If you’ve stopped by She is Too Fond of Books in the past month or so, you know I had been looking forward to attending Book Expo America in New York this past weekend, and that I was especially excited about being on a book bloggers panel with some of my “imaginary friends.” Here’s the catalog description of that panel which was held on Saturday afternoon:
Book Bloggers — Today’s Buzz Builders
Book bloggers, via their blogs, Twitter, GoodReads, Facebook, and more, are leading the way in creating buzz for books, offering venues for authors to connect directly with their fans and are reviewing more books than ever in a world where traditional book review coverage is changing. Six book bloggers, along with Harper Collins’ Jennifer Hart (and BookClubGirl blogger) will discuss how booksellers, publishers and bloggers can combine forces to bring readers and authors together.
Moderator: Jennifer Hart, VP, Associate Publisher of Harper Perennial, Harper Paperbacks and Avon Books
Panelists: Candace Levy from Beth Fish Reads
Julie Peterson from Booking Mama
Amy Riley from My Friend Amy
Dawn Rennert from She Is Too Fond of Books
Stephanie Coleman-Chan from Stephanie’s Written Word
Natasha Maw from Maw Books Blog
The full audio of the panel is available thru Book Club Girl’s Authors on Air channel; the widget in my sidebar will get you there! Do give it a listen if you want to hear every word and nuance of tone (turn up the volume, some of the audio is hard to pick up, especially when there’s a question from the audience).
Pop over to Book Club Girl for a photo of the panel on the dais. Here’s one that was taken outside the meeting room, after the discussion (from left: Julie, Natasha, Jennifer, Stephanie, Candace/Beth, Dawn, and Amy):
I’m going to distill a few of the more prominent points here, beginning with our moderator’s opening remarks, which include a compilation of stats from our six blogs. These stats represent the diversity of genres covered, reach of readership, and breadth of coverage – from book reviews, author interviews and events, and author guest posts over the past year:
- 1 million page views
- 746 books reviewed, featured or recommended
- 159 authors interviewed or hosted as guest bloggers
- genres run the gamut: literary, commercial and historical fiction; non-fiction; cookbooks; children’s; travel; pop-psych; chick-lit, romance, urban fantasy, parenting, Christian, mystery, thriller, suspense, etc.
Several audience members were sending Twitter updates during the panel. These include Kathy from BermudaOnion, Trish from Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin’?, and Jenn from Jenn’s Bookshelf. You can search on the twitter hashtag #bbpbea to find these tweets and others that were sent during and after the panel, and commentary during the first broadcast of the panel audio.
One of the first topics raised was what ideas we had for improving the blogger-publisher or blogger-bookseller relationship. Some responses:
- clear and respectful communication
- making expectations known (on both sides)
- what other type of promotion is available (interview? guest post? giveaway?)
- know time constraints
- we’re willing to work with booksellers cross-promoting
Other topics include:
- diversity of the blogging world
- what pitches work best
- how has social media (esp. Twitter) enhanced blogging
- relationships between bloggers and local indies
- blogging community (BBAW, etc.)
- blog directories
- blog tours
- ideas for assessing the reach/influence of a blog
There was a lot that was touched upon in the one hour allotted to us, and the audience interaction was enthusiastic. The room of 300 seats was full; very heartening to see how many people were interested in the panel topics. Some of the issues generated such a great response that they could probably be expanded into separate panels of their own.
One audience member asked if our panel (which consisted of 7 Caucasian women) fairly represented the ethnicity and gender of book bloggers. Book Club Girl conceded that it was a non-scientific sampling. Here’s my short addendum to that answer: book blogging (indeed, using the internet to share news of any type) levels the playing field. Unless a blogger’s photo is posted, or the blogger refers to his/her gender or ethnicity … you just don’t know who’s on the other side of the keyboard. Gender, age, ethnicity don’t matter; nor does my income, the model car I drive, or how clean I keep my house. Yes, after you follow a blog for a while you get to know the blogger, and not many of us keep our identities wholly hidden; my point is that our blogs are being read for content (including personality), because readers identify with other readers.
Thanks to Jennifer Hart (Book Club Girl), HarperCollins, and the other panelists for the opportunity to discuss some of these issues. My gratitude to the audience, both in the meeting room and on Twitter, who engaged in dialogue. There is no “one size fits all” answer, but I believe we’ve addressed a few questions that may benefit many.
Two of my favorite sound bites:
- Not re-Tweeting a book review is a buzz kill (My Friend Amy)
- Book bloggers are the new hand sellers (Beth Fish Reads)
I may add others after I listen to the panel audio again; what’s your favorite sound bite from the panel or the discussions on Twitter?
Click above to listen to our Book Bloggers panel at Book Expo America 2009
Super recap. And you’re right — the diversity issue is so interesting because you really don’t know who’s on the other side of the keyboard. So the review can be taken at face value with no preconceived ideas about sex, socioeconomic status, education level, or cultural background. Great point.
I love the level playing field response. Great point. Thanks to all of you for representing our community! I’m going to try listening again in the next few days to see if I can hear it better than live. I had audio issues so had to tune out.
Again, thanks. I look forward to more info-sharing from all who attended BEA.
Awesome summary of a fantastic panel discussion! I plan to discuss this a little on my blog today and will definitely link to your post.
I love the photo! I was able to obtain a few “after” panel photos, but this one of all of you together is just great.
I was following the panel on twitter – it really sounded great. As a (smaller) book blogger, i’m glad we’re getting the attention we deserve.
So thanks!!
Dawn, I had one constructive criticism of the panel. Please take it coming from a fan. The entire idea of the panel was to increase (in the eyes of publishers) the credibility and necessity of the blogging community to the success of books. You all presented your professionalism, knowledge of books, and tech savviness extremely well – which support the panel’s purpose. My criticism is how strongly the point was played that this is a ‘hobby’ for most of you. While true, and a necessary point to make (somehow), it definitely detracted from the collective stance that you all are publishing professionals. I think a stronger notion is that you all are part time publishing professionals who do what you do more out of love of the books, than for financial reward. Please take the word “hobby” out of your collective vocabularies.
Love the picture! Thanks for the summary. I followed the discussion on twitter at the time and I tried to listen to it last night but it wasn’t working (I think it is now, but haven’t the time at the moment!), so your recap is very interesting.
what a great recap! I’m wondering if I should bother recapping…I may just do a post of links to the best ones.
Has anyone listened to the Blog Talk recording yet? I listened and it cycled back to the beginning right after Stephanie started to speak. Perhaps it was a fluke on my end??
Dawn, I love the pic that you included. I think it really says a lot that bloggers were even asked to be on a panel for BEA. The industry is changing and growing and it’s very exciting.
Sounds like a great discussion. I also liked your response to the diversity question.
Thanks for this great rundown! The race/gender question is pretty interesting though. I teach high school, and we often see surveys and studies about who is reading, and girls always come out on top. It does seem to be mirrored in the book blogging world as well, but is quite interesting. I think we all sincerely love all those guys out there that are blogging along with us. My thought on that was though that aren’t more of the “professional” reviewers men? I don’t think it’s exclusive, but I thought I read somewhere that the “paid” professionals were mostly men? Interesting discussion…
That was a wonderful summary, and as a fellow blogger, I am proud that we were so well-represented!
Thanks for the wonderful recap. I tried listening to the blog talk recording and had some technical difficulties. I look forward to listening to the whole session. It sounds like you all covered a lot of territory related to book blogging and there needs to be a follow up at next years BEA! I think that the diversity issue is a fair one as there is diversity amongst us and the industry needs to know that so that they can target certain genres to bloggers.
I haven’t heard the panel discussion yet but it sounds like Fran gave some good constructive feedback as to how we present ourselves as bloggers. Personally, I think it would be great if we present ourselves and are recognized as “part time publishing professionals who do what you do more out of love of the books, than for financial reward.”
Beth – and, of course, my short answer wasn’t all that short! We truly were a random sample!
