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A Whirlwind Trip to PLA 2014, “About the Girls,” + Other Musings

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I just got back from a whirlwind trip down to Indianapolis to present at the Public Library Association conference. When I say whirlwind, I really mean it. My plans went a little askew because of a winter storm, but in the end, we made it down to Indy Wednesday evening and I made it back to my house in Wisconsin on Friday morning.

PLA was too short for the amount of fun it was. And I think this is the first time ever that I’ve felt presenting at a conference was completely fun without some kind of attachment to it. I didn’t feel nervous like I have in the past. It felt comfortable and good, and both of those things coalesced into making the experience so enjoyable.

After arriving on Wednesday night, I got to see both Angie Manfredi and Sophie Brookover. Angie and I made a quick trip through the exhibit halls — where I got to surprise and be surprised by seeing a friend there when neither of us knew the other was going — and let me just say that PLA exhibits are fun, low key, and enjoyable. This isn’t ALA exhibit opening night. This opening night involved enjoying some pita, hummus, spiced chicken, baba ghanoush, and some dessert. We picked up a few galleys, chatted with the vendors, and had this excellent picture snapped and shared by Penguin:

We didn’t stick around long, and I went out to dinner with Sophie afterward to have a power chat and talk a tiny bit about our morning presentation on “new adult” fiction. We went back to our room after and shared some of Wisconsin’s finest beer (because when I can travel somewhere by car, I’m going to bring my state’s finest). 
The nice thing about an 11 am presentation was the luxury of being able to sleep in and take it easy in the morning, which we all did. But then we made our way over to the convention center to give our talk on “new adult” fiction. 

Sophie and I had our “new adult” presentation accepted as a conversation starter, meaning that rather than talk at the room for an hour, the audience in attendance would be participants in the discussion. This set up was marvelous and so insightful for me (and I’m assuming Sophie, too). We had a five-part plan of attack, where we would talk for a few minutes on an aspect of “new adult,” then have the attendees discuss a question relating to what we’d talked about for a few minutes. We’d reconvene and hear what they had to say. 
Our room was full, too.

This conversation starter was so fun. We knew what we had to say, and we were confident in the message we wanted to impart (that “new adult” can and should be something much bigger than what’s being sold and packaged AS “new adult”) was what attendees took away. We got to hear from a number of people who had been working with 18-26 year olds, including libraries doing programs and collection work for this emerging adult group and a university librarian who works with this group and helps them find pleasure reading. The mix of experience and knowledge was perfect. We took copious notes during the session, which we plan on typing up and posting in our “new adult” resources page on the readadv blog — and if you attended the session or are curious about “new adult,” you can find those resources right here.

I had a lot of fun giving this presentation and learning from everyone else in the room. I’ve never felt so CONFIDENT about giving a presentation before, and it was such a neat experience being on that side of the fear/anxiety/worry spectrum. I think a lot of it had to do with remembering while I’m at the front of the room, I’m also there to learn from those in the room — it’s a collaborative effort, even if I’m the one (with Sophie!) who has to get the conversation started.

After my morning presentation, I had lunch with a friend, and because I had so little time between sessions, I had to run out of lunch earlier than I’d like. Perhaps I was too casual, as I was the last one to arrive to the second session…and I was the one with the technology. But we got it together and were prepared well before the start.

The teen programming session, which was a traditional panel, included Andrea Sowers, Angie Manfredi, and Katie Salo. We’ve been collaborating together since early in 2010. I had a really bizarre moment while I was sitting up on this stage and this was my view:

Hold on. That doesn’t quite capture it. Let me borrow this photo from Jason Walters:

So the weird moment was that I was sitting in seats just like that only five years ago. I was attending sessions just like this one in hopes of figuring out the secrets of teen programming success. But here I was now, sitting at the front of the room, facing out, rather than sitting in the back. Kind of surreal. And it hit me when I had that realization that what I had to say wasn’t necessarily about how I do great stuff (because, honestly, I don’t make new worlds here) but it was about how important it is to build a network like the one sitting beside me and how important it is to try, fail, then try again.

During our panel, I think it became clear how much we all work to collaborate with one another. We’d set up the discussion like a Q&A, and Angie moderated, asking us to weigh in on a few questions. When asked about my most successful teen program, all three of my fellow panelists jumped in saying they’d used my program idea and modified it, then explained how they had succeeded or failed doing the very same things.

This panel was also a LOT of fun. The four of us have very different experiences, come from very different libraries, with very different needs and outcomes. Angie was able to work in her standard line about how today’s teens aren’t interested in Buffy and how important it is to just stay abreast of your local teens interests and cater to them. If you want to see what others had to say or share during our panel, there are a few tweets at the #teenprog to explore. I’m positive that the ladies I did this with will also blog about it and I’d be happy to round those up.

After the panel finished, we were approached by folks who wanted to ask questions to us directly, and I had the privilege of meeting people who read Stacked (!!!) and who were kind enough to say nice things about it. I also got to meet a local to me librarian, which is always such a joy to me. It was nice to bounce ideas and thoughts with people, and it was even nicer to remind people of that very revelation I had: I’m not an expert but a colleague who is happy to share experiences and ideas where they’re helpful and useful.

When the second session finished, I was back in the car and on the road home. It was a bummer not to see more people or sessions beyond mine, but I’m SO excited to dig into the PLA tag and discover more. What an enjoyable conference and enjoyable set of presenting experiences to have.

I’m going to be riding high on them for quite a while and I’m so grateful to everyone who came out, who interacted, and who (without being paid) said such nice things about my sessions and this blog (which will forever thrill me to the core).

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We’re at the mid-way point of our “About the Girls” series, and I just wanted to send a quick thank you to not just those who have taken part — and will be taking part — in writing the post. But I also wanted to send a huge thank you to those of you reading and talking about these posts. I’ve had some of the nicest comments recently from readers, and I’ve been able to see teachers who are using these posts and discussion fodder in classrooms. 
There is literally nothing that could excite me more than thinking about teens having these conversations about “unlikable” girls or female friendships in YA fiction. I love reading what you’re doing and sharing that, so yes! If you are having these talks or pointing people to these posts or writing about them yourself, keep sending them my way so I can enjoy and share them, too.
I will try to put together a roundup at the end of the series with all of your posts as well. 
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The voting for ALA elections opens next week, and I have an interview about my qualifications and experience over at YALSA’s blog. 

ALA 2013 Chicago: A Recap

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image via libraryasincubatorproject.org

It took almost a week to recover from the ALA conference this year. I think a lot of it had to do with the amount of movement that happened there — from place to place, from person to person — and a lot had to do with feeling like a few big projects that I’ve been working on for a long time wrapped up. I’ve been crashing and crashing hard the last few days, but I’ve found taking it easy has also been really good.

ALA this year was good. It was great to meet up with people I’ve been talking with for a long time, to meet new people, and to learn from and with my colleagues.

Chicago is hometown to me — I grew up near Joliet and spent a good chunk of time in the city as a kid (I took a summer class at Columbia one year, and I lived near the Newberry Library for a class in undergrad). So there’s not much in the way of touristy things to share.

