled notes. By the time Janna Morishima, Dorothy O’Brien and Alex Simmons came in to present their panel discussion Reviewing Comics and Graphic Novels for Kids (which was a HUGE hit) everything was humming along like a dream. The three experts covered all the big GN questions like, “Can they be reviewed by the same criteria as traditional novels or collections? How should a reviewer treat ongoing storylines? How important are the visual elements, and how can one fairly compare graphic vs. traditional versions of the same book?” According to my spies in the field, it was an unqualified success.
Then, from 12:00 – 12:45 you guessed it. More simultaneous panels!
#1 – The aforementioned saving-Betsy’s-butt speaker Marcia Lerner of The Diamond in the Window and her talk Inspiring Reader Response. In essence it was a presentation that aimed to give bloggers tools to strengthen conversation with their readers. One of our more popular sessions, I had to work double time to get everyone to Ms. Lerner’s room on time.
#2 – Meanwhile, back down in the South Court Auditorium we had Kelly Jensen & Nova Ren Suma (STACKED / Distraction 99) and their talk Getting Series-ous: How Blog Series Can Engage, Inspire, and Grow Your Audience. I was keen on this one since the description said that it was about developing a successful blog series and hopes to inspire others to explore series posts as a means of widening their own blog content. Said they, “The experiences of an author and a blogger will provide insight from two different sides of the kidlit blogosphere while also showcasing how authors and bloggers can work with and benefit one another through a blog series.” A smart pairing.
#3 – In Classrooms A & B Jess Ferro (Alice in Baker Street) proved to have one of the few programs I had to turn people away from, so popular it was. In Oh, You Mean the Caterpillar Guy?: Viewing Illustration as High Art and Using Visual Literacy Methods to Enhance Our Evaluation of It, Jess discussed “ways in which we can help view illustration in children’s books as high art.” Such a good idea for a talk.
#4 – Finally, in the Children’s Center where he’d have room to speak at length, Greg Pincus (GottaBook) was one of the few bloggers I reached out to and actually asked to speak at KidLitCon. He was my ringer. I’ve seen Greg do his talks before and he’s always worth watching. I was particularly taken with his discussion topic, Avoiding the Echo Chamber: Bringing the World of Children’s Literature to the World. As he said in the talk’s description, “All of us in the blogosphere (and in the business of children’s books, whether as author or illustrator or as publisher or reviewer) can work to spread the joy of children’s literature wider.” Great feedback on this talk.
At lunchtime, which happened from 1-2, I discovered that the ‘wichcraft sandwich area of the library had chocolate cupcakes. I have NEVER seen a ‘wichcraft with chocolate cupcakes before. Needless to say, that was lunch.
When everyone reconvened at 2:15 I had planned that we make everyone attend the obligatory talk How Nice is Too Nice?: Critical Book Reviewing in the Age of Twitter. It was held in the South Court Auditorium and most glorious of all, I didn’t have to moderate it. I spoke on it, but I didn’t moderate. That honor fell to pro-moderator Jennifer Hubert-Swan (Reading Rants and another ringer) who perfectly bounced the conversation between author Maureen Johnson, myself, Liz Burns (A Chair, a Fireplace and a Tea Cozy), Monica Edinger (Educating Alice), Sheila Barry (from Groundwood Books), and Marjorie Ingall (Tablet Magazine, amongst other cool things).
The conversation was hopping but I’ll rely on the attendees to say precisely why (I heard tappity tapping during our talk so someone somewhere was typing it up). Suffice to say, there were some really good points made about who reviews are for, inappropriate times authors (or their families) would contact a blog reviewer, our role, the state of blog reviewing today, and how awesome bookshelves of doom is (shout outs were made to The Book Smugglers, Pink Me, and a couple other blogs unafraid to critique fairly). It was a huge amount of fun. I wish I sat in on panels more often. We could have gone on for hours.
Then the last sessions began from 3:30 – 4:15:
#1 Also in the South Court Auditorium we had Karen Halpenny, VP of Women in Children’s Media, with what turned out to be the most highly attended session in the conference, if you don’t count the ones where there wasn’t any competition. Her topic was The Changing Relationship Between Reader and Writer and to help her with this topic she brought in the authors Gayle Forman, Michael Northrop, Alyssa Sheinmel, and Adele Griffin. It was just a really good second part to the panel discussion that had come before.
#2 – Meanwhile in Room 207 presenter and author/illustrator Melanie Hope Greenberg (Mermaids on Parade) handled our up-and-coming author/illustrators with THUMBS UP! PLUMP UP YOUR PLATFORM and MAXIMIZE YOUR MARKETING. The gist was to help folks, “Become your own best publicity director (even if you already have one).” It’s always good to cater to the author/illustrators that show up for KidLitCon and have something for them too.
#3 – Finally, in Room 219 presenter Diane Estrella (That’s What I’m Here For…) packed the room with her hugely attended The Benefits of Blogging. With this description it was perfect for many of our newbie attendees: “Whether you are a long time blogger or thinking about dipping your toe into the blogosphere for the first time, this presentation will provide advice for ways to get started along with how to grow the site you already have.”
Finally, the day ended with our Keynote Speech. I know that in a lot of conferences you begin with the Keynote but it seemed to me necessary to reward the folks who had stayed the whole day. Plus, you can kind of guarantee folks staying that way. The speech was to be delivered by the illustrious YA author Maureen Johnson. Deciding on her was a no-brainer. I’d seen her give a talk at a Book Expo blogger con a few years ago (a con that maddeningly kept referring to itself as “the first” book blogger convention, consarn it). She was witty, urbane, and it was clear as crystal that she’d fit the bill. So I hired her and Penguin, her publisher, went above and beyond the call of duty sending every attendee a paperback edition of The Name of the Star. Wow!
I stole that photo from Maureen’s Twitter feed. This one too. She tweeted that these were her notes for her program:
You understand now why I tapped her to be my speaker, yes?
Before she went on, Maureen pulled me aside. She had a crazy notion. What if her keynote was less podium talky talk and more of a conversation? Say, with fellow YA author Robin Wasserman whom she had called half an hour ago and was on her way? Suits me. Part of the reason I like KidLitCon so much is that we’re an infinitely flexible group. You want to do a conversation with a kind of devil’s advocate of a friend on a stage? Dude, go for it. So it was that Ms. Wasserman and Ms. Johnson took some seats and discussed not just blogging and reviewing but the publishing industry itself. There was a lot of backing and forthing with the audience as well. Sadly, I had to keep her time limited, and even then I gave her an extra 15 minutes when I saw how well it was going.
Due to the fact that when the library closes it CLOSES, we had our final remarks, I told everyone where to find KidLit Drink Night afterwards (one of my favorite locations for the event, The Houndstooth) and that was that!
Once I have gathered my thoughts and my brain cells into one spot, I will update the Kidlitosphere Central page to reflect all the attendees and their blogs (I’ve already started). If you blogged about the day send me the link and I’ll add it to the page.
Big thanks to everyone who attended, everyone who helped, and just everyone in general.
THANK YOU so much, Betsy, for all your hard work! It was a truly lovely conference.
MotherReader said, on 10/1/2012 8:11:00 AM
Hold it. The set-up in the back room was for karaoke? You are very lucky no one told me that.
Fantastic job with the KidLitCon! You really captured the essence of New York with the publisher previews, the hip restaurant, the noisy-fun KidLit Drink Night, and the impressive NY public library itself. And of course you you YOU!
Thanks for all of your work in putting this on!
Sondy said, on 10/1/2012 9:56:00 AM
You put together an awesome conference, Betsy! THANK YOU!
Eh…I gave a brief talk at S&S for this but now I wish I went! Next time…
Leila said, on 10/1/2012 11:19:00 AM
Betsy, it was SO. MUCH. FUN.
