Read the Book (or Teen Book Fest #8!)

Tip of the Day: The best time to visit Rochester, NY, is in May during our annual Lilac Festival and Teen Book Fest! We were extra lucky this year and even had perfect weather today.

Wow. Where do I even start? With my gushing or back story?

OK, first one, then the other.

OMG TEEN BOOK FEST IS THE MOST AMAZING TEEN AUTHOR FESTIVAL EVER AND I AM SO LUCKY TO BE PART OF A LIBRARY SYSTEM THAT PUTS SO MUCH LOVE AND EFFORT INTO TEENS AND TEEN LIT AND TO BE A COLLEAGUE OF STEPHANIE S'S (THE TBF FOUNDER)!!!

Phew, OK, got that out of my system. :)

Now to backup.

Eight years ago I was starting to write teen fiction, and had just completed my MLS where I learned that I needed to be a teen services librarian. I began reading tons of YA lit, including SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson. Needless to say I fell in love with that book. Soon after I went to her webpage and nearly fell over when I saw that she was going to speak at a Teen Book Festival in my very own Rochester, NY.

I went that to TBF that first year as an attendee and was blown away by the amazing authors presenting there (Lauren Myracle! Nancy Werlin! about 12 in total?), and was thrilled that another Fest was planned for the following year. In 2007 TBF was a bit bigger, and I went again as an attendee. Then in 2008, I got my YA Librarian job and worked TBF as a volunteer -- and have ever since.

What has also been amazing to watch over these past eight years?
--the growing number of presenting authors
--the increasing size of the attendee crowd
--the number of teens devoting an entire Saturday to volunteer with authors and talk about books
--the number of authors who come back to TBF again because they had such an amazing time before
--the care the TBF Committee takes in making each author feel like a rock star
--the number of publishers that now sponsor their authors' visits to TBF
--the number of authors (and illustrators!) who hear other authors talk about TBF, making them want to come too
--the time Nazareth College takes in making the authors and teens feel at home on their campus
--the dedication of Stephanie and her TBF Committee who devote so much time to this amazing event so it becomes more organized and successful every year

I know I'm forgetting some of the thoughts that struck me today as I looked into the crowd of teens, authors, illustrators, teachers, parents, and librarians, but suffice it to say I am lucky to live in a city that really knows how to rock out to teen books.

And a special shout out to my author panel, who have now increased the size of my TBR pile by talking about their current and forthcoming titles! (Forgive me, I was too busy to take pics of the actual event, but check out tweets and retweets from @TBFLive for some great ones.)

And a high-five to the other authors who I chatted with, hugged, and who also made my TBF pile taller:

 Thank you, again, to everyone who made this awesome day possible.

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

Who Loves You (or And Who Do You Love?*)

*with apologies to Messiah

Tip of the Day: I still want to answer the question about what YA genres are going out most in my library, but I want do do some more research on it first. Stay turned for next week's post with answers!

Now that I have attended seven Rochester Teen Book Festivals, I have seen a few patterns in the types of teen fans who come to swoon over their favorite authors. Keep in mind that it doesn't mean that fans of different authors/types of books do not exist; just that fans of certain types of books seem to inherantly be more "fangirl/fanboy crazy" than those of others.

So here are the authors/types of books that have long lines at the autographing sessions:

1. Manga writers/artists. These fans often dress up like the characters. The teens like to draw and identify with the artists.

2. Heather Brewer and her vampire series. These fans wore the iconic vampire smiley on their clothes and loved having a symbol of their fandom.

3. Edgy contemporary. Ellen Hopkins and Laurie Halse Anderson are ever popular because of their brutal honesty that teens can relate to.

4. Paranormal/Magic bestselling series romance authors. Alyson Noel and Libba Bray, for example, are well known names with series that teens can geek on more and more with each book's release.

This list is not exhaustive, but just an illustration of the types of teens who often come to these fests. There may be 100 more who love YA lit and the attending authors, but who just don't have that same fandom passion as those of certain genres/authors.

So authors, take heart! If your line is not long during the autographing sessions at book festivals, it may just mean your fans at in their bedrooms reading your books instead of joining a crowd where they are no comfortable.

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

Teen Book Fest Year 2012! (or Lucky Seventh Year)

Tip of the Day: Stay tuned for future posts from me on: 1) what teens in my lib are reading now; 2) how teen fans of different genres show their author/book love.
On Saturday, I volunteered as an author handler for the Seventh Annual Rochester Teen Book Festival in upstate NY. WOW! What a great day!

Highlights for me:

1. Meeting online writer aquaintance Cyn Balog in person for the first time (her paranormal romances are excellent because they are so different; no vamps, zombies, or werewolves for her).

2. Learning that everyone loves Beth Fantaskey's JESSICA books so I should read another vampire novel too.

3. Scoring an ARC of Cyn's cool new book TOUCHED (my review here). Thanks, Cyn!

4. Hearing A. S. King talk to teens -- and adults -- about how your high school self does not identify you for life. And how we all must learn to accept everything about ourselves.

5. Watching a teen volunteer whip up an awesome PowerPoint of Cyn and Beth's book covers in a matter of minutes, and then man the computer and slides during the next two sessions.

6. Hanging with my old awesome intern/new YA librarian Kelley (she blogs here).

7. Being in a gym full of music and teens and authors and noise and seeing people of all ages sitting on the bleachers quietly reading their new autographed books.

8. Seeing hundreds and hundreds of teens excited about books, reading, authors, and TBF!

Thank you to the librarians, authors, publishers, donors, and attendees who make this festival possible and FREE for all to attend!

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

Do you Book Fest? (or Catch the Festival Fever!)

Tip of the Day: Anyone in the greater Rochester, NY area must come to our Teen Book Festival this Saturday!

Last Thursday, Tina talked about which author events are generally worth an author's time. One type of event she didn't mention are Book Festivals. I guess they could be considered similar to "Author Fairs," but I'm not sure; hopefully someone will weigh in with their opinion on if these are a "must" or "bust."

What I do know is that the Rochester Teen Book Festival has grown and grown over the past seven years, and there are thousands of teens who attend. Through the promotion and publicity for the event, the attending author's names are spread across the county, and much of Western NY. Authors now ask the Fest organizer if they can come, instead of her having to pursue them. Part of it is, from what I hear, because of how well the authors are treated by the organizers.

But some authors still say no thanks when they are invited.

For the authors who do attend, is it worth going? Like Tina said, it is an all-day affair that takes away from writing/family time. Some publishers do pay the authors' travel expenses, but some do not, so for a long trip that can be pricey and a lot of books would need to sell for it to be worth it financially.

If the authors want to connect with teen readers, they will often succeed at this event. But if teens have limited money to spend and can't buy ooks no matter how much they love an author and her presentation, is it worth it?

And if you are an author with a limited audience/brand new book without a following yet, some authors may worry that no teens will attend their breakout sessions which can be stressful.

Yet during the autographing session at the end of the day, it is hard not to get excited at all the teens who are into books and authors and reading!

What do you think about Book Festivals as worthy author events?

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing