One topic that comes up in the bookish community now and again — why doesn’t BEA have a public day and open up to readers for a reader-focused expo?
I mean, you readers are kind of the reason the industry exists, so why not invite you in and let you preview next season’s books, chat it up with authors, and share your points of view? Perhaps the bigger question being begged, why aren’t there more opportunities for readers and bookish fans to get closer to publishers and authors in a setting where books and the business of books are being promoted, celebrated and discussed?
In today’s #FollowReader, we’re going to talk all about reader cons. Does BEA need a reader day? Are book festivals enough? Does it makes sense to have an industry (B-to-B focused) conference opened up to the public? As boundaries between “professional” and just regular folk readers shift and blur (think book bloggers, social media conversation starters, etc), just how do we define industry or media or consumer?
Our guests for today’s chat will include
- Michele Chambers (@romconinc) from RomConInc.com, a newly-minted romance readers’ convention, celebrating the romance genre and its wonderful readers – and the only such convention that focuses solely on the romance reader!
- Steve Rosato (@StevenRosato), Event Director at BookExpo America
- The organizers of the BookBloggerConvention (@bookbloggercon) , a one day event intended to provide support, instruction, and social time for people who blog about books.
Read more about our guests and their organizations below.
To join the #followreader conversation, here’s what to do:
- Just before 4pm ET today, log in to Twitter or whatever interface you prefer. (We recommend Tweetchat, which refreshes quickly and automatically loads your hashtag when you are in the discussion.)
- To follow the discussion, run a search for #followreader
- I’ll start by asking our guests a few questions, before opening up the discussion to the group.
- To post a comment to the discussion, make sure that the hashtag #followreader is in each tweet you write.
Michele Chambers
About Michele Chambers: Take your average 7-year-old small town girl – throw in Sleeping Beauty, a dash of Star Wars, and a pinch of Salem’s Lot. Only then will you begin to understand the twisted wanderings of Michele Chambers’ mind. An author and life-long bookworm, Michele’s obsession with all things paranormal began at a very young age. She’s worked as a Burger King drive-thru goddess, a receptionist in a law firm, a cashier, a medical/surgical assistant, & an anatomy/physiology instructor in a cadaver lab. Michele is RomCon’s Paranormal World Liaison, and tweets at @RomConInc.
Steve Rosato
About Steve Rosato: Steve has been with BookExpo America for ten years and was recently appointed to the position of Event Director
of BookExpo America (BEA). Rosato has most recently served as Director of Industry
Development & Strategic Accounts for BEA, where he has played a critical role in helping todefine and set BEA’S goals for the future based on customer feedback. Rosato will assume his new responsibilities effective immediately.
Book Blogger Convention
About the Book Blogger convention: Taking place, Friday, May 28, 2010 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York, the Book Blogger convention is a one day event intended to provide support, instruction, and social time for people who blog about books.
Hope you can join us for today’s #FollowReader. If you can’t join the discussion, watch this space next week for a recap of the highlights.
Have a topic you wish we would cover? Please feel free to suggest topics for upcoming #followreader chats below.
Hi!
I just wanted to point out that ROM CON isnt the only reader convention out there. Authors After Dark is a convention that’s in its 2ND year and is a FOR READERS by AUTHORS event. This event is sponsored by NYTBS Jacquelyn Frank, and several publishers, both NY and small press and focuses on the READER meeting and engaging in activites with authors the love and new authors they just meet. I know this because I am the convention director and there is NO event quite like it.
We are cheaper then all other “major” events ($140 registration, 109$ for rooms) feed the attendees 5 meals, give away over 2000 books at the event and do all the scheduling with the READER in mind. Each year we do gift baskets, have over 1000$ in door prizes, and did I mention that we make NO MONEY off this event? NOT ONE PENNY. Personally I think a convention that is reader friendly and focused on readers should also focus on the limited amount of Money a reader has to attend these events. We thought of that, and thats why we charge the bear minimum. Next years event will even be lower because we get sponsors for many of the events, goodies and activities.
Readers that attend can look forward to free books from Kensington, Ballentine, TOR, PhazeBooks, MLR Press, Mundania, Tease Publishing LLC, Dorchester and a ton of authors, both NYTBS’s and Small Press, and we work with several of the online reader communities like Fresh Fiction, Storycasting and many of the book bloggers (We also have a special party strictly for book bloggers!) At Authors After Dark we believe in one thing: Sending the reader home with great books and great memories for the cheapest price.
If your interested in learning more about Authors that are doing it right and looking out for their readers, please contact me at the above email or through the convention website http://aadromanceunlimited.com
Thanks!
Stella Price
AAD Convention Director.
Cool! Thanks for sharing Stella! I will tweet your link. It’s great to hear about Authors After Dark (and sorry to exclude you from conversation). Will be revisiting the topic again soon and would love to have you as a guest.
NO worries. I just had to throw my 2 cents into it. AAD is in its second year and is going very strong, as romance readers are very interested in paying less for the con experience. As an author myself, and a reader, I know how much these events SHOULD cost if they are focused on the readers, and SO MANY aim to make money on the event. I hate seeing that, and so does Jacki, so we decided to set something up that was 100% reader friendly.
Stella