Mary – the audio restarts after a few minutes, and the second run is a bit louder
Molly – so glad you were able to be in the audience (and I like candid photos better than posed)
Lauren – if you search the hashtag now you’ll find even more comments, after last night’s broadcast
Fran – point taken (as a critique=helpful, not criticism=complaint). My elevator pitch differentiates between avocation and vocation, but that may draw attention to a point I don’t need to belabor. I appreciate your input
Meghan – it is just a recap, not a transcription. If you listen to the audio while reading the hashtags you’ll get more of a transcription/summary point by point
Serena – so happy to have you in the audience, roomie!
Ti – this is an exciting time! I’ve heard from others that this was discussed about 3 years ago, but it’s new to me. maybe this wave of feedback/dialogue will be stronger to facilitate changes
Jessi – I think the internet is a wider “melting pot” because of the relative anonymity of the keyboard
Sandy – and we are a diverse group, no “one size fits all” solutions. But we tried to tackle the issues that were most common across the board
Bonnie – thanks for your feedback; it will be interesting to see where we are in 2010
Love the picture and really enjoyed listening to the broadcast. Of course, my favorite quote was that TLC Book Tours is a good blog tour company!! I was very excited that there was so much talk of blog tours, even though I understand that wasn’t the focus of the panel. Maybe next year they will do a panel just for that. Hope so!
This is a fantastic re-cap. The panel was one of the highlights for me. You ladies did a fantastic job representing bloggers – I was proud of all of you.
Lisa – I believe TLC Book Tours was called not simply “good,” but “a creative blog tour company”
Kathy – thanks so much for your live tweeting!
Fran–I couldn’t agree more. When the word hobby was brought up, I cringed, because I don’t like to use it. however on the spot, I think it was the first word that popped into the panelist’s mind to explain we aren’t getting paid…this is a passion for many of us. We can’t use the word “job” because we aren’t getting paid. It’s a sticky spot!
And wow my pants look REALLY baggy in that picture. It’s good to see pictures to realize things like that.
Fantastic recap. I listened to the audio on the web yesterday and it was a fantastic panel. I wish the audio was louder so I could have listened to every word.
I am an author and I must say it gave me some good insight into bloggers and what makes them tick. I was really surprised that there wasn’t more discussion about Amazon Associates (and the related BN program). What you all do is a very valuable service to writers and readers. I think the recognition of that is really growing out there. Keep up the good work. And don’t hesitate to as us (authors) to help out.
CJ
Amy – Fran’s comment underscores how easy a simple word choice can turn around the “hobby” attitude; we have to project the image we want by using words that best fit that image.
CJ – Do you use twitter? You might search the hashtag #bbpbea to get more commentary as the panel was speaking; I’m glad you found the audio and my re-cap helpful. Many bloggers are affiliated with Amazon/BN/IndieBound/Powell’s; some want to develop stronger relationships with fewer vendors. One panelist mentioned sponsorship, but we didn’t have time for an in-depth discussion about what that might look like.
It was great being at BEA and this panel discussion was truly amazing. The information was so valuable. Thanks for doing the recap.
I was there and enjoyed the whole discussion. I didn’t say hello because the mob scared me away a bit. You gals seriously got mobbed at the end. lol
I would have love to have been there and heard this all in person! Great job on recapping and bringing up some interesting points. Maybe I’ll work up the courage to attend next year!
What an honor! Thanks for the recap. When I have a few extra miniutes I’ll have to come back and listren to it ‘live’. The race issue is an interesting one and I do think you are right, but ethnicity probably does affect what we review to a point.
Drew – I’m glad you were able to attend, and that you benefitted from the info discussed.
Shannon – we were pleasantly surprised by the lively interaction!
Jenners – courage! All you need is a medal, like in the Wizard of Oz
Stacy – I wonder if there’s a pattern to the race/ethnicity of the works I’ve read in the past year or so. I can track gender on LibraryThing, but will have to look at ethnicity on my own.
You ladies all did a fantastic job on the panel! It was an inspiration to see you all up there.
Thank God no one can see how clean I keep my house! Not that it isn’t clean, but the piles of books (especially after BEA) make it look messy!
I thought it was great to mention that publishers can help drive traffic to the promotion of their own books by posting links to our contests and reviews. Hopefully they’ll take it to heart!