Holly Black & Tony DiTerlizzi at Joseph-Beth (or How Long a 5-year-old Can Last at a Bookstore Event)...

Last night Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi's book tour for The Wyrm King, the 3rd book in their Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles series, took them to the Joseph-Beth Booksellers here in the Nati. I thought Holly was terrific when I saw her speak at the SCBWI conference in LA in August so I didn't want to miss the Joe-Beth appearance despite the fact that I didn't have a babysitter for the boy. But he's seen the Spiderwick movie previews and knows the bookstore has macaroni and cheese in the cafe, so he was in. (Note: The last bookstore event I brought him to was Holly Hobbie when he was 3 months old. See From the Editor in the 2006 CWIM.)

As I suspected, the event was crowded. Check out all the people as they wait for Holly and Tony to come in. (You can't see those who are standing in the aisle and between the bookcases in the back. There were lots of people.)


Holly and Tony were really charming, engaging and funny. This was truly one of the most enjoyable book signings I've attended. Their event included talk of cool mythical creatures (with visual aids and instructions to not Google "rat king"), live dragon drawing, impromptu diaper jokes, and prizes (including Tony's drawings). Here's Holly and Tony addressing the crowd of readers.


Here's Holly reading a little from The Wyrm King (enough to get us really interested by not give too much away).


Tony takes it in from the sidelines (and rests his drawing/signing hand).


And here's me with Tony and Holly, interupting them mid-autographing for a picture. (I knew the boy wouldn't have the patience for standing in line and it was getting close to his bed time, so I didn't get a book autographed myself, but they offered to pose with me anyway. Note the cool blown up Wyrm King cover in the background.)


And here's the boy, who fidgeted on my lap for 45 minutes and kept saying "This is not hilarious for me. I'm tired of being here. Is that a dragon?" And he picked his nose like it was his job.


Finally, the boy got to do what he loves to do at the bookstore: play with trains.


He also made it home with a copy of The Spiderwick Chronicles movie and one of Jon Scieszka's Truck Town books.

(And next week when I go see Sara Zarr when her tour stops in the Nati, I'm going by myself. She's in the Nati October 6th and 7th.)

Seen at My Local Bookseller: Lisa McMann & Cassandra Clare...

Last Friday night I caught one of the last few stops of the Lisa McMann and Cassandra Clare author tour when the pair appeared at Joseph-Beth Booksellers here in the Nati. (I'm a little tardy on my reporting--tough fitting in blogging this week. This little 'ol book we do, Writer's Market, has been taking up a lot of my time.)

I loved this bookstore event for a number of reasons. First, I'm a fan of Lisa McMann and I was happy to meet her in person and get an autographed copy of Fade which I just finished last night. Second, Cassandra Clare's urban fantasy trilogy sounds really cool and totally up my alley and now I'm going to read her books. Third, I'm happy to see that publishers are still setting up multiple-city, all-over-the-country authors tours. Also, this was the first author event I've been to since I signed on to Twitter and I really enjoyed tweeting throughout, posting pictures and allowing others to experience it with me. (So fun!)

The coolest thing about this event, however, was the audience. Teens. Lot of them.


Besides the packed rows of chairs, fans of the authors stood on benches behind shelves. By my count there were 100 or so people there for the signing.

It wasn't just fantastic that teens turned out to see authors on a Friday night. It was fantastic that they turned out with such enthusiasm. There were thoughtful questions. There was a squeal or two. There was singing! And they got stacks of books signed (like not just one of Cassie's books--all of them).

These girls are fans. They love their characters. They want more books about them. They are invested. It made me so happy.

And below are the happy (and no doubt warn-out from signing signing signing all that stock) authors, Lisa (second from left) and Cassie (in the middle) along with a few of the fab J-B staff members.


Follow Lisa on Twitter: http://twitter.com/lisa_mcmann
Follow Cassandra on Twitter: http://twitter.com/cassieclare

How Publishing Is Like Fashion
Or What I Learned from Daniel Vosovic...

Last night I attended a book signing (at my fabulous local bookseller Joseph-Beth) with fashion designer Daniel Vosovic, who was in the top three on season 2 of Project Runway.

Daniel (I'll call him by his first name because I feel like I know him from TV) was adorable and interesting and talked a lot about both working on his book, Fashion Inside Out: Daniel V's Guide to How Style Happens from Inspiration to Runway and Beyond--he said wonderful things about editors, so he's obviously very wise--and building his career as a designer. (The audience for this event for the most part was young and very stylish--there were quite a few fashion design students in attendance.)

As Daniel spoke about his career path, I noticed some parallels between the fashion world and the publishing world.

First, Daniel pointed out, in fashion you're making something from nothing. When your end product is, say, a cocktail dress, a designer starts with an idea, follows her vision as a creator, collaborates with industry professionals, and comes up with a final product that people will critique and talk about and that may or may not catch on. Substitute "YA novel" for "cocktail dress" and "writer" for "designer" and you see where I'm going.

