Collingswood Book Festival 10/2/10
Blue skies, the smell of caramel popcorn in the air, and books as far as I could see. It was a good day at the Collingswood Book Festival this Saturday. The Collingswood, NJ Book Festival is an annual event that takes place every October.
As I strolled down Haddon Avenue, I took note of the various booths and which ones caught my eye. Every author, I would think, wants to stand out to promote his or her book. So who, in my opinion, was successful?
Just like a wonderful book cover draws my hand toward a book, smartly designed booths caught my eye. Booths featuring large posters, fun themes, and yes—giveaways. What writer or reader can resist a shiny new pencil or a cool, glossy bookmark? Of course, I gravitated toward those tables. (tip: double-check for spelling errors on promotional material)
Now, once they had me, who was able to captivate my attention?
I admit I am not one who enjoys the strong pitch. It makes me immediately want to run in the other direction. One author actually stood in front of his table, and as I passed by, shoved a pamphlet in my hand and proceeded to relay a detailed summary of his book. Maybe that approach works for some, but I wasn’t even listening to him as I searched for an escape.
Others sat back mute as I read their book’s jacket-flaps—not even introducing themselves as the author. I moved on.
My favorite authors were those who smiled, introduced themselves, and gave me a brief description of their book. Even better were those who attempted to engage me with questions like: Are you into vampires? Ghost stories? What did you think of Twilight? Do you like adventure books?
A few years back, I participated in this book festival as an illustrator. The book I’d designed the cover for was titled Forward to Camelot and was a fictional tale about what would have happened if President Kennedy had survived his assassination attempt. Our booth drew crowds all day. The author, Kevin Finn, and I asked passers by a simple question. Where were you the day Kennedy was shot? People enjoyed telling us their stories and others stopped to listen and contribute. It created a buzz about our booth. We sold quite a few books that day.
Over the next couple of weeks I’m planning to interview some of the wonderful authors I met on Saturday. I hope you’ll enjoy reading about their writing journeys.
It’s Launch Day for The Secret Year!!!!!
Today is an exciting day for my friend and critique partner, Jenn Hubbard. It is launch day for her young adult novel, The Secret Year.
I met Jenn, via the internet, a few years ago. Her novel, The Secret Year, didn’t even have a title yet. After I finished reading, I remember turning to my husband and saying, “Wow, this girl can really write!”
Jenn’s books deal with heavy subjects that she handles with expertise. Her characters feel like people you’ve met in real life.
The Secret Year : Seventeen-year-old Colt has been sneaking out at night to meet Julia, a girl from an upper-class neighborhood unlike his own. They’ve never told anyone else about their relationship: not their family or friends, and especially not Julia’s boyfriend.When Julia dies suddenly, Colt tries to cope with her death while pretending that he never even knew her. He discovers a journal she left behind. But he is not prepared for the truths he discovers about their intense relationship, nor to pay the price for the secrets he’s kept.
The book was published by Viking Children’s Books. Jenn is repped by the ever-popular Nathan Bransford of Curtis Brown.
Yay, Jenn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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friday news
Literary agency news: Chris Richman, along with Danielle Chiotti have left Firebrand and joined Upstart Crow Literary founded by Michael Sterns Helpful research links: http://www.archetypewriting.com/index.html (this site will help you with understanding psychology. Deals with disorders, therapy techniques, jargon, and info about therapy sessions) http://www.hodrw.com/cop2.htm (this site discusses police body language and behavior. How the police enter a building, how they approach a possible criminal, etc) That all for today. Coll
Thursday Industry News:
Margaret Halton is returning to the agency side of the business after work on an interim basis as adult rights director for Pan Macmillan. She is joining Rogers, Coleridge and White part-time, providing maternity cover for Laurence Laluyaux, the Bookseller reports. Previously Halton was foreign rights director at ICM's UK office.
Nancy Yost is leaving Lowenstein-Yost Associates Inc. to start up her own literary agency. She may be reached at nancy@nyliterary.com.
Literary agents Serafina Clarke and Brie Burkeman have combined their two companies to establish Brie Burkeman & Serafina Clarke Ltd., specializing in high quality commercial writing across all mediums.
Bleak House founder Benjamin Leroy and his colleague there Alison Janssen are leaving the crime and literary fiction publisher to start a new house, Tyrus Books. Leroy is the publisher, and Janssen is senior editor (and Donna Bagdasarian's recent new literary management agency Publication Riot Group is handling rights.)
Ruth Katcher has joined Egmont USA as editor-at-large. Most recently she was an executive editor at Harper Children's.
This is so sad:
Portland, OR-area bookseller Stephanie Griffin closed her store Twenty-third Avenue Books in January and then became homeless. "Startled neighbors discovered this in June" as "Griffin had started panhandling outside her old store," Willamette Week writes. Neighbors have set up a relief fund:
Donations can be made to Stephanie Griffin Fund, c/o Glenda Magistrale, Consolidated Federal Credit Union, 2021 NE Sandy Blvd., Portland, OR 97232
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Thursday Industry News:
From Publisher's Lunch:(Hopefully I don't make any typos, I just drew a henna design on my left hand and it is drying)
-Barb Burg-former public relations director at Bantam Bell-launched Barb Burg Ink (public relations agency)
-Kirby Kim, Rebecca Oliver, and Laura Bonner all left Endeavor and joined WME Entertainment
-John Oakes and Colin Robinson launch OR Books (POD?)-Richard Nash (formally of Soft Skull Press) and Dedi Felman (formally of Simon and Schuster) launch an online community targeting writers, publishers, and readers. Members rate writer's work and, hopefully, they are offered contracts.
-Evan Goldfried left William Morris and joined Jill Grinberg Lit. (reps genre fiction, graphic novels, food, health, humor, and pop culture).
-Hilary Rubin Teeman-promoted to editor at St. Martin's Press-Lian Tanner-author of Museum of Thieves (first in fantasy trilogy) sold at auction to Michelle Poploff at Delacorte by Jill Grinberg Literary
-Alexis Barad-Ctler joined PlayBac as associate publisher-Lindsay Guzzardo-joined Guidepost Books as associate editor of inspirational fiction
-Alan Goldsher's Paul is Undead: The british Zombie Invasion (cute title) sold to Jaime Costas at Pocket by Jason Allen Ashlock of Movable Type Literary
Well, I hope something in there is useful to somebody! Have a great day!
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