Thank you, times a zillion, for all of your work.
Allison said, on 10/1/2012 11:33:00 AM
Oh, swoon. Sounds like an AMAZING conference! I went to last year’s KidLitCon in Seattle, and wish I could have been in NY this year. I love that Little, Brown brought you Grace Lin for your Friday night dinner! And Maureen Johnson’s keynote must have been fantastic. Sigh! Thank you for the excellent recap, and congrats on putting on such an awesome conference!
Leigh said, on 10/1/2012 3:35:00 PM
What a great conference! I am so glad I was able to attend.
melanie hope greenberg said, on 10/1/2012 4:03:00 PM
Great day. The swag notebook also had a secret note inside taped to the first page. Betsy is the Best Bets for now and always! Throwing mermaid pearls and sea blossom petals to the organizers and to all. Met incredible people and learned a lot, too! Thanks again!
Amy said, on 10/1/2012 9:45:00 PM
Thank you for organizing the conference, Betsy! This was my first time attending KidLitCon, and I thought you and the others involved did an excellent job. Listening to Grace Lin speak was one of the highlights for me. I also enjoyed the thought-provoking panel about posts v. critical reviews, the delicious dinner at IchiUmi and opportunities to meet and talk with some inspiring children’s librarians.
Kidlit Conference 2012 said, on 10/2/2012 2:01:00 AM
Well. It’s finally happened. We are ready to show you the wonders of New York City the only way we know how. Yes folks, it is time to register for KidLitCon 2012!
The sixth annual KidLitCon will be held in the heart of New York City on September 28th and 29th, 2012 at the main branch of New York Public Library, the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building.
In the same vein as last year’s con we are expanding the conference into two days with a special “pre-conference” on Friday. Friday events will include special visits to the publishers of New York City with blogger previews of their upcoming seasons. Publishers will be assigned on a random basis to all attendees. The final list of publishers is currently being hammered out.
Registration will max out at 175 attendees.
The Money:
Before September 21st:
$35 Pre-Conference without dinner
$100 Saturday Conference
$55 Pre-Conference with dinner
$50 Friday dinner (extra diner or only)
Please note that there will be no Saturday dinner. However, we are working on a Kidlit Drink Night here in town for that very evening. Information to come.
The last day to register is September 21st.
The Pre-con: Includes a dinner.
Conference Day: Lunch.
If space is still available, onsite registration will be possible for $80. Pre-con price remains the same.
Attendees looking to share hotels with other attendees may indicate this fact on the registration page. We will attempt to link you with someone who may also wish to share a room. You may find a list of Midtown Manhattan Hotels here.
The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building is located between 40th and 42nd Street, directly facing 5th Avenue. A map and directions to the library can be found here.
That’s right, folks! We are now accepting proposals for presentations at KidLitCon 2012!
We are looking for 50 minute presentations, panels, and keynotes that will appeal to and edify Kidlitosphere bloggers. Our goal is to provide a balanced selection for a wide range of interests and include, but are not limited to, topics of diversity, reviewing critically, evaluating illustrations, social media, marketing, and technology, and industry relationships.
Proposals are due by August 15, 2012, so be sure to get your ideas in soon!
We’ll only be accepting proposals submitted in the form found here.
Meanwhile, if you have any questions at all you can email them to me at [email protected].
The 6th Annual KidLitCon will be happening September 28-29, 2012 in New York, NY. Registration for the conference will open on Monday, July 30th.
0 Comments on KidlitCon 2012: A Call for Submissions as of 1/1/1900
SLJ represent! Though I could not attend this year’s KidLitCon (the annual conference of children’s and YA bloggers) many others did and they have all posted links to their recaps of the event here. So while I could not be present, fellow SLJ blogger Liz Burns of Tea Cozy showed up and has a fabulous encapsulation of that which went on. Lest you label me a lazy lou, I did at least participate in a presentation on apps. Yes, doing my best Max Headroom imitation (ask you parents, kids) I joined Mary Ann Scheuer and pink haired Paula Wiley. It went, oddly enough, off without a hitch. Attendees may have noticed my gigantic floating head (we Skyped) would occasionally dip down so that I seemed to be doing my best Kilroy imitation. This was because the talk happened during my lunch and I wanted to nosh on some surreptitious grapes as it occurred. You may read Mary Ann’s recap here and Paula’s here, lest you fail to believe a single word I say.
Speaking of Penderwicks, the discussions fly fast and fierce over at Heavy Medal. To my infinite delight, both Jonathan AND Nina are Penderwick fans. Wow! For the record, I agree with their thoughts on Amelia Lost as well. That book has a better chance at something Newberyish than any other nonfiction this year. This could well be The Year of Amelias (Jenni Holm has an Amelia book of her own, after all).
Heads up, America! According to an article in The Guardian, “The debt-laden businesses behind some of the biggest names in childrens’ TV and books are selling off some of the nation’s best-loved characters.” Personally, I figure the Brits can keep their Peppa Pig. It’s Bagpuss I want. Or The Clangers. I grew up watching Pinwheel on Nickelodeon so I’ve an affection for these. Any word on the current state of King Rollo?
Aw yeah. Authors talking smack about authors. Granted it’s living authors talking about dead authors (dead authors talking about living authors is a different ballgame entirely) but it’ll stand. Two dude who write for kids break down J.M. Barrie, The Yearling, etc. and then end with unanimous praise for what I may consider the world’s most perfect children’s book. Go check ‘em out.
A Scieszka/Krosoczka could be a cocktail and a sobriety test all in one — once you can’t say it, you can’t have it.
Jennifer Schultz said, on 9/27/2011 6:06:00 AM
I’m definitely looking forward to those Lonely Planet books. From what I can tell, they won’t have the traditional listings/contact information that guides for adults will have, but I think this is a terrific new direction for Lonely Planet. I have my fingers crossed that a Washington D.C. guide is one of the upcoming six titles.
Amy Sears said, on 9/27/2011 6:25:00 AM
I’ve been anxiously awaiting the Lonely Planet books since I saw them at BEA. I get requests all the time in my library from parents or grandparents who are taking the kids on trips. Washington D.C., Boston, Alaska, and Israel would also be excellent additions to the series from my library’s point of view.
Jennifer Schultz said, on 9/27/2011 6:27:00 AM
You can see sample pages of the Not For Parents series on the LP website.
Anne said, on 9/27/2011 10:33:00 AM
Thank you so much for linking to my post! I think it might be the most spreadsheet-y (?) post I’ve ever seen linked on here!
Jonathan Auxier said, on 9/27/2011 2:57:00 PM
I cannot say how much I wish I had been able to go to KidLitCon … every panel sounds like it would have been amazing. Also, that’s a pretty swell SECRET GARDEN cover!
:paula said, on 9/27/2011 3:25:00 PM
Wow what a compendium of goodness! It’ll take me all evening to follow the leads, how fun!
I can’t find the Dawkins book here – I really want to see it.
And doesn’t Tao Nyeu do embroidery? Now that I’m past bifocals and into trifocals, I am sad that my needlework days are over.
Rachael said, on 9/28/2011 7:42:00 AM
“”Books such as Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach offer a world where self-consciousness is overthrown and relationships are straightforward,” she told The Independent.
“But relationships in the real adult world are often fraught by miscommunication and the impossibility of understanding one another properly.” ”
Right. Because Alice in Wonderland has nothing to say about miscommunication and the impossibility of understanding one another properly.
If you need me, I’ll be over here telling my long and sad tale…
In 2004, a year before I started this blog, I read The Hollow Kingdom, by Clare B. Dunkle. Soon after, I sent Dunkle an email in appreciation of the book. Dunkle replied, and we shared a correspondence for a time. My daughter was not yet one year old, I was exhausted all the time, and I relied heavily upon email correspondence for grownup conversation that didn't have to do with parenting. At one point, Dunkle mentioned her book-reviewer friend Sondy Ecklund (at the time, both were living in Germany), and said that she thought we'd enjoy getting to know each other. I can't remember who wrote first, but Sondy and I started what would be a years-long correspondence.