Thursday

Since I still live relatively close to Chicago, I hopped on the train in the late morning and met up with Liz at our hotel a little after noon. We decided to grab lunch in the hotel (which was good) and then we relaxed before Sophie showed up.

The three of us went out for Thai dinner, brainstorming and discussing how we’d present on Monday together (because we’d decided earlier on that our presentation on “new adult” would have to be as up to date as possible). In the midst, Liz came up with a brilliant blog idea that we hope to launch later this year.

Friday

Because it was the big Blackhawks rally, some of my plans for the morning were shifted around. I had a lovely brunch early with Liz, Sophie, and our friend Victoria. After the meal, we ended up back in our room, and when Liz and I saw the cleaning lady coming, we thought we’d scoot down to the lobby and get out of her hair.

But. . .

courtesy of Liz

The rally for the team apparently was happening in our hotel after the parade. Which would have been nice for the hotel to tell us, since we had very few places to go and get work done outside our room (and getting out of our hotel was a no-go). If you squint, you can see the Stanley Cup there in the image since it was brought to our hotel lobby.

We did end up finding a place to sit and collect ourselves, then we went back to our room, got our stuff organized, then headed down to the convention center for opening night of the exhibits floor.

All in all, I thought it wasn’t too bad. It was crowded, and I was quickly reminded at exhibits how much I dislike crowds and tight spaces, but I thought that on the whole, behavior was totally fine and civil. I wish people were better about stepping out of the middle of an aisle when they are gawking, but that’s a minor complaint. The first night of exhibits I picked up a few books and ARCs I was hoping to find. I got to meet Erica Lorraine Scheidt and get a finished copy of Uses for Boys, and I picked up ARCs of Elizabeth Scott’s Heartbeat and Marisha Pessl’s Night Film. I also picked up a signed movie-cover edition of Judy Blume’s Tiger Eyes.

After about half an hour, I grabbed a shuttle and headed back to my hotel to change for the big kid lit drink night party. I think this was the 5th or 6th one of these I’ve put together, and every single time I am blown away by the turn out.

We had no room this time. None. It was packed, standing room only, and it was AMAZING. I met so many people I’d been hoping to meet, librarians, bloggers, and authors alike. It was so nice to put faces to people like Jessica and Rachel who I’ve been talking to or reading for years (!!!) now. I also got to spend some time with Stephanie Kuehn (author of Charm & Strange), and I met Alison Cherry (author of the forthcoming Red), Christa Desir (author of the forthcoming Fault Line), and many, many other people.

Imagine some photos of a really crowded bar right here because the photos I took are so dark they’re not worth posting. I’d say we easily had 60 or so people at the event, which is an incredible turnout. A big thanks to Julie and Stephanie for helping organize another successful meetup.

photo courtesy of Malinda Lo
I ended up skipping out early from my own event to make it across town to the Little, Brown dance party celebrating Holly Black’s Coldest Girl in Cold Town, and I brought Stephanie Kuehn with me to the event. I knew there’d be a few librarians who’d love to meet her there, and I thought she’d enjoy it since it was her first time at ALA (and the dance party is one of my favorite ALA things). Not only is it a fun event, it’s one of the few where I got to see and spend time with nearly all of my favorite librarian friends — when we see each other at the convention itself, it’s so often in passing, so getting to spend time together dancing is enjoyable. 

We shut the place down, and it was really nice to not only see people I knew, but I got the chance here to meet some new faces, too. It was the perfect kick off to the conference, even if it meant getting into the hotel really late the night before presentation number one at ALA (so worth it, as it always is).

Saturday

Don’t know why my name is missing.

I managed to sneak in a few minutes of wandering the exhibit floor before my panel on advanced reader copies on Saturday morning. I’d packed an entire backpack for the day — including my laptop, about twelve notebooks, and so forth — since immediately after my panel I had to head to a couple of committee meetings. I was so ready.

What made the morning exciting was that one of my good friends — who I went to college with, the maid of honor in my wedding — surprised me by showing up to ALA and finding me prior to my presentation. She’s a librarian in the Chicago suburbs, but we’d never talked about whether she was going or not.

It was one of those surprises that put a smile on my face.

The panel was comprised of myself, Kristi Chadwick, Liz Burns, and then we invited Jen Childs (Director of Library Marketing at Random House for adult books) and Victoria Stapleton (Director of School and Library Marketing at Little, Brown) to talk from their side of the table on the topic.

As you may have seen, I made a series of beautiful charts from our ARC survey for the panel. I popped them into a Prezi (also linked above) and was so ready to share data.

Except, we had no internet in our room. None. Zilch. No matter how many times I tried to reconnect things in the room, no internet would come through. The tech support at McCormick was not helpful. All of the information I’d received prior to ALA said I’d have internet, but there was not, in fact, internet connected to the computer with our presentation. I was asked — again by their staff — to pop my presentation onto a flash drive and work off there, but it was unclear to them that doing so was impossible without access to the internet.

Something to know about me: frustration is one of those things that makes me cry. I joke about being robot hearted but actually, I am very sensitive. I cry with frustration and anger and it’s how I feel better. Except, I couldn’t do it here since we’re on stage, about to present. So I held it in, decided to forgo showing the stuff I’d worked on for the presentation, and tried to compartmentalize it.

The presentation itself went well, but I was very bummed more people didn’t attend. The information I learned from my co-panelists was great — a lot, specifically, about the decline of print ARCs, about how to have a successful request through Netgalley or Edelweiss (and why Edelweiss will be the go-to place for eARCs in the future), and so forth. We talked about what you can and cannot do with ARCs beyond what emerged in the survey, too.

I felt good about it. But I felt sad, too, fewer people attended than hoped.

As soon as the presentation ended, I was still frustrated about internet issues, and it become compounded when I left my room at 11:35 for a shuttle to make it to my noon meeting. I didn’t even get on a shuttle until noon, though. And I didn’t get to my meeting until 12:20. There is nothing I dislike more than lateness, and worse, I hate being late myself worst of all. My frustration only amplified, and at that point, I was about ready to explode (again, anger and frustration are my triggers, and I know this — but I held it together).

The meeting was only an hour long, so missing twenty minutes felt like missing out on a lot. Not to mention that the room we had the meeting in had no wireless internet . . . and all of my committee notes were, of course, on Google Docs (it seems ridiculous that you’re expected to be prepared for committee meetings but then you’re in a room where you can’t access your documents — this is 2013, not 1993). But afterwards, my chair and I went to lunch together, and I felt a little better, though I was exhausted (holding it together and not crying when you want to is hard). When my chair went to another meeting, I ended up waiting in the hotel for an hour until my next meeting, since clearly trying to do anything with shuttles running on such a crummy schedule felt too chancey. It ended up being okay, and my second subcommittee meeting was excellent. We made huge progress on talking about our charge and what books we think should or shouldn’t be on the list, as well as what our “dream” list would look like.