In fashion and in publishing there are always trends, and while both authors and designers should pay attention to them, they should follow their own muses and create what's in their hearts rather than trying to copy the success of others.

The thing that struck me most as Daniel talked was his answer to a question from a young-and-well-styled audience member. Throughout the evening, he had been referring to his many contacts in the fashion world, his time in Florence and London and his current home of New York. He was asked if it's possible to break into this fashion circle when you're starting out.

Yes, he said without hesitation, because you make your own circle. You must network. As a student, Daniel networked with seamstresses, models, stylists and photographers. Like him, many of them have gone on to bigger careers and remain part of his inner circle.

Think of a writers' group starting out with half a dozen unpublished writers getting together to critique. After a while of working together, members begin to find agents and get a book deals. Published members share connections. They introduce other group members to publishing professionals at conferences. Suddenly everyone's doing well, has books on the shelves, and is presenting at SCBWI conferences. That's making your own circle.

(Note: Daniel shared what he felt was great advice from a well-established designer--if you're going to take to heart the praise of your work, you have to do the same with the criticism. Good advice in a critique situation.)

A great exercise in creating circles is going on now in the way of The Comment Challenge: 21 Days of Community, the brainchild of Lee Wind and Mother Reader. This challenge, which kicked off on November 6th, presented kidlit bloggers with the opportunity to visit other blogs and leave comments, thus both supporting others in the community and raising the profile of their own blogs. Check out the list of participants here and visit their blogs. And visit Mother Reader for updates.

Here's Daniel Vosovic singing his book.

His inscription: "Design your own destiny."

Upcoming Market Books Bookstore Events...

To celebrate the recent release of the 2009 editions of our Market Books, I, along with editors Robert Brewer and Chuck Sambuchino, will be appearing at two local bookstores to discuss writing and publishing with aspiring authors. Here's the scoop:

• Wednesday August 20 (tomorrow) at 7 p.m. we'll be at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Rookwood Pavilion.

• Wednesday Aug 27 at 7 p.m. we'll be at Books & Co. @ The Greene.

Robert, Chuck and I (with the help of our three assistants) produce 10 Market Books annually, including CWIM, Novel & Short Story Writer's Market, Poet's Market, Writer's Market, Guide to Literary Agents, and the upcoming brand new Screenwriter's & Playwrights Market. We can answer any writing- or publishing-related question you throw our way covering any genre, fiction or nonfiction, children's or adult, agent and queries, etc. (Don't we sound smart!)

If you live in the Cincinnati or Dayton area, we'd love to meet you. (We'll have free beer and free cupcakes. Just kidding. Come anyway.)

Market Books Event Tonight...

It's still silly hot here, people, so it's a great night to spend in a bookstore. Listening to me. Talk about writing and publishing. In the air conditioning. In a new store!

Tonight I will be at Books & Co. in Beavercreek, Ohio, (the Greene location) at 7 p.m. for the second stop in the 2007 Market Books Mini-Tour. Joining me will be Poet's Market editor Nancy Breen and Writer's Market/writersmarket.com editor Robert Brewer. (Be sure to check out this poetic duo's blog.)

If you follow the Books & Co. link, it says Lauren Mosko of Novel & Short Story Writer's Market will be there, but no Lauren, yes me! You can see Lauren on September 11 at the Joseph-Beth in Lexington, Kentucky, along with Guide to Literary Agents editor Chuck Sambuchino, and Writer's Digest Books Editorial Director Jane Friedman.


This is Nancy, me, Chuck, and Robert at our recent Joseph-Beth event. Doesn't it look like we're having fun?

Market Books Event at Joseph-Beth Tonight...

All you writers in the greater Nati area: Don't forget that tonight we kick off our (super-mini) Market Books Tour 2008 with a 7 p.m. event at the Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Rookwood. If you show up at the store tonight, you may show up on my blog tomorrow--I'm bringing my camera.

What is it--96 degrees and out there? And humid, oh so humid. Leave your air conditioned home, hop in your air conditioned car, and join us in the very well air conditioned bookstore for a lively discussion of writing and publishing. My fellow Market Books editors and I will answer all your writing- and publishing-related questions.

For those of you who don't live in the area, if you ever come through town be sure to stop at Joseph-Beth. It's a wonderful store--with a really great children's area. (And they have good events people.)

Market Books Mini-Tour 2007...

Every summer after the market books are released, our editors head to bookstores to spend some time talking to writers. Here's our appearance schedule for 2007:

• Wednesday, August 22nd, 7 p.m at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Cincinnati featuring your CWIM editor (me), Chuck Sambuchino of Guide to Literary Agents, Nancy Breen of Poet's Market, and Robert Brewer of Writer's Market and writersmarket.com.
• Wednesday, August 29th, 7 p.m. at Books & Co. in Dayton featuring Robert, Nancy and me.
• Tuesday, September 11th, 7 p.m. at Joseph-Beth in Lexington featuring Chuck and Lauren Mosko of Novel & Short Story Writer's Market. (I can't make this one--I'm going on vacation.)

Hope to some of you can come out and meet us!