Last weekend, Sondy and I met for the first time at the 2011 KidLitCon children's and teen literature blogging conference, held here in Seattle, Washington. It was good to meet Sondy and talk in person. In addition to book-reviewing, writing, and being a librarian, Sondy is a self-described "math nut" (see her post on her prime factorization sweater).When I asked for advice on bringing math into the home, she recommended board games, and Monopoly Jr. in particular, as it encourage multiplication. I've not yet played it, but I ordered a copy of the board game for Lucia's benefit. Sony blogs and reviews at Sonderbooks. "Sonder" is a German prefix that means "special," which is an apt description for the lively, passionate Sondy Ecklund.
At KidLitCon 2011, I got to talk with a number of bloggers, including Sarah Stevenson, co-author of the blog Finding Wonderland,, Els Kushner, who currently blogs for Tor, Pam Coughlan of MotherReader, Anne Levy of the Cybils Awards, Holly Cupala, Shiraz Cupala,, and Lee Wind. I finally got to meet Martha Brockenbrough (who also writes SPOGG). I'd been a fan of her writing for years. but only recently realized that we were also neighbors. It was a pleasure to meet "science-journalist by day/kidlit blogger by night" Lisa Song of Reads for Keeps. I ended up talking with co-conference organizer Colleen Mondor of Chasing Ray for just a few minutes (about bacon jam, of all things), but there were a number of people with whom I wished I could have gotten to know better. There's only so much time, and the day was filled with a variety of sessions. I stayed up late for the Friday meet-and-greet, but ended up leaving soon after the dinner was done. I felt wistful when I saw photos of the after-conference party, but I knew I needed sleep more.
The session highlights of the day for me were Scott Westerfeld's keynote, which was a presentation on the history of illustration in chapter-books, and the final panel on diversity in YA/Teen literature. I finally started reading Westerfeld's books this year, and have enjoyed in particular the alternative World War I steampunk historical fiction books in the Leviathan trilogy, particularly because of Keith Thompson's illustrations.
The fabulous Colleen Mondor and Jackie Parker-Robinson have come up with a clever notion. Kidlitcon, the yearly conference for bloggers of child and teen literature, fast approacheth and this year, things are getting a bit switched. As Colleen says on her blog, “What we decided was to shift things just a bit, both by moving away from publisher donated ARCs as raffle prizes and also toward a long term partnership with one organization. Ultimately what we came up with made sense in so many ways that in retrospect it was one of the easiest things we decided. I am delighted to announce that KidLit Con is now entering into a partnership with Reading Is Fundamental which we hope will extend for many years into the future and make a powerful difference in the lives of many.” There’s more information to be found here, including info on how to donate to RIF yourself. So far the fund has reached $1,056, which is fantastic though more is needed. And a cheer is going out to Carol Rasco for her mention of me in a recent thank you.
And now let’s raise a glass and toast my profession. Isn’t it nice to have a profession that can, without so much as a stray drop of guilt, be toasted? Lucky that. In any case, the I Love My Librarian awards are starting up again and that means you need to get out there and vote for your beloved holders of MLIS degrees. You may nominate a school, public, and academic librarian if you like. Doesn’t cost you a thing and maybe your one true library love will get the credit they so richly deserve. Stranger things have happened, no?
Speaking of honoring folks, the Eric Carle Museum Honors have been announced. Each year four categories are filled with folks who have done some good in the name of children’s literature. This year the recipients include:
Lois Ehlert ▪ Artist
Jeanne Steig ▪ Angel
Michael di Capua ▪ Mentor
Karen Nelson Hoyle ▪ Bridge
On Thursday, September 22nd the Honors will be at Guastavino’s here in town. The usual auction that takes place at that time is seeing a bit of a shake-up as well. According to the website, “Our fourth annual art auction will feature original works of art donated by some of the industry’s most celebrated artists. This year also offers the opportunity to bid on ‘experiences’ with authors and artists.” If one of those “experiences” can include a chance to go pubbing with Tomi Ungerer I am in! At last year’s event I discovered that I was pregnant mere hours before attending. This year will have to top that, right?
Back in the day when I was young and foolish I had a chance to interview Frances Hardinge on my blog. Years have passed and Ms. Hardinge has yet to become the household name here in the States that I know she is capable of being. While I wait then I’ll continue to read other interviews of her, like
0 Comments on Fusenews: Now with more earthquaky goodness as of 1/1/1900
Things that I love: Blogging. My baby girl. Seattle. Two of those three things will be coming together on September 16th and 17th. That’s when the 5th (five already?) annual Kidlitcon will occur! It’s looking like a remarkable line-up as well with special keynote speaker YA author Scott Westerfeld and great presentations, as per usual. Baby girl is keeping me from attending, which is awful. I think I’ll have missed three out of five by this point. That just means you’ll have to go in my stead. For conference information, Kidlitosphere Central has the details.
Speaking of conferences I could not attend (whip out your world’s smallest violins playing a sad sad song for me), ALA came and went. Between reading Twitter updates of awesome people having post-Caldecott/Newbery Banquet parties until 5 a.m. and knowing that there’s a whole world of ARCs out there that I have not seen, I took comfort in SLJ’s very cool shots of the outfits at the aforementioned banquet. Jim Averbeck, I await your red carpet analysis. Oh, and allow me to extend my hearty thanks to Tomie dePaola for mentioning me as well as a host of other fine librarians in his Wilder acceptance speech. Made me feel quite the top cat it did.
Artist Adam Rex discusses the “Hogwarts for Illustrators” and gives us a sneak peek at a cover of his due out this coming February.
There’s more Ungerer in the offering. Tomi Ungerer got covered by the Times the other day with an interesting Q&A. In it, at one point he happens to say, “Look, it’s a fact that the children’s books that withstand the grinding of time all come from authors who did both [writing and illustrating].” J.L. Bell takes that idea and jogs on over to my Top 100 Picture Books Poll where, rightly, he points out the #2 on was old Margaret Wise Brown. He then finds other books that have stood the test of time with authors who do not illustrate. Well played, Bell man.
Also at The New York Times, editor Pamela Paul shows off the new crop of celebrity picture books. Normally I eschew such fare, but one book in the batch is of particular interest to me. Julianne Moore has penned the third Freckleface Strawberry book called Freckleface Strawberry: Best Friends Forever. I’m rather partial to it, perhaps because of this librarian character that artist LeUyen Pham included in the story:
With more than five hundred dollars raised with the charity raffle at KidlitCon, we gave two projects at Donors Choose a huge boost. Now with additional contributors, both DC school literacy projects have been fully funded! Here are the teachers’ notes to us:
Dear KidlitCon09,
I am most grateful for your generosity. My students will continue to develop their love of reading and curiosity with your gift. The picture dictionaries and thesauri will be a tremendous help in developing students’ vocabulary. The Washington D.C. books are going to provide additional support in teaching the third grade social studies standards whose focus is on our nation’s capitol.
Our library is in desperate need of additional books. The books will be a fantastic addition! We are looking forward to starting the new year with our book club with the Harry Potter series that you have provided.
With gratitude, Ms. S.
That project, Literacy is Fun-damental, purchased Spanish language materials for a mostly immigrant classroom population.
Dear KidlitCon09,
There are few words that I can say that would be better than THANK YOU!, but I will try. I began teaching in Brooklyn, New York, after being a loan officer for a bank for eight years. My education process was so fulfilling that I wanted every student to have the opportunity that I have had. The first thing that I learned as a classroom teacher is that “IT ALL BEGINS WITH READING!” I have taught in many classrooms and the first question that I ask is, “What are we going to read?”