The meeting wrapped up at 5, and I ended up taking a cab back to my hotel (shuttles…) to get dressed up for a dinner with Katherine Tegen. Fortunately, it was walkable.

Dinner was delicious and I had the chance to meet not only the folks behind the imprint, but I got to meet a number of authors, too. I had dinner with Debra Driza (author of Mila 2.0) at my table, then I was introduced to Hilary T. Smith (author of Wild Awake), and at the end of the event, I managed to say hello to Veronica Roth (who knew who I was which was wild). The event was really nice, and I was grateful to be invited since it was a really small group. I just wish I’d been a tiny bit less exhausted.

Sunday

With my friend Anna

Waking up Sunday was funny. There was a flood of tweets that kind of looked like what I was thinking inside my head: sleeping in was nice. I felt a million times better than I had on Saturday, after a full night’s sleep and a big dinner the night before.

I took the day very easy. I made my way to the convention center and wandered exhibits a bit, picked up a handful of things (that were talked up to me personally — the difference of the floor on Sunday from Friday night is huge). These included The Waking Dark by Robin Wasserman, Chasing Shadows by Swati Avasthi, and The Living by Matt de la Pena.

But the biggest excitement for me on Sunday was that I happened to walk by the Sourcebooks booth right when Geoff Herbach was signing.

Serendipity.

Herbach’s the author of Stupid Fast and I love that series. More though, it was one of the books I’d been a part of the Cybils panel for when it was shortlisted, and Herbach was the last of the authors I’d hoped to meet because I’d been a part of the Cybils panel who’d read and voted for the book. It was so nice to meet him finally, and I think my signed copy of I’m with Stupid will be long-treasured.

I did lunch with a big group of people I was thrilled to have lunch with at the convention center, including Jackie (who I was thrilled to even see), Gwenda Bond, Liz, Sara Ryan, and Jennifer Laughran. It was a totally laid back affair at the food court, followed by a trip to the only adjoining hotel for coffee and gossip.

After lunch, I decided to head back to my hotel room and just chill. A few long-time friends ended up getting in touch later and we decided to grab dinner together in my hotel and catch up.

It may have been my favorite meal.

I’ve been spending time with these same ladies for years, not only at conferences, but we all share a listserv together where we celebrate and vent and brainstorm. It’s always great when we can get together in person and talk. Plus, I got to end the meal eating this:

That is a carrot cake whoopie pie. It was delicious.

Monday


The biggest day at the conference for me was Monday, and it started out with a bang. Sophie, Liz, and I were presenting on “new adult” at 9:15 in the morning. But we’d all managed to get up and get ready earlier than we’d thought, so we were all in the convention center early. I used the time to snag a spot along the wall for the presentation prior to ours on the Tumblarian crew.

I’ve been on Tumblr for a while but it hasn’t been until I spent time with the tumblarian tag and getting to know those who are involved with it that I found a way to use Tumblr effectively (and still personally). The presentation wasn’t necessarily ground breaking for me, but it did get me thinking about the ways I could implement Tumblr at work, which is something I’ve been hoping to do for a while.

Nugget of wisdom I took away: Tumblr tags are only searchable through the first five you use. So if you tag a post with 15 or so things, only the first five are able to be searched and tracked. Put your most important ones first if you want people to find your content.

Then it was go time.

Like with our ARC panel, amazing musician librarian Julie Jurgens kicked it off with a theme song (she wrote and performed them at so many panels). We managed to get someone to snag a video of this one:

I’d been feeling really good about this presentation, and I think it went very well. We were able to talk about things relating to new adult from our perspective as they stand now and as we think they’ll progress as the “genre” emerges and grows. We were asked incredibly intelligent, thoughtful questions from the audience, and everything just felt very good in the discussion. We knew our stuff, but we made it very clear we were no experts. That we had more questions than we had answers.

I knew the room was packed, but two people passed along these images showing just how packed the room was. I’m seriously blown away.

If you’re curious about the take aways from our panel, you can check out the hash tag #ALA13NA on Twitter. It was really enlightening to go back and look at that later, since I feel like I took away as much from this panel as I was able to impart (my biggest commentary on this was that we should be paying attention to these titles — and others — and really put them into context with crossover appeal as a reader’s advisory skill/tool/area of improvement).

You can find all of our resources over at the Readadv blog. We plan on keeping that a living document, so you will see more stuff pop up there as we find more books that might fit this niche.

After our presentation ended and we answered questions, I had 15 solid minutes for myself before a lunch date with a friend. I took that time to run to the reading stage in the exhibit hall and listen to Sara Zarr share a bit from Roomies. Since I had to decline a lunch invite with her and a few other authors, it was my one chance to finally see her (or so I thought!). It got me really interested in the book, and I ended up reading it in one sitting when I got home from ALA. It was supremely satisfying.

I went to lunch with a friend shortly thereafter, which was lovely. It wasn’t as long as I’d have enjoyed because I had to run to another committee meeting. This committee meeting was, fortunately, in the hotel where we’d eaten lunch, so I was able to make it not only on time, but with enough time to get settled and organized.

Those things make a huge difference.

I walked away from that meeting feeling really positive about the committee experience and I’m really eager to keep up the enthusiasm. I love the charge, and I remind you again that you can help out with recommending titles for consideration.

When that committee meeting ended, I was invited for drinks but I decided I’d be better prepared for the evening with a little rest in my room. Plus, I had to prepare myself for dinner:

I went out with Liz, Barry Goldblatt, and Karyn Silverman to a place called The Purple Pig and we ate.  I’m not a big meat eater — I don’t eat beef at all — and so navigating the menu at a pork-centric restaurant was a blast. I’m not even being sarcastic. I actually kind of let the meat eaters make choices, and I tried everything. Including bone marrow. I can’t say I’ll be having it again, but I decided it was probably the only time in my life I’d try it, so why not.

After our incredible dinner, we walked back to the hotel Liz and I were at since it was time for the Printz reception. Unlike last year, where I’d read the books of most of the honorees, this year I’d only read Code Name Verity. I have to say, I was less-than-impressed with the speeches this year. They weren’t bad (and Benjamin Alire Saenz’s made me tear up a bit) but they didn’t necessarily push me over to wanting to read the books as soon as possible.

For me, the biggest and best part of the Printz event is the post-speech reception. Tiffany Emerick mentioned it’s a lot like the end of summer camp. You get to see everyone you hadn’t yet seen at ALA but it’s also about saying goodbye. I had the chance at the Printz reception to not only see gads of people I’d hoped to see, but I also finally got to meet Sara Zarr, along with Annabel Pitcher and E. M. Kokie.

Above, a photo with Abby on the left, and a photo with Angie, Kellie, and Sophie on the right. And to round out what was a really great, great event, of course we needed a team photo:

I do believe this is the only photo of Sophie, Liz, and myself all together.


Takeaways


Now that this post has been very long, I thought I’d tease out a few of the biggest event takeaways for me this go around.

