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