I was very disheartened when I learned that my current classroom had no library provided for it by the school system. I tried to provide books on my own and it became very expensive. One of my fraternity brothers has donated 75 books to my classroom, but we are still in need of more materials.
This donation of books will allow my students to begin to have the opportunities that I want for my students. I cannot thank you enough! My students will benefit from your generosity, and gain valuable learning experiences. I am sure we will keep in touch through the program and maybe even after. On behalf of my students, and myself, THANKS A LOT!
With gratitude, Mr. S.
That project, It All Starts With Reading, funded a classroom library for a middle school in a high need area.
If you are inspired to continue giving, Adam Rex is currently running a mustache... thing for Donors Choose. You can also use the search feature at the site to find a project of interest or a school near you. Maybe you could include this charity in your holiday giving this year with a book for a friend, along with a donation to buy books for a classroom. Trust me, it’s a much better present than a gift basket from Meat N’ Things.
Links to material on Amazon.com contained within this post may be affiliate links for the Amazon Associates program, for which this site may receive a referral fee.
0 Comments on Literacy Projects for the Win as of 1/1/1900
Here's quick round-up of bloggers who've posted about KidlitCon09. I had hoped to stop by and comment at every post, but it looks like I'm heading to help out my mom for a few days in a house without Internet. Keep me in your thoughts. Since I'm leaving Bill at home, if you post about the conference and comment here, he will update this entry. Because he's all cool like that.
In organizing the Kidlitosphere Conference, the one aspect that I really enjoyed working on was the charity raffle. In our previous two conferences, we had a charity component and I was excited to continue that tradition. As I talked to my teen daughter about the concept, we came up with the idea of gift baskets made up of donations from our attendees to put up for raffle. During the week, I pulled together baskets, bags, and boxes along with little "extras" for the prizes - pens, journals, candles, etc. My teen daughter crocheted decorative scarves and tiny book pillows to contribute.
On the afternoon of the conference, my husband brought in my daughters and two friends to pull the donations of the attendees into fun packages. I missed big parts of the last two sessions of the day to help, because it was a bit overwhelming. While we expected to make about ten baskets, we ended up with enough donations to make twice that much! It was tons of fun to put things together though, and we got to exercise our creative juices in the process.
Before and during the cocktail hour, attendees looked over the prizes, bought raffle tickets, and put their tickets in bags for the ones they wanted to win. This picture is a pretty good summary showing the tickets in one corner, the party bags to collect the tickets, the array of prizes, and the happy shoppers.
TeenReader was particularly fond of the Black & White Package, which featured a scarf she made, one of my homemade necklaces, bead jewelry made and donated by Maureen, and some super cool books. Her best friend and helper put her raffle tickets in this package and won, quite gleefully I might add.
I loved the Read to Me Package (even if the kid's shirt appears to say Ead to Me in the photo), which included a shirt donated by Terry, book pillows crocheted by my daughter, a tin of hot chocolate I bought at Ross, and numerous books to share with a child. I'm trying desperately to remember who won that, so please let me know. You can also see a bit of the Halloween Basket, which featured a painted basket, a stuffed black cat, a box, and Halloween picture books.
My fifth grader worked very hard on the Holiday Package, which included books from Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. It also had snowman soap, candles, and a wooden candlestick (Liz, this would be some of the "stuff from my home," as opposed to the stray socks you supposed I threw in the mix.) My daughter convinced Jen to put her raffle tickets for this prize and she did in fact win it.
With all this talk of winning, I'm getting a bit ahead of myself because before the winning there was the dinner. It was a lovely chance to celebrate the day of fun and relax with friends. My husband took pictures of every table, and I'll post them to Facebook later if anyone wants to grab them. (Unfortunately, my camera isn't great in dim light so they aren't stellar.) I will share one representative picture of lovely ladies Laura Lutz, Caroline Hickey, and Sara Lewis Holmes. Don't they look happy?
After dessert, my husband and the girls drew raffle tickets and gave away the prizes. I'd love to know more of the winners, if you'd care to leave your name in the comments. I do remember Tricia winning the Bearport Bear donated by Bearport Publishing and Greg winning the Electric Company bag donated by PBS. Many of our attendees donated books and journals and jewelry and more, which gave us an amazing raffle! We ended up collecting $550 for our two selected projects at Donors Choose! They haven't reached their goals yet, so you can still contribute to Literary is Fun-damental and It All Starts with Reading. Tell them that KidlitCon sent you!
After everything was done, we stopped for a group photo. Again, not the best camera for the job but a fun reminder of a wonderful day.
The conference weekend continued for some with an evening at the hotel bar, a Twitter-talk/post-game breakfast, or a stop at Hooray for Books! for an author signing party. For some of us, it included all three. Overall, I was glad I got to spend so much time with so many amazing people over the weekend. It was an awesome event and I'm honored to have played a part in it.
So much so, that I've signed on for another year. Not organizing in entirety this time, but as consultant, promoter, and registrar for KidlitCon10 which will be in Minneapolis and will be headed by Brian Farrey of Flux and Andrew Karre of Carolrhoda Books! Welcome to the team!
Thanks to everyone for helping, speaking, donating, supporting, and most of all coming to KidlitCon09!
(Oh, I'm still collecting posts for a Round-Up tomorrow and I'd love to know more of our raffle prize winners. Cheers!)
14 Comments on KidlitCon Report: Part III, last added: 10/23/2009
That's me in the shopping picture! Proof that I was really there! The raffle was really a lot of fun, even if I didn't win anything. Your girls did a great job putting stuff together.
Don't forget about cocktail hour, too... some of us were very curious, did we make it to our drink minimum?
Yay! Minneapolis! Never been there, always wanted to go. And bravo to you for offering to be a consultant---didn't we abuse and wear you out enough? :)
Thank you again for everything. I don't think I can say that enough times.
Also, I'm sure Jama will send her link, but if not, she has Day Two of her magnificent report on the conference. I think that girl's secretly had journalist training...
Abby - go ahead and get excited for next year, I'll join you.
Sara - I'm a bit worn out, but in a good way. I think. ;^)
Wendy - We did make our drink minimum at cocktail hour. The longer story was that we had a certain overall food and beverage minimum we had guaranteed the hotel, but with attendance below what I expected it was a little iffy on meeting that threshold. I didn't really doubt we'd meet it with the cocktail hour, which we'd have done if everyone bought just one drink. But for those who can sometimes be cheap about overpriced drinks - like me - I figured it might make people feel better if they knew they were contributing to the greater cause.
The troops did a phenomenal job on the charity raffle. I had a fabulous time this weekend everyone was wonderful and the information I took away is going to be put to great use.
Yeah! Minneapolis sounds great. How cool to have 2010 already well in hand. Your team set the standards pretty high for the raffle! I hope Brian and Andrew can sing.
I had so much fun I wrote a second post today. http://childrens-literacy.com/2009/10/22/thoughts-from-my-inner-blogger/
I loved the raffle, and the baskets were organized in very clever ways -- kudos to your girls and you!! The only sad part was that with $10 worth of raffle tickets, I had no winners. Oh well -- it was for a great cause.
Thanks again for all you did to make this such a memorable weekend.
How exciting! Although I echo Sara--this one didn't do you in?
Forgot to mention it but the raffle was a hit, especially the announcers. Someone mentioned to me that it was especially great having kids there because we all remembered why we do this. And of course, cuz they're adorable.
Thanks for the link, and I'll see you in Minneapolis next year. At that time, we will need a camera with a panoramic setting.
Saturday morning, the day of the Kidlitosphere Conference, and several kind souls were stuffing folders while I greeted attendees and pushed the breakfast buffet. The buffet did not reach my goal of looking "ravaged by wolves" (btw, is a band name) nor was I able to persuade people to stuff their pockets with bacon, but it was a great start to the conference. After all, breakfast is the most important meal of the day!