  • There was incredible presence by youth services librarians at ALA. I paid attention to this because of all of the discussions about youth services being sort of the forgotten element of librarianship and how it doesn’t get the recognition that other “sexy” topics in the field do. But you know. I watched people like Melissa Depper and Marge Loch Wouters, among others, make things happen. They got attention and I am so happy for that. Marge sums it up in one of her wrap up posts. 
  • There is never enough time to do what you want. I made choices in presenting at ALA — twice — and I made a choice in being a part of a committee. The set up of Chicago worked against me, as it was impossible to get from one place to another without planning 30, 40, 60 minutes in advance. That cut into my opportunities to see and do what I really wanted to do. It’s a bummer when you don’t get the chance to see people do their things, especially when they’ve been insanely supportive of you and your things. 
  • But even if I couldn’t be supportive in person at their events, it is always great to see these people in passing. It’s always great to bump into them — even for a minute — and say hi. 
  • My first ALA conference wasn’t very much fun when I went years ago. But as I’ve gotten to know more people from working, and as I’ve gotten to know more people from Twitter and from blogging, the more enjoyable conferences have become. Those little associations aren’t so little. They matter and make a huge difference not only on the social side of things (you always have someone to grab a meal with!) but they make a huge difference in your professional development, too. I learn so much from people every day, but I feel like I learn even more when I get to see them in person. . . even if it is only for a few minutes. Because I am seeing them in action and doing things in their element. 
  • I walked away inspired and revived. It’s been a really hard summer for me professionally but I feel positive again. I’m ready to tackle things. I’m ready to implement ideas. I want to get things rolling. I want to do them on the local level — with my kids — and I am eager to test things out on a grander level — on the blog, in future conferences, and so forth. 
  • Taking personal time to recollect your head is essential and it is okay to say no to things. It’s not only physically recharging, but it’s good for your mind. I also think it is really important when you come home to take time to do things for yourself. Rather than dive into more committee reading, I picked up a pile of books from ALA I’d been eager to read and just read them. It felt really good. 
I’m looking forward to what Midwinter in Philly brings in January. 

BEA Part 1: Blogger Con

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I’m going to break up my BEA posts a little and share them throughout the week, but I do want to start at the beginning with Blogger Con. As you might remember, I was invited to speak on a panel called “Book Blogging and the Big ‘Niches'”, which was an honor.

The day began with a little bit of a travel problem — the shuttle supposedly going to Grand Central Station never showed up — and then when I got to the place I was to report, no one was there to meet me. After both of those things were taken care of, I met up with Leila and we grabbed spots for the opening keynote speaker, Will Schwalbe. After we stood in line for getting “stuff.” Maybe it’s just me, but beginning the blogging con with “grab stuff you want,” sends an interesting message.

What began as a sort of bland talk about how much book bloggers have saved the book industry (which I don’t know I agree with) actually became a very frustrating keynote to listen to, as Schwalbe suggested that the role of book bloggers is to play the role of cheerleader. We’re to think of the people behind the books — the writers, the editors, the publishers — and in doing so, be careful what it is we choose to say because our words have power. While he called out snarky reviews as problematic, he never once broached the topic of critical reviews, choosing instead to talk about the value of being positive and cheering books and their creators.

This to me is exceptionally problematic, especially as a way to tie into the con more broadly. I think it’s very important to talk about the things you love, but I also think it’s important to remain true to yourself and what it is your goals are as a blogger. Me? I love being critical. I don’t use my platform as a means of being a cheerleader. I use it to talk both about the things I like and the things that make me go hmm.

Of course, part of Schwalbe’s talk circled back to his own book, and he made some interesting parallels between book blogging and book clubs, which to me don’t equate. It felt in many ways that blogging was reduced to one purpose, which was to continue helping the industry (remember his talk began with the grand statement about how bloggers have saved publishing). While I appreciated that Schwalbe talked with three bloggers to inform his talk, he didn’t really offer much more than to say we’re cheerleaders and that left a sour taste in my mouth. I wondered then and still wonder how this talk would have been structured had it come from a blogger who completely gets what bloggers set out to do (spoiler: bloggers do a lot of neat, different, various things — some cheerlead, some criticize, and there is room in this world for all of our unique interests and passions).

So to say things started off disappointing is an understatement. The take away of “be nice” doesn’t sit well with me. “Be respectful?” That would have been a much different — and worthwhile — takeaway for me. You don’t automatically get nice, but you do automatically get respect.

Following the keynote, I attended a session called “YA Editor Insights,” which featured three YA editors — Cheryl Klein of Scholastic, Deb Noyes of Candlewick, Emily Meehan of Disney-Hyperion, and Jen Doll of the “YA for Grownups” series in The Atlantic (long time readers know my thoughts on this series). While I like Buzz sessions, this panel was not billed as that, even though that is all it became. There was nothing about blogging and the impact it has had on editing or acquisitions or on publicity — anything relevant. It was about what books were coming out, and it even included a cover reveal. So while that was interesting, it was incredibly disappointing to be sold books, rather than sold the value of book blogging. And what a missed opportunity, too, since Cheryl is a huge blogger and could have offered so much in that regard.

Again, it felt like what bloggers can do for the industry. And in this case, it was what they can talk about in the coming months.

I should note I don’t blame the panelists for this. I suspect they were told this was what the topic was and this was how they approached it. More on that shortly.

The following panel I attended was “YA Book Blogging Pros: Successes, Struggles, and Insider Secrets,” which featured Cindy Minnich of the Nerdy Book Club, Thea James of The Book Smugglers, Danielle Smith of There’s a Book, and Kristina Radke of Netgalley. For the most part, there wasn’t a whole lot said here I didn’t know, but I suspect there was some value for newbie bloggers. I especially liked Thea’s repetition that being critical is okay and doing your own thing . . . is okay. That there is a difference between critical and negative reviews — I am so glad she said that because it was the first time during the day I’d heard it.

What I didn’t like about this panel was that it came off at times like an opportunity for Netgalley to advertise. And while yes, Netgalley IS a good tool for bloggers, I didn’t need to know that they were doing a “wellness check” and could help us make our profiles most appealing to publishers.

This is where I say again, it felt very much like what bloggers can do for the industry, rather than what we are doing for ourselves.

There was a lunch break after this panel, and it ended up being a not-free lunch since I never got my free lunch ticket. I should have when I picked up my badge but did not. And I’m sad it didn’t happen. So I paid way too much for a half-burned hot dog in the Javitz cafeteria and tried to regroup before the afternoon sessions.

Immediately after the lunch was an ethics panel, featuring Jane Litte of Dear Author (with a law background), Richard Newman (a lawyer), and Geanne Rosenburg (journalism professor who works with the Student Press Law Center, which was an invaluable resource to me — when I was working in journalism). The session began with talking about FTC compliance, and it was probably where I took away the one valuable nugget from this entire conference. Apparently, if you write negative reviews (and they said negative, not critical, since no one seems to understand those are two different things), you don’t need to disclose your free product receipt.

Which.