I started the meeting proper off with my session The Blogger Within: An Interview with your Inner Blogger. I'm quite proud of this session which involved only six questions and two homework assignments, thus I will repeat it here. You will only need to supply the three minute pauses between questions to give yourself time to answer:
Why are you blogging?
Who do you see as your audience?
What is unique to you that you can bring to your blog?
Where would you place your blog within the larger community?
When will you schedule time to check back on your blogging mission?
How do the answers to these questions support or change what you are doing now?
Your homework: Look at the last six months of your blog and choose five posts that you like the most and five posts that represent your blog the best. What do they show you about your passions, interests, direction, and style?
Second homework: Put a date on your calendar to look at these questions again.
Good, huh? Next I worked with Michelle of Galleysmith on Building Your Blog: Best Practices, Ideas, and Tips. I talked about Purpose (which I'd already covered in that exercise above), Passion, and Professionalism. Later I came back with Participation and Perseverance, which completed my mastery of the Five P's. Passion referred to writing what you love, supplying quality content, and channeling your voice. Professionalism touched on giving credit, disclosing relationships/products, avoiding conflicts of interest, watching your online behavior, and having responsible review policies. Participation involved going outside your own blog to be involved in the community with comments, memes, links, and events. Perseverance is, you know, "steady persistence in a course of action or purpose, especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement." (Thanks Dictionary.com.)
Michelle did the heavy lifting on this session with topics of Involve/Engage Audience, SEO, Social Media, Marketing, and Design. We'll post her much fuller notes on Kidlitosphere Central soon, but for now check out Liz's summary at Tea Cozy.
The next sessions were split for book reviewers and authors. Liz also has a good write up of the book reviewers part and Sara Lewis Holmes has notes from her author session. I attended the first session and took some notes, but honestly my mind was occupied by the coming visit of the Federal Trade Commission representative.
Speaking of which, the FTC session was covered throughly at Galleysmith and Tea Cozy It was picked up by GalleyCat and Publishers Weekly, where I talked to author and conference attendee Sue Corbett about the whole FTC vs. Book Blogger Death Match. I'm going to save my final thoughts on the topic for a separate post, but I'll say now that it was amazing to have FTC representative Mary Engle talk to us and it raised the profile of the conference and our community.
Lunch was on our own, and I took the opportunity to sit quietly for a bit and dip my toes in the #KidlitCon Twitter stream, which later was tied up nicely by Greg Pincus.
The Meet the Author session came next and gave me a chance to mix and mingle with many more people. Simon Pulse provided author Elizabeth Scott with gift bags of her books, Living Dead Girl and Something, Maybe. Sharon Hancock from Candlewick Press brought ARC's of many books, though I only took the leftover copies of The Ask and the Answer and Boys, Bears, and a Serious Pair of Hiking Boots. (I later gave one copy of the first to our housekeeper, who has a teenage boy.) Joan Holub signed a copy of Shampoodle for my three year old niece and Shelena Shorts signed a copy of The Pace for, well, me. I brought my own copy of Operation YES for Sara Lewis Holmes to sign, and now it's first on my list of books to read when I have a brain again. I also grabbed Laurel Snyder to sign last year's Up and Down the Scratchy Mountains after waxing poetic about her new book - which I did not have with me - Every Which Wall. I managed to grab an ARC of Paula Chase'sFlipping the Script and received a copy of Wendie Old'sThe Halloween Book of Facts and Fun. I was excited to talk to Candice Ransom and meet Ellsworth - who has a totally weak handshake, by the way. I didn't take nearly enough pictures, but fortunately Jama Rattigan did.
Okay, this is getting really long. It was a fuller day than I thought. Oh, and that picture above was Elizabeth Scott and me. Moving on.
Greg Pincus talked to us about Social Media and connection and showed us slides on our laptops. (So, I didn't spring the $1000 for the LCD hook-up, sue me.) During the next two sessions, Authors, Publishers, Reviewers (and ARCs): A Panel Conversation and Coming Together, Giving Back: Building Community, Literacy, and the Reading Message I was distracted with some "Being in Charge of the Conference" things, so I missed big parts of both. I'll provide links to summaries as I find them. Sorry.
I was going to plow through with this post into the cocktail hour and charity raffle and dinner and drinks, but now I'll leave that for Part III. If you have a post about the conference, leave me a comment and I'll be rounding up at the end of the week. Of course, I'll continue to accept comments about KidlitCon itself or even my awesomeness.
3 Comments on KidlitCon Report: Part II, last added: 10/22/2009
This is great to read since I was not able to break away from my busy school and home schedule to be able to attend. This fills me in at least part way!! I am going to revisit your questions in my journal! glad it was so much fun!
Thanks, Pam. It's fun to see the pix. I hope your niece enjoys the book! I'm posting a few more photos of the LOC tour at http://joanholub.blogspot.com
Great questions! I like the idea of regularly checking back and re-evaluating why I am blogging and if I am staying on message. Thanks for posting this for those of us who couldn't make the trip!
The weather sucked. I think we can all agree on that. It didn't affect much at KidlitCon, except the scheduled Library of Congress tours where the rain made for bad traffic and delayed arrivals of our out-of-town guests. It also made some of our DC natives look outside and decide against trudging through the rain to join us at a local institution. It was a shame, because those who came for the tours were all blown away.
It did start out slow with a tour guide who preferred to give great detail on a piece of artwork rather than give us time with the original Thomas Jefferson Library. But we still enjoyed walking the halls of the Jefferson Building, peering down in the impressive reading room, and strolling past the Gutenberg Bible. The real stuff began when we went to the Children's Literature Center. There Jacqueline Coleburn showed us some rare children's books from the collection. We saw a first edition of The Wizard of Oz, original sketches of James Marshall for Fox Be Nimble, and an early primer book.
It was hard to take good pictures without the flash (which might hurt the books over time), so I didn't take many photos. I'm partial to this children's book from the 1600's, which is "A Token for Children: Being an exact account of the conversion, holy and exemplary lives and joyful deaths of several young children," by James Janeway. Joyful deaths. Yep, they don't write them like they used to. Click on the picture to enlarge if you don't believe me. (Though it should be said - and was said by our host - that such books were made to accept death since so many children didn't live to adulthood.)
We also spent time walking around the Children's Literature Center, which is a small library and research center as opposed to the holdings of every children's book ever published. However, our host was kind enough to bring over a few of the books of our KidlitCon attendees for display. Here you'll see Joan Holub along with some of her titles. Sara Lewis Holmes was excited to see her Letters from Rapunzel displayed as well.
Our group was also treated to a visit to see books from the Rosenwald collection of rare books. The curator of this collection, Daniel De Simone, had a display of several illustrated books starting from a title from the 1400's! Then using the Aesop's fable of the city mouse and the country mouse, he showed us the changes in woodblock printing and artwork over time and nationality. I believe the one in the photograph is from Italy in the 1500's. I know, I should have been writing that sort of thing down, but I was too mesmerized by these old, rare books right in front of me. I just found at least two more of the books we saw in the details of the Library of Congress exhibition. Our host was very knowledgeable about the collection and captivated us with the stories behind these rare books. We were all sorry to leave, and it's possible that one of us hid behind a bookshelf where an old Charlotte's Web was held.
After the Library of Congress tour, we went our separate ways knowing we'd meet up again at dinner along with thirty or so of our blogging friends. We had two large table at Arlington's Tortoise and Hare, quickly took over a third, and then proceeded make more room on the corners and ends as bloggers continued to arrive. People were introduced around, and where the proper names might draw polite smiles the blog names often brought gleeful squeals. Biblio File!LibrariYAn!Miss Rumphius! The conversation was lively and loud, ending only when it looked as if we would some be overtaken by a lively and loud band. The folks who weren't quite done for the night headed to the hotel bar, for what Liz Burns would soon dub by the hashtag #drunkkidlitcon. But even though the topics of funny tweets, Girl Scouts, Facebook friends, and of course, books seemed like it could go on forever, we did clear out at a reasonable hour knowing that a special KidlitCon breakfast awaited us at 7:00 a.m. and that bacon wasn't going to eat itself.