Why is it everyone conflates ARCs with free products? ARCs have no value; their purpose is for reviewing. I don’t understand why there needs to be an obsession with those being freebies. They aren’t. They’re valueless. I think there’s a difference if you get a finished copy of a book, but even then, since you’re under no obligation to review it, why do you need to disclose it?

Obviously, we disclose everything here at STACKED: where we got our books, who sent them to us, if we have a relationship with an author we’re reviewing a book from. But I like to think readers understand we’re under no obligation to review anything and getting anything or having a relationship with someone in no way influences our opinions.

That said, the ethics panel then devolved into something ridiculous: whether or not we could use cover images on our posts. I can’t believe that in 2013, this is even a topic of discussion, especially at a blogger convention. I cannot believe that the discussion went on for nearly 20 minutes, and that people suggested a way around this issue could be taking a photo of the cover image since you own the copyright to the image you took.

People.

Covers are part of the marketing of a book. As long as you are not claiming you are the creator of the cover nor are remixing it without permission of the copyright holder (the publisher in many cases), then you can post it. You may even be ENCOURAGED to post cover images. It spreads the word about the book. It is the biggest piece of the selling puzzle of a book.

There was essentially no talk about things like censorship or about libel. Those are important ethical topics and instead, time was wasted talking about book covers. I point you to Leila’s post about blogger con, too, since she talked about an interesting series of thoughts we were having at our table between ourselves on ethical issues. Something else I’m curious about and wish had been talked about: what is a relationship with an author? It was sort of broached but never explored — if you’re friendly with someone on Twitter, is that a relationship you need to disclose? When does a relationship go from casual on social media to something deeper? I know where my lines are, but I’m curious where other people draw their own. And what then blog readers expect in terms of disclosure, since it seems silly to say “I talk with so and so on Twitter” as a relationship, even though that could influence a book review or impression.

In short, the ethics panel didn’t deliver anything new or groundbreaking, nor did it address some really thought-provoking topics on the ethics of book blogging. I do think some of that has to do with the fact this was a law-driven panel, rather than one driven by bloggers (aside from Jane, who moderated more than spoke) or critics themselves.

I didn’t actually attend a panel after the ethics conversation, since I met with my own panel co-presenters to go over what it was we wanted to talk about. I presented with Chelsy Hall of Big Honcho Media (who we’ve worked with before here), David Gutowski (of the blog/site Largehearted Boy), and Sarah Dickman (of Odyl, which created the book discovery website Riffle you may have heard about). Our topic, “Book Blogging and the Big ‘Niches'” had us all confused from the start. What did it even mean? We made it our own thing.

We had 5 points we wanted to cover specifically and then we opened it up for questions — and David and I took on the bulk of talking on these topics, since we were the two bloggers represented on the panel, with Chelsy talking a bit about working with bloggers and Sarah talking about how bloggers can use sites like Riffle to bolster their expertise and reach. To say it was a weird mix of people on the panel would be an understatement.

The five points we hit were:

  • Using your professional background and experience to inform your writing. I talked about how being a librarian meant I focused my reviews on reader appeal factors and potential audience, even for those books I don’t like myself. 
  • When and how to reach beyond your own blog for a bigger platform. I talked about how sometimes you need to know what other bloggers have passion for and collaborate with them in order to make a bigger impact. I talked a bit about series posts and how those have a bigger and different reach in a way that builds community among bloggers of all sorts.
  • Interacting with readers, publishers, authors, and local communities helps you. David talked about the series he does with local bookstores, and I talked about how, being rural and without access to a local bookstore, I use my blog as a means of connecting people with people and people with books. We don’t all have access to a big book world and that that digital space is a legitimate and valuable space. 
  • It’s important to be willing to be available for others via blogging and social media. I talked about how I love helping other people, and I hit the fact that sometimes, a non-answer comes from the fact it’s something I’ve blogged about before extensively and therefore can be answered with a quick search of the blog OR that sometimes, time really is a factor in responding to everything. I do read every single email or comment I get; sometimes, I just cannot respond though. And it is never, ever personal. 
  • We then talked a bit about how the niche has changed and where we think blogging is headed. I talked about one of the interesting trends I’ve seen and like to take part in, which is talking about backlist titles. Apparently this was….a surprise. I talked about the success of The Chocolate War read and blog along, and about how many of the bloggers I read and respect have been implementing projects to highlight backlist books (Jennie is an excellent example of a blogger who is creating daily book lists talking up YA backlist titles). 
We then opened it up to questions, the bulk directed at David and I because . . . we were the bloggers. And here is where I am going to be a bit critical.
Almost all of the questions we got came from industry professionals. I was asked how I am best pitched to. I was asked how to structure the materials that accompany unsolicited review copies so that those books catch my attention. I was asked if I really would consider reviewing backlist titles from a publisher. And while I think they’re valid questions, it really struck me as proving the point I’d been seeing all day: this wasn’t a convention for bloggers about bloggers. It was a convention about how bloggers can serve the industry. How the industry can make sure they’re getting on blogger radars. 
This was not the forum for that. 
I made sure to bring up a couple other important points that I think newbie and seasoned bloggers needed to know, like the fact you don’t need to be everywhere and do everything. There ARE a million book discovery websites and a ton of social media outlets. But if you try to keep up with everything, you will burn out and lose passion for blogging for you. You are no one’s tool. You do this because you want to do it. I emphasized you can and should say no. 
Then I was asked how many review copies I get a week. Which…
It’s interesting to me this comes up at all. And it’s interesting to me this is such a secretive thing in the blogging world. I was asked from someone representing the publishing side, as they noted that many bloggers claim they get overwhelmed on a daily basis, and I do believe that many bloggers do. But I wonder at times how much of that is exaggeration. 
Because I get maybe 3 or 4 unsolicited AND accepted review copies a week. Yes, that’s a lot, but it’s not the 10-15 a day many do say they receive.
But the kicker on my panel was the question which came near the end and I really needed to do a double take on.
He asked me how I felt library users were being “screwed” by the Big 6 publishers in their ability to access ebooks. While he didn’t use “screwed,” he did phrase it very slantedly in the first wording of the question. When I asked him to repeat, he toned it down a bit. But I sat there and had a moment — here I was on a panel about blogging, and I’m being asked to answer a question about libraries, ebooks, the Big 6, and I’m meant to represent the answer for all of these industries at once? 
I said I couldn’t answer that and that it’s a topic that merits entire conferences in and of themselves.
It was that moment, though, it really nailed home how this conference was not about bloggers or blogging. It was about the publishing industry and the fears all over it. Bloggers play in as cheerleaders and tools of the industry, rather than out to do this because they want to do it for themselves or love talking about and thinking critically about books.
My panel concluded and we all made our way for the final keynote, Randi Zuckerberg. Yes, it’s the sister of THAT Zuckerberg. Her talk began 20 minutes late, partially because there was no computer for her powerpoint presentation so they had to borrow one from the audience.
I can’t even go into how bad the presentation was. I can’t talk about how it was not in any way tailored to an audience of bloggers. I can’t even talk about how it was about how great and privileged Randi was and how she had no idea what it is we really do as bloggers. 
In many ways, I don’t even know who her talk was for.
She had 10 tips for successful social media use, but none of it was tailored for bloggers. In fact, I have never been to a keynote where I have so vehemently disagreed with every point that at the end, I walked away feeling depressed and down about what it was I do and think myself. I don’t have the energy to rehash it, and neither did Leila, but in short, there are right ways to do social media, and no matter what you do, you’re never going to be doing it as good or as well as Big Name Companies who Pay People Money to Do These Things.
This keynote was much more about privilege and business than it was about people who blog because they enjoy blogging. There were topics brought up which made no sense at all — Zuckerberg talked about an app that stops people from drinking and driving and how apps were the new way to gain audience, as were taking photos of the events you want to talk about (because we all know that taking photos of my on the couch in my pajamas reading is going to bring interest to my BOOK REVIEWS) — and in many ways, it was a clear sign that this industry just does not get what book bloggers do. That maybe this entire conference missed the point.
Take Aways