I'll continue with the day of KidlitCon tomorrow. For now, leave me a comment if you've got a post about the conference and I'll do a round-up at the end of the week.
12 Comments on KidlitCon Report: Part I, last added: 10/23/2009
Pam, this is awesome. Now I know exactly what I saw at the Library of Congress. :) It was amazing, wasn't it? Thank you again for setting that up.
I blogged a bit about the author panel, mostly as a way to have a place to keep the conversation going about author/blogging concerns and questions. Here's the link: http://saralewisholmes.blogspot.com/2009/10/conversation-continues-kidlit-bloggers.html
Thank you for the tour walkthrough and pics - how amazing it would have been to see the Gutenberg Bible and rare children's book collection. I look forward to the roundup!
I second Sara's thanks to you for setting up the LOC tour, Pam. It was such fun getting that inside peek. I could have spent an entire day browsing those shelves. And it was so nice of Sybille to go to the trouble of finding books by some of us visiting authors. Way above and beyond the call. Now I'm off to visit Sara's link.
Anonymous said, on 10/20/2009 6:16:00 PM
Thanks again for the all you did to make the conference and tours happen--and for this detailed account!
I did a shorter write-up at the Shrinking Violets blog: http://shrinkingvioletpromotions.blogspot.com/2009/10/introvert-goes-to-kidlitosphere.html
(I'm posting this comment as Anonymous because OpenID is failing me today, but I am: Jenn Hubbard, aka writerjenn.)
Thanks again for a wonderful weekend, Pam. It was nice to revisit the Library of Congress. Those particularly tours and the chance to see history close up really made the event extra special.
I was hoping for a "proceedings of Kidlitcon#3." Your description of the Library Congress tour was WONDERFUL! Thank you, thank you for sharing the tour. [sighs, happily]
I am hoping to write about KidLitCon later, but for now a nap is in order. Quickly, I can say that it was amazing, wonderful, fun, educational, and many more positive adjectives. I am looking forward to reading everyone else's posts, so I thought I'd leave this one as a place holder. As you write about KidlitCon, leave the link in the comments and I'll do a roundup later in the week
Thanks to everyone who spoke, who helped, and came. I had a great time with all of you and can't wait to do it again...
Oh, hold up! I meant that I can totally wait to do it again. In a good way.
I have spent the past hour passing on information about how much I got out of the KidLit conference to various friends and listservs. Most of us writers don't seem to yet realize social media means much more than writing a blog post. The conference proved that to me.
Pam, I hope you enjoy your nap as much as I did the conference! Thanks for your hard work in putting the KidLitCon '09 together. Great hotel; great speakers, topics, panelists; and great fun meeting and mingling.
Awesome, awesome, awesome! Had such a great time, learned a lot, and came away inspired to blog my little heart out. Thanks again for all your hard work, Pam!
My post - http://abbylibrarian.blogspot.com/2009/10/okay-so-kidlitcon.html
You earned a week's worth of naps. I wish I could come up with a word better than "awesome," but it SO fits. Although there are lots of free books at other conferences, KidLitCon offers an energy and esprit d'corps that can't be beat. Here's the first post: http://childrens-literacy.com/2009/10/18/kidlitcon09-thanks-for-the-memories/
The rest will trickle out as homework assignments.
You are AWESOME, Pam. (I should have gotten here sooner, but things are a bit nuts around here.) Thanks so much for the fabulous experience all around.
Here's my roundup. (Just so you know, making here the link just made me cringe. Kind of, anyway.)
I want to toss in my kudos, too, Pam. It was fabulous! I can't even imagine the hours spent organizing, but from this outside-the-beltway guy's perspective, it sure paid off: everything ran smoothly, the mood was great, and there was fun and knowledge flying everywhere. Hats off to you!
Thanks SO much for everything you did to make the conference possible, Pam! As Greg said, everything went smoothly and there was lots of information, ideas, and inspiration for the taking.
Here are the links to my two posts about KidLitCon:
Part One: http://jamarattigan.livejournal.com/331463.html.
Part Two: http://jamarattigan.livejournal.com/332064.html.
So guess what? A representative from the Federal Trade Commission is coming to KidlitCon to talk to us about the new regulations for bloggers. Now do you wish you were coming?
Well, you still can. Shoot me an email so I'll know to expect you and plan on attending the Kidlitosphere Conference. only for $50. Total deal - especially if your kid's soccer game is going to be rained out anyway. Email me at MotherReader AT Gmail DOT com.
Here's the info, yet again and for the last time. The conference is open to bloggers, wannabe bloggers, and the blogger-curious, along with YA/Kidlit authors, illustrators, editors, and publishers. The meeting is at the Sheraton Crystal City Hotel, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and will cover:
The Blog Within:An Interview With Your Inner Blogger
Building a Better Blog:Best Practices, Ideas, and Tips
Split Reviewer/Author Sessions: It’s All About the Blog: Approaches for Book Reviewing Bloggers It’s Not About Your Book: Writing Ideas for Blogging Authors
Okay, so pretty much all day of the conference I wished I was there... can't wait to catch up with all the tweets... sigh. Be I'm really excited that SO MANY COOL PEOPLE are there! MotherReader, you ROCKED IT! Congratulations, Namaste, Lee
This is about the time I usually get Conference Envy. You know what I mean, that feeling that everyone is going to this really cool event and you're missing out because you couldn't decide if you should put another activity on your schedule, but now it seems stupid that you opted to take on the dance rehearsal carpool again instead of asking your neighbor to do it so that you could do something for yourself for a change because Lord knows you DESERVE IT!
Or something like that. Perhaps instead you're an author or editor realizing that the opportunity to present your new titles to forty book-reviewing bloggers isn't something you should pass up in this dicey economy and saturated book market.
If you are experiencing Conference Envy after hearing about our Library of Congress tours, Friday night dinner, amazing conference panels, Meet the Author session, fun charity raffle, Twitter breakfast, and bookstore visit, well… I can still take a few more people for the Kidlitosphere Conference. Email me at MotherReader AT Gmail DOT com.
If you live in the area, and absolutely can't make it Saturday, let me encourage you to come out to our author event at Hooray for Books! in Old Town Alexandria on Sunday, October 18th, from 1:003:00 p.m. Bring the kids. Bring the neighbor’s kids. Bribe a teen to join you. We’re going picture book to middle-grade first, and then tweens to teens second with:
1:00 p.m. Cynthia Cotten presents Rain Play Jacqueline Jules presents Unite or Die! Sue Corbett presents Last Newspaper Boy
2:00 p.m. Caroline Hickey presents Isabelle’s Boyfriend Elizabeth Scott presents Something, Maybe Paula Chase-Hyman presents Flipping the Script
Let people know about this wonderful chance to greet bloggers, meet authors, and buy books, all while supporting an independent bookstore and the Kidlitosphere Conference.
You can also join us in supporting Donors Choose for our KidlitCon09 charity, and specifically two projects at Washington, DC, schools Literacy is Fun-damental and It All Starts With Reading!. If you'd like to send something for our charity raffle on Saturday, email me soon at MotherReader AT Gmail DOT com.
If you're still reading because you want to be convinced to come to the KidLitosphere Conference, then I'll remind you that the conference is open to bloggers, wannabe bloggers, and the blogger-curious along with YA/Kidlit authors, illustrators, editors, and publishers.