I think it’s clear that this conference was not for bloggers by bloggers. Yes, they had an advisory board but I think much of the power of that advisory board didn’t shine through (in fact, I mentioned my panel didn’t understand our charge to talk about big niches, and the person who proposed the panel told us what she’d envisioned and that it didn’t come out that way when described to us). Neither of the keynotes were there to talk about blogging and its richness and diversity. 
There was a real emphasis on what it is bloggers are doing for the industry and many in attendance were eager to swallow up the knowledge of how they can get a piece of the pie. I was pitched many books while there, and it left a sour taste in my mouth.
I’m in blogging for the love of blogging.
I’m in blogging to meet other bloggers and to have enlightening, engaging conversations about blogging and about books. I want to be critical.
I’m in this for selfish reasons and I’m in this for community reasons.
I’m not in this to be a service to publishers. I am not in this for free stuff because I don’t think I’m getting anything out of blogging except the rewards I assign to blogging for myself. The emphasis on free stuff, the emphasis on getting my attention, the emphasis on how books and publishers can get on my radar? It was weird and uncomfortable. 
Part of why I love and adore Kid Lit Con so much is that the entire conference is for book bloggers BY book bloggers. There is virtually no swag. Virtually no freebies. It’s about the community and the diverse voices, energies, and insights garnered therein. It’s not about what I can do for the industry because what I do is not influenced by the industry. 
What I do is influenced only by what it is that interests and ignites me.
I wouldn’t recommend BEA Blogger Con for those looking to learn about blogging or those looking to grow their readership, audience, to expand their knowledge of ethics or become more savvy on the world of blogging. It wasn’t that. I have been to Blogger Con before, when it was run by and for bloggers, and the tone was much different. The goals much different. 
Why is it the keynotes weren’t bloggers? Why were a few of the panels covered entirely with bloggers? Why did some seem like giant advertisements for products or services? 
I love blogging and I LOVE the community herein. I have made some of my closest friends through this activity, and I have found some of my favorite books and authors through this.
I have not sold books doing this. I have not made it my goal to be an advocate of the publishing industry or to be a cheerleader for it. 
I’ve gone on for a long time here, and I could go on twice as long with how disappointing and disheartening this conference was. I’m sure many will walk away feeling it was successful and that they learned a lot. I’m sure in many ways they did learn a lot. I know I draw from a well of experience and program attendances to compare, but I also know that this wasn’t what it advertised itself to be, either. 
I hope that other bloggers find those right niches for them and that they learn there is a huge, rich, wonderfully complicated and exciting world of blogging out there. That what they’re told at a conference like this isn’t the be-all, end-all. That they can choose to do things on their own terms with their own goals and passions and interests in mind, whether that’s being a non-stop cheerleader OR being a snarky reviewer OR being critical OR being a little bit of everything.
There is no one right way, even if that’s what the take away may have been. 

Some exciting news

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I have been sitting on a ton of really exciting news. At least, it’s news that’s exciting for me. I can’t say it’s exciting for anyone else. But now I feel like I can share them.

First, I’m beyond thrilled to share I’ll be speaking at the Wisconsin Association of Public Libraries conference (WAPL) in May down here in my own back yard at the Grand Geneva! I don’t know how many Wisconsin folks read this blog or will be attending, but I’m beyond excited. The Youth Services Section board actually reached out to me to talk about blogs and using them in library services. The presentation time isn’t quite set yet, but it has a title — The Buzz on Blogs: Finding, Evaluating, and Using Youth Services Blogs. If you’re going to WAPL, let me know.

I am probably way too excited about the fact I get to go to this conference and speak and then still sleep in my own bed at night.

Second is this…

I had no plans to go to BEA this year. None. I hadn’t even given it a passing glance. But, I was extended an amazing invitation to speak at the Book Blogger Con at BEA this year on a topic that I’m pretty excited about.

So I took it.

I’ll be attending BEA, and I’ll be speaking on Wednesday at the Blogger Con at the panel entitled Book Blogging and the ‘Big’ Niches. More specifically, I was asked if I’d speak to how to blogging niche has changed and where I think blogging will be heading in the future. Can you hear my laughter from there? I’m really excited and honored about this. If you’re going, the panel is on Wednesday, May 29th at 3:30 Eastern Time.

Of course, I’ll be around BEA, as well.

Finally — I said this was really exciting for me — I have a follow up to something I alluded to last summer, regarding a proposal for a panel discussion at ALA in Chicago. I will be on a panel with Liz Burns and Kristi Chadwick talking about my favorite topic: Advanced Reader Copies (ARCs) of books. I don’t have a time or a date yet, though I know it’ll take place in the convention center. The title of our program is All About ARCs: The Ins and Outs of Requesting, Using, and Abusing Advanced Reading Copies.

And this is separate from the “new adult” conversation starter that I would so love your vote for, too.

I’m beyond excited and completely humbled by all of these incredible opportunities right now, I can’t even express it. It feels weird to share it all at once and weird to share it at all, but I do hope to see familiar faces and I hope I get to meet new-to-me faces at any of these things, too. I may be an introvert, but I’m not shy about saying hello and hearing from people and talking with them!

If you’re going to any or all of these, I’d love to know! And if you have any thoughts on any of these topics, I’d love to hear them, too.

ALA Midwinter in Seattle: A Recap

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This last week’s trip to Seattle for ALA Midwinter was my third trip to Seattle and solidified for me that Seattle is an excellent place for a conference. Also, Seattle has some of the best food around, is easy to navigate, and I think it’s affordable. The photo above is from Pike’s Market at the fish throwing place — they welcomed the librarians with not only this, but one of the throwers stopped me and told me all about how much he knew about librarians (he knew there were tech people, archivists, school librarians, public librarians, and so forth).

I can’t think of a cohesive way to sort of talk about what happened at Midwinter, so here’s a day by day look at the excitement of sitting in meetings, of eating good food, and of celebrating good books and friends.