The Blog Within:An Interview With Your Inner Blogger
Building a Better Blog:Best Practices, Ideas, and Tips
Split Reviewer/Author Sessions: It’s All About the Blog: Approaches for Book Reviewing Bloggers It’s Not About Your Book: Writing Ideas for Blogging Authors
Coming Together, Giving Back:Building Community, Literacy, and the Reading Message
There will also be a “Meet the Author” time during the day, where writers and illustrators can share their books. A fun dinner to mix and mingle is scheduled for 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. with the continuing party moving to the hotel bar. The registration fee for all of this including the breakfast and dinner is only $100. Can't make the dinner? Email about a reduced conference-only fee.
Yes, I do have conference envy. However, even though Peaceful Reader and I planned and talked about the Kidlit Con 09 for almost a year now, it is the same weekend as my middle daughter's birthday. And being in the midwest makes airfare really expensive since we don't have a major hub to fly out of. So, I will have to just be satisfied with hearing about yoru wonderful time this coming weekend, and thinking about KidlitCon10.
Pat from Ohio said, on 10/14/2009 6:51:00 PM
I mostly have other blogger envy. I don't even have a blog and it seems like all the cool kids do. Sigh.
I absolutely have conference envy. Last year's was one of the coolest conferences I have ever been to. Such a community of people. It looks like you've done it again with an amazing line-up! Have fun, everyone!
I caught that Gregory K. mtg last night, too, and it was like a mini-kidlit-reunion! Fantastic.
I've been experiencing conference envy for the last year and a half. Sigh. It's been the worst part of being broke. I can deal without new shoes or going out to dinner or going on vacation. But I've really hated missing out on all the conferences.
It's up to you to post great coverage on your blog! (Pretty please?)
I am in the midst of total conference envy/depression! If I didn't have football player sons, or if I could get the dang money tree in my basement to grow a little faster, I would totally be there! HAVE FUN!
Writing that KidlitCon09 was only ten days away just made my heart do a little jumpy thing in my chest.
I can still take a few more people for the Kidlitosphere Conference, though I can't guarantee your dinner choice. I can, however guarantee an amazing time filled with interesting people and illuminating sessions. Or maybe illuminating people and interesting sessions, either way. We'll be setting aside some time to talk about the new FTC regulations and what they may mean for book bloggers along with the greater publishing industry. Being next to Washington DC, it's not out of the question that we may get someone official to talk to us. In any case, we'll be discussing the topic and hopefully coming up with some answers or even better questions.
I'm excited to announce that we do have an author event at Hooray for Books! in Old Town Alexandria on Sunday, October 18th from 1:00-3:00 p.m. If you are in the DC area, can't attend the conference, but would love to meet some of the people - come on down! Bring the kids. Bring the neighbor's kids. Bribe a teen to join you. It's going to be a great time. We're going picture book to middle-grade first, and then tweens to teens second with:
1:00 p.m. Cynthia Cotten presents Rain Play Jacqueline Jules presents Unite or Die! Sue Corbett presents Last Newspaper Boy
2:00 p.m. Caroline Hickey presents Isabelle's Boyfriend Elizabeth Scott presents Something, Maybe Paula Chase-Hyman presents Flipping the Script
Please let people know about this wonderful chance to greet bloggers, meet authors, and buy books all while supporting an independent bookstore and the Kidlitosphere Conference. What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon?
3 Comments on KidlitCon09: Ten Days Away, last added: 10/9/2009
I would like to attend the conference and sent in my registration several weeks ago, via email, right after I heard Sue Corbett talk about it at the Hampton Roads Writers Conference on 9/19/09. I haven't received PayPal instructions to pay for my registration. Please write back ([email protected]) and let me know what I need to do next. Thanks!
The Federal Trade Commission has come up with its final guidelines on regulating endorsements and testimonials which will indeed affect bloggers. The first hint of the problem is in the title of the report itself which specifies endorsements and testimonials.
But book reviews are not advertising endorsements or testimonials, are they?
Ah, I answer that question with another question. Have you noticed how freely the word review has been thrown around the blogosphere, especially in the pitches by companies? Have you wondered how one "reviews" a bookshelf or swingset or Tungsten Rings?
You see, the business were very savvy about this coming development and hoped to tie the issues together by linking the word review to what are obvious endorsements being paid for in product. I've been watching this going on with the mommy bloggers and gritting my teeth, while remaining hopeful that the FTC would know the difference between a review and an endorsement. I talked about it here in July saying that "Book blogs are likely to stay under the radar because we’re not pulling in the numbers of readers and because there is a longstanding tradition of books being sent out for review in newspapers and journals."
I may have been wrong. Mostly in making the assumption that the FTC would address this issue with, um... intelligence. The eighty-one page final guidelines have only caused more questions that the FTC doesn't seem to define or understand. I saw it through my book blogger eyes, but niche groups everywhere have questions and concerns as shown in this article from Wired.
But as a book blogger, I'm very concerned that Richard Cleland of Bureau of Consumer Protections had this to say in a conversation with Ed Champion about getting books for review:
You can return it,” said Cleland. “You review it and return it. I’m not sure that type of situation would be compensation. ”If, however, you held onto the unit, then Cleland insisted that it could serve as “compensation.” You could after all sell the product on the streets."
Yeah, because we all know the street value of Find My Feet. The stupidity of this statement is mindblowing. And frightening.
Chasing Ray has a wonderful post about how this would look to the publishers. In case you're wondering, Not Good. There is no way that book bloggers would want the responsibility and expense of returning books with a receipt so they couldn't be declared as income. There is no way that the publishers would want the responsibility and expense of tracking those returned books. It's illogical that I could receive dozens of books from a publisher, but only have to declare as "income" the one that I review - because I've now endorsed it.
In fact, it's the idiocy of this concept along with the long tradition of print media receiving books for review that gives me hope. Because the guidelines as written and as they want to be applied to book bloggers are just too stupid to exist. That said, they won't disappear by us not talking about them. We do need to make some noise. Bloggers are good writers, obviously, so dash off a letter to the FTC, your congressman, the local paper. Your publisher.
Galleycat has been turning out a lot of information on this new development, but we can't let Ron Hogan and Ed Champion go this alone. And I'm not just talking about bloggers. Publishers, editors, and authors better make their case too because the FTC regulations as they are being interpreted could shut down a source of book reviews and interviews just as newspaper reviews are in a death spiral. Publishers may have thought that the FTC had nothing to do with them, evidenced by the fact that they are not noted as having submitted comments to the proposed regulation (pg 3). Big mistake because this is going to be an issue for all involved parties and we can't let it be left up to people completely ignorant of how the publishing industry works to determine how it's going to work from now on.
Now, the bright spot is how completely relevant KidlitCon09 seems right now - especially our panel about the relationship of bloggers, authors, and publishers. There's still space available. Register now and be part of the conversation.
8 Comments on Book Bloggers and the FTC, last added: 10/7/2009
Thanks for this very illuminating post. While I did not like the fact that bloggers were being specifically targeted, as opposed to print or TV media, I didn't think that it really mattered.
I already have a statement on 5 Minutes for Books that is clear that most of our copies are from PR firms or publishers, and I thought that would still be enough.
But your commentary makes me realize that it could mean something more.
Penny Hull said, on 10/6/2009 10:15:00 AM
Thank you. From a Librarian's perspective, it would be a waste to loose all of the reviews out there now. Especially as more bloggers start blogging. Thank you for all you do. I know I can look up an add. for FTC.but it might be helpful to post that add. too?
Jennifer, it may be that stating where books are from may be enough - or it may not. It's unclear. As it is unclear whether it will need to be revealed in every single post, as opposed to a blanket statement. The clue to this development lies in comments made about how individual tweets (!!!) could be part of this regulation.
Penny, I have a call in to the numbers given at the FTC website to find the best place to address our questions and concerns. If and when I find out, I'll add it to this post.