Thursday


After making it to Seattle on a very long flight, I took the afternoon to just veg in the hotel room. Liz, Sophie, and I had made plans to go to a tea shop and do a tasting, but Sophie’s flight was delayed and Liz felt similarly to me when she got in and just wanted to relax. We did that until we got a call from Jackie to join her and Colleen for dinner up near Jackie’s house. After seeing her adorable new house, we went to The Bottlehouse for a dinner of cheese, cheese, and a lot more cheese. And everything was delicious. To go along with cheese, Liz and I split a red wine flight, and then we each enjoyed a dessert. I picked a trio of small cheesecakes:

Friday


The first real day of conference began with a long chat between my roommates and myself about issues in librarianship and with gender — a lot of the things that Julie expressed in her blog post got us thinking about things we want to do in our own careers/lives. After that brainstorming, we made our way over to registration at the convention center bright and early.

After registration, we once again met up with Jackie and Colleen, and this time we took a hike up the hill to have lunch at a burger place that everyone was excited about (they had a veggie burger option for those of you playing along at home knowing I don’t do beef). We not only each had a burger, but we ended up enjoying french fries with milkshake to dip them in. And it was absolutely delightful.

My first committee meetings were on Friday from 1 until 5:30 pm. As admin on the Alex committee, I really didn’t contribute much to the meeting, and in fact, the first day I had nothing I could really do, so my chair kindly let me leave early. It’s tough to be in a committee meeting where the committee is talking about the books in depth and you can’t say a word because you’re not actually a member of it. But what I can say is I absolutely loved seeing the process on the inside — this meeting involved nothing more than talking about half of the committee’s nominated titles. They’d discuss merits, the appeal of the book, and all of the other elements that made them nominate it in the first place. I felt like in hearing a lot of their discussions, I added a bunch of titles to my own to-read list that weren’t ones that caught my eye when they showed up here through the last year.

I snuck out early to meet Liz, Colleen, Sophie, and Jackie for the opening night of the exhibits, and in the process, I ran into Lenore. I’m not going to lie: I was anxious about how the exhibits would be, especially on opening night. They’re always a bit of a madhouse then, since it’s about the only time everyone is free TO go, but I worried about other things to. Fortunately, even though it was busy, it felt sane, too. Lenore and I wandered around together, and then I decided to cut out after about 20 minutes. I think I picked up maybe 7 ARCs, and I asked about another one and was told it would be out Sunday (which made me then arrange to have Lenore pick it up for me since I’d be in committee meetings in the morning then, too).

There was indeed a dinner planned after exhibits, and the same group of us who’d gone out for lunch went out for Vietnamese food at Long. I didn’t have a lot of time before the YA Blogger meetup, and when the waiter knew about this, he did an amazing job getting my drink and meal out to me very quickly. I enjoyed a chicken satay and a fizzy rum drink of some variety before wandering down to the hotel for the meetup.

The blogger meetup was GREAT — I know people came and went, but all told, I think we had an easy 40 people over the course of the night, if not more. I’m really not great at mingling (to the point someone even came over and gave me grief about it . . . even though she didn’t even know who I was) but I was thrilled to finally meet Flannery of The Readventurer — we are pretty sure we’ve met before through a mutual friend we have, but it was nice to spend the evening chatting about books. There were a few other people I was finally able to put a face to who I knew through blogging or Twitter and overall, it was a nice, low-key event, with a mix of bloggers and authors.

Saturday


Saturday morning began really freaking early with a breakfast preview for Little, Brown. I love these previews because they not only give a good idea of what’s coming up in the next season (and beyond), but also because they always bring a guest to talk. This time it was Darren Shan. I’ve never read any of Shan’s books, but since I began working in libraries, he’s been a huge favorite of teens. Hearing about his series was fun, hearing about the horror movies that inspired him was fun, and he had a delightful accent.

After the preview, I wandered the exhibits briefly with Katie. And by briefly, I mean maybe 10 minutes. I asked again about the book I was curious about at one of the publisher’s booths, and was told again, Sunday morning it’d be out. I ended up going back to my room and picking up my computer and a few other items before heading to another hotel a few blocks away for a Simon & Schuster Luncheon featuring . . . Lenore! Can I tell you how neat it is when a person you’re friends with is the guest of honor? The only downside to the luncheon was that because it ran from noon until 2, and I had a committee meeting beginning at 1, I could only stay for about 30 minutes. But I got to eat and hear Lenore speak, which made it great.

The committee meeting on Saturday was even longer than the one on Friday, running for five hours. Like the meeting on Friday, it began with a discussion of all the remaining nominated books. But this time, when the session came into the final half an hour, I got to do the big and important role of tallying up the straw poll results. Everyone on the committee voted on their top ten books for the Alex, and I counted up and figured out what were the titles — at that point — which were the ten favorites. When that was calculated and shared, the committee members went home to think about the titles that didn’t make it so they could make last minute pitches for our meeting on Sunday, if necessary. I tried to tweet a little bit from the committee meeting on Saturday because I was so impressed with how impassioned people became when talking about their favorite books. Not only were committee members using appropriate vulgarity when necessary, but one committee member came near tears in defending her book. If anyone ever dares question the process behind these awards or selection lists, it’s a slap in the face for how hard these people work and how much they’ve invested in really thinking about, discussing, and fighting for books that represent The Best in whatever arena they’re looking at.

I had plans to attend a dinner with Little Brown on Saturday night, but after getting up early and spending a long time inside, in a small room in committee, I ended up going back to my room and . . . crashing. Hard. I was trying to do some catch up on email but literally fell asleep in the middle of doing that. I knew going out was not going to happen, so I ended up just laying low for the evening. The conference wall of exhaustion hit and hard.

Sunday:



Like Saturday, Sunday began with an early morning breakfast. This time, I met with Victoria and Liz for a calm breakfast in our hotel diner. I can’t even express how delicious that spinach/bacon/avocado omelet was. Between that and loading up on high-caffeine tea (they brought me a basket to choose my poison from), I was feeling pretty ready for the day, which began with another round of committee meetings.

So this round of meetings was where I got to play a bigger role! This time I got to count things again, and then my chair was nice enough to let me get a little power hungry on some other things. The meetings began with everyone making last-ditch pitches for the books they wanted to see on the top 10 list, and then they took one final poll. It was my job to do the counting and tallying of this final poll — these would be the books that would make the final Alex list. As I tallied, I had a little problem: the final results came up with 11 titles. There was a tie. When everyone came back into the conference room, I had to break the news that they now needed to hear 11 titles and come up with one from their lists to eliminate. When that was done, I tallied again, and this time we had a solid 10 Alex titles. You can read that list here.

But it wasn’t over for committee work yet! Once that list was made, the committee had to write annotations for each of the titles. And even when that was done? They had more work. The Alex awards also involves a vetted list of nominated titles that the committee members feel fit the criteria of the Alex but weren’t quite top 10 titles. This is where I got to have my power: I read the titles and told them it was simple majority. The votes happened pretty quick and the vetted list ended up with a little over 20 titles on it. But it wasn’t over then, either. They still had to go through and write annotations for those titles as well. As of writing this post, the list isn’t up on YALSA’s website, but it should be shortly.