Thank you for this post. I tried to read the FTC regulations as proposed and frankly, all I got was a headache as opposed to clarity. I agree that everyone involved - publishers, authors, bloggers and us publicists, too - need to make our voices heard. Ed's interview with Richard Cleland of the FTC was an eye-opener, and not in a good way.
It's frustrating that the FTC wants to lump book bloggers in with the mommy bloggers, but such is the nature of a government agency. Fighting back -- or in this case, educating the FTC on the nature of book blogging -- is an option, but I'm also afraid that we're just going to have to wait and see how this all shakes out.
It may change the way we do things, but it also may amount to not much.
I am just so confused by this. I'm reading so many tweets and blog posts about it, and it seems like there are many different perspectives on what it all means. Clearly, the FTC still has some clarifying to do!!
::turning on sarcasm:: I don't see why everyone is so upset about this. We can still review books from the library and those that we purchase ourselves, right? Leave those new release reviews to the people who get paid to write reviews! We should be satisfied with the *old* Pooh stories ... after all, we're not real reviewers, just bloggers. ::sarcasm off::
I will definitely be writing to someone about this.
As you say, this is going to be an interesting 45 days. The FTC hasn't a clue ... and to split hairs between books sent to print magazines - who also have online versions of their reviews - and online reviewers is nuts. One of my questions is the effect on authors using a reviewer's comments on their blog or website. Will they have to disclose that they gave/lent the book to that person to review?
The Cybils nominations started today, and as the organizer for the Fiction Picture Book category, I’ve already processed more than thirty titles! I haven’t made more than a few submissions myself because other people have been naming my favorite books. But that’s really fine with me, so long as we’re getting quality books in the judging. The process is so smooth this year, thanks mostly to the database design of Sheila Ruth. Now when you nominate a book, you can see immediately if it is already on the list. The nominations are contained in a nice little box, so you can scroll through them and you can see the book covers. If all this weren’t enough, the nomination form feeds right into the form for the organizers and panelists so we can keep track of the titles. Excellent!
At Booklights today, I have a recap of the National Book Festival, information about the Cybils, and some blog highlights from Banned Books Week. I already have a comment on the banned books aspect, which is making me wonder whether I should have censored my post. Oh, the irony.
KidlitCon09 is coming together quite nicely, with a list of about eighty participants, including representatives from Candlewick, Tor Books, and HarperCollins. On Friday, we have tours scheduled at the Library of Congress, the main building and the children’s center. I already have about thirty people ready to meet for dinner that evening near the hotel. Saturday, October 17th, is filled with interesting sessions, a Meet-the-Author time, a cocktail hour, a nice dinner, and a charity raffle. Sunday is looking like an informal Twitter breakfast and a field trip to the independent bookstore Hooray for Books, located in charming Old Town Alexandria, where I am working on a book reading and signing session. It’s going to be a great weekend that you should not miss.
Besides, after this Washington Post article about the importance of online marketing of your own book and Cheryl Klein’s post about how she signed Sara Lewis Holmes because of her blog, you have to ask yourself if you can afford not to invest in learning more about blogging, social media, and online presence. Register now.
0 Comments on Cybils, Booklights, and KidLitCon as of 1/1/1900
Today for Nonfiction Monday, I need to mention a publisher that is providing fun, interesting, educational, and high-quality nonfiction titles to children. They are also providing this ah-dorable stuffed bear for our charity raffle at the Kidlitosphere Conference. He’s huge and cuddly, and my kids already don’t want to part with him. But someone at KidlitCon09 will win Bearport along with a few new titles from the Bearport catalog.
One title that I I will not be parting with is Miniature Horses, because, well... look at it! Horses playing soccer in the living room! How cute is that? This title is one of the new series of Peculiar Pets, which features ferrets, iguanas, and potbellied pigs.
Miniature Horses talks about the features and history of the breed, along with their needs as pets. The text is perfect for elementary school readers, and no one will be able to resist the pages of wonderful pictures of tiny horses. Like all Bearport nonfiction, the book features a glossary, bibliography, and fast facts. Now, I love minis so much that I took the whole family to the wildly overpriced yet insanely cute Land of Little Horses, so I was completely enchanted with the book. And totally not parting with it even for charity.
Hold it. Perhaps I should back up on the charity thing. At each conference, the host selects a cause and we have a raffle to raise money. The prizes are donated by authors, illustrators, publishers, and bloggers. This year I’ve turned to Donors Choose for our charity, and specifically to impoverished Washington, DC, schools. At this point I’ve selected two proposals to fund. I picked Literacy is Fun-damental because they need Spanish language books, which are hard to pick up at a discount or at a local book sale, and because the picture of the kids is soooo cute. I picked It All Starts With Reading! because they need titles for teens, and the picture of the empty bookcase is soooo sad.
If you aren’t coming to KidlitCon09 and would like to make a donation to these programs, we welcome your contribution. If you are wondering if there is any way to send books directly to these schools, I welcome you to investigate that and get back to me. If you would like to donate items for our raffle, please contact me at MotherReader AT gmail DOT com especially if you have something besides books. I’m planning on sharing some of my MotherReader original recycled paper jewelry. Yes, it’s just as delightful as it sounds.
I'll pass this information on to the Class of 2K9 and next year's class of 2k10. We've done book basket donations before and it sounds like programs we are interested in supporting. Thanks for getting the word out.
For authors, illustrators, editors, and publishers in the area of children's and Young Adult literature, the Kidlitosphere Conference on October 17th in Arlington, VA offers an incredible opportunity to learn more about online reviewers, blog book tours, blog writing, and social media. Participants will also talk to forty book reviewing bloggers one-on-one about their books in a Meet the Author session. The dinner gives everyone has a chance to socialize, talk, network, and collaborate. And all for a low $100 registration fee that includes breakfast and dinner.
Featured sessions for authors/illustrators include:
* It’s Not All About Your Book: Writing Ideas for Author Blogs * Social Networking for Fun (and Profit?). * Building a Better Online Presence with Blogging
And several more sessions in the 8:00-5:00 p.m day. Attending authors will have the opportunity to set up a table and show their books to bloggers and promote fall titles. The small conference size allows for more chances for interaction among attendees.
Registration has been extended, so for more information and to register visit the conference page. Discount hotel rates are also available.
1 Comments on Authors, Illustrators, Editors, and Publishers, last added: 9/21/2009
MotherReader started a meme of questions for past attendees of the two Kidlitosphere conferences to encourage enthusiasm to sign up. Today is the last day to sign up for the conference to get the hotel group rate for the third annual conference in Washington D.C. on October 17.Why did you decide to attend the KidLitosphere Conference?The initial idea for the get-together was a fantasy potluck
4 Comments on Kitlitosphere Conference Meme, last added: 9/19/2009
It was a bummer that you weren't feeling well! The time spent socializing with other bloggers WAS amazing, wasn't it? It felt like I could have spent hours talking to people about books or whatever.
Oh, I so wish I could meet you in person at this year's conference in DC (or rather, Arlington--which just so happens to be exactly where I live). I hold out hope of meeting you someday, though!
Anamaria: I wish we could meet this year, too. I still have connections to D.C. so it may yet happen on your coast.
A.Fortis: How often do you get to spend time talking about the books you love with a whole bunch of people? It doesn't happen enough for me. I've never gotten into book clubs. Hey though, there's an idea-- have a book club where you come together to talk about the books you've read recently and loved as opposed to everyone reading the same book.
Farida, I felt so badly for you being sick those days, but I so enjoyed that time together. I agree, too, that Mark is a great speaker. He kind of makes you think you can do anything.
And we'll hope the next time I see you, you *don't* have laryngitis. It's not so very far away now (close enough that I've started to think about that PLA presentation I'll be doing beforehand).
Oh my goodness, could sit and read those Wild Things posts all day long.