As a thank you for my work, the chair gave me this really freaking awesome necklace.

Because the committee meeting ran super late this time around, I didn’t get a chance to eat lunch before meeting Lenore over at the exhibits again. She said she’d pick up the one ARC I was looking for from the publisher who’d assured me it’d be out Sunday. But . . . it wasn’t. Because the publisher actually put the books out on Saturday afternoon, as I was told somewhat rudely by the booth person. I was a little disappointed about this, especially since I was informed twice it would be out Sunday and I made arrangements to have someone pick it up for me since I was in meetings and unable to do it myself. I left disappointed, especially as I felt like the booth person was not kind about the manner.

After Lenore and I met up, we wandered over to my favorite thing about ALA: the teen feedback session at the Best Fiction for Young Adults committee meeting. These teens are brutal and honest and I love every second of it. It’s proof that teens do like a wide variety of books and that even among the different teens, titles can be hits or misses. I do think my favorite part of the entire BFYA session, though, was getting to go tell one of the teens that the author was so thankful for what she had said (I’d tweeted it and the author responded to me). The look on that teen’s face and her accompanying “IS SHE HERE RIGHT NOW?” were awesome.

Since I’d missed a real lunch, Lenore and I grabbed a slice of pizza in the convention center following the teen session and had our goodbye, since she was flying home early the next morning. But fortunately for me, it isn’t a long goodbye since she’s going to be doing a program for my teens at my library in the spring (how lucky are they?).

I went back to my hotel to relax after a super long day, but rather than do that as planned, I went out with Jackie and Sophie to Cupcake Royale. I’m not a cake or cupcake person, but they had the most delicious ice cream sandwiches. . . that I decided I couldn’t choose just one kind to try. I got myself a red velvet and a pumpkin cardamom one, and both were delicious.

It was an early night because of the Youth Media Awards in the morning, but Sophie and I spent a good chunk of our Sunday night discussing late 90s/early 2000s rap artists and critiquing the music videos from such legends.

Monday


You want to know what the best thing about being a part of an awards committee is? Reserved seating at the Youth Media Awards (YMAs). I got to sit front and center for the announcements. The picture on the right here gives you an idea of what 1/3 of the crowd looks like.

Of course, the energy in the awards room is crazy, and everyone’s nervous/excited/apprehensive about what books will walk away winners. I love the YMAs but they do stress me out just a little bit. It’s less from the perspective of what won and more from the perspective of, as soon as an announcement is made about an award, there is a flurry of “but WHY didn’t THIS book get picked?” rather than allowing for the celebration and surprise (the why can come later, privately). I think this is something that really came to me a lot as I sat in and watched a committee make their choices. I can’t articulate it as well as Marge can, so do go read her post.

There were celebrations. There were surprises. But that’s how it goes. The best part of the awards is what comes after: when you go out with your friends and talk about them privately, away from the event itself. I went with a handful of people to Pikes Market to enjoy tea and a crumpet and to chat awards. After our chatter, I wandered around the Market with Jackie and Sophie.

Gorgeous fruits and vegetables

House blend tea, along with a lemon curd and ricotta crumpet

We then finally got around to the tea shop, where the owner was able to give us a bunch of amazing tea tastings. I’ve never done anything like this before, and it was such a fun experience. I ended up bringing home a bag of Lichee tea, which might be one of my all-time favorite teas.

Once tea tasting was over, I wandered back to my hotel to drop off some stuff, and then I met with a friend I do some work for at the convention center. We were doing lunch plans, and we ended up actually coming back to the Market and eating so much food. We enjoyed grilled cheese and mac and cheese at the cheese store, Russian pastries, a sit down meal at a restaurant overlooking the water (wherein I had a delicious risotto with squash and zucchini), and then we went to the crumpet shop where, yes, I had another crumpet and cup of tea. It was fantastic.

So now stuffed to the gills on delicious lunch, I thought I’d be done. Done. Done. But no. Because I couldn’t stop enjoying how great Seattle was and how great the company was and how damn good the food was, I went out for one more dinner, this time at Tango, a tapas place. It was a great crew, including Jackie, Liz, Barry Goldblatt, and Sara Ryan. It involved a couple bottles of red wine, dinner I didn’t eat because I was full, and then my insistence on eating dessert (which was delicious, as seen to the left). A laugh or two may have happened.

I think without much doubt. this year’s ALA Midwinter was my favorite event so far. It was also so different from other ones I’ve been to because of how much time was spent in committee meetings. I think in total I spent maybe 45 minutes in the exhibits, and I got to do very little for myself, aside from the meals out with friends. And it was that time I really enjoyed because these are people I talk to all the time but only get to see once or twice a year. It’s the in-person stuff where real ideas are spun and discussed in a way that’s not quite the same via the internet.

I’m eager to see what Chicago has to offer this summer.

Some other things. . .


* Because I was unable to visit the exhibits for any length of time, there won’t be any sort of rundown of what’s coming out. But I am really excited to have had Lenore pick up both of Algonquin Young Readers first titles for their teen line for me. I wish I’d had a second to talk with them but it happens.

* The book I’m most excited about that I did get to pick up was the third and final book in Geoff Herbach’s Stupid Fast series, titled I’m with Stupid. The second most exciting book I picked up was Bill Konigsberg’s sophomore novel Openly Straight. I LOVED his first book so I’m eager to see where this goes.

* I thought it was pretty interesting that Amazon Publishing had a way better booth placement than Little Brown did. We’re talking entrance to exhibits row and can-hardly-find-it-because-it-was-shoved-in-a-corner row.

* It is AMAZING the amount I learned about committee work not just from being an admin, but also from hearing the stories of my friends who were also on committees. With that, I have really come to respect the process and have not come to judge what I may have in the past perceived as odd ball choices or left field choices on any award list. Likewise, the way that people have reacted to certain awards and certain books either being present or not present has made me a little indignant on behalf of those hardworking committees. No book DESERVES anything on principle, and those committee members are reading like mad and reading with a very critical eye.

* I learned a couple interesting things about a couple of the awards I did not know beforehand. First, the Batchelder Award, which is for best translations of a novel into English, ONLY takes into account books that are published for the under age 14 market. I thought that Antonia Michaelis’s The Storyteller would have no problem garnering this honor, but when I learned this fact, it made sense why the book did not. Second: the Stonewall Award is for books published between October 1 and September 30 of a given year — that means this year’s awards honored books published between October 1, 2011 and September 30, 2012. That means certain books that seemed to have been “shut out” or “overlooked” for this award were not, in fact, overlooked or shut out. They weren’t eligible yet.

* YALSA has decided to sunset both the Reader’s Choice Award and the Fab Film Committee. They’re also going to revisit the award/selection list being behind a login issue in March.

* Also, the best thing I purchased and packed for this trip is something everyone at the BFYA session was envious of: my backup battery charger. Here’s the one I bought, for those of you who want one for yourself.