LitFest: Illuminating Great Writing & Amherst College’s Literary Life

Beginning tonight, I will be attending, in person, the Amherst College LitFest 2024. From the website:

Amherst College will host the 9th annual LitFest, a literary festival celebrating fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and spoken-word performance, along with the College’s extraordinary literary life. Guest speakers include award-winning authors Natasha Trethewey, Paul Harding, Ed Yong, Blair Kamin ’79 P’15, Lisa Biggs ’93, and other distinguished editors and authors. 

I am not posting this to brag, but rather because many of the LitFest events will be webcast live, for free. So if you want, you can watch too. Also, if you live within a comfortable driving distance from Amherst, MA, I want to encourage you to come and attend for free. 

I am excited to see Ed Yong again, after meeting him at the Andrew Carnegie Medals Ceremony (click here to follow my journey on the ACM committee where we chose Yong for the Nonfiction Medal), to hear National Book Award Winner Justin Torres speak, and to attend all day Saturday with my colleague Emily Hughes.

And eagle-eyed schedule scanners may notice a familiar last name in the description of the Saturday at 3pm program which is available in person and as a webcast. I am obviously especially excited for that one.

You can click here for the entire schedule and here for the specific webcast schedule and to watch those programs directly from that page.

Click on the image for the schedule
and to signup for webcasts

Author Interviews As a RA Resource

I am currently working on my interview with Cassandra Khaw for the July issue of Library Journal and Just turned in my interview with Paul Tremblay for the June issue. I am also organizing a series of author panels for Summer Scares.

All of this is to say that author interviews are top of mind here at RA for All HQ. 

I know when I conduct these interviews, my mission is to create a conversation that will not only be enjoyable for you to read but also, I am intentionally trying to create a resource for you to use to help patrons. Whether it is letting you know more about the author and their processes or asking them about influences and favorite new writers, the goal is for these interviews to work for you.

Interviews in general are an excellent RA resource especially if you have a patron who has a favorite author. I also use interviews when preparing for book discussions.

Just Google the author in question and "interview" and watch the results roll in. 

Here are a few tangible things you can do with interviews as a RA resource:

• Use interviews to help a reader learn more about their favorite author and introduce them to other authors that favorite writer loves. This idea of using author recs of other authors is a topic I have written about in more detail here and it is one of my 5 Resources You Cannot Live Without.
• Use interviews to make better "While You Wait" displays and lists. Yes we can use NoveList or other resources to find readalikes based on appeal, but what about "While You Wait" resources that are more fun and interactive. Make displays or lists that say, "Waiting for a new book by [insert author here]? Try one of their favorite authors while you wait." This can be both when there is a long holds line AND if a popular author hasn't had a new release in a while. 
• Use author interviews as a collection development tool. Almost every author interview mentions other authors. When you come across interviews as part of the new book media blitz, take note of the authors your popular authors are mentioning and add them to your collections now. See the first bullet point (click through to the longer post) for why I know those books will circualte.
• Re-post author interviews on your website and social media. As new books come out, interviews are everywhere. Pick one per author to share and promote to your users and followers. You can even create a page for those links on your reader resources sections of your website to archive them for future use, both by you and tour readers for the reasons suggested above. Too often we worry about creating original content to share online, but as I always remind you with my 10 Rules of Basic RA Service, we use resources, it is what we do as library workers. Posting interviews in our digital spaces shows readers we are thinking of them and anticipating what they like to read. 

These are but 4 examples of how to use author interviews as a resource in your day-to-day work. Now you can make author interviews part of your go-to resources for helping readers.

Goodreads Asked Authors for Curated Reading Lists and Now You Have a Great Sure Bet Resource

Since April, Goodreads has been asking authors, from across the literary landscape, for curated reading lists. Click here to see them all. But, here is the page where they explained the project and an excerpt from that page:

Have more reading time these days, but don't know where to begin?

We're here to help! We've asked some of your favorite authors to suggest a list of books on a variety of topics to suit every mood. So whether you need a good laugh, a good cry, or an absorbing story to make you put down your phone, take a peek at their recommendations linked above each author's latest book.

We'll be updating this page occasionally, so don't forget to check back now and then for even more reading lists!

This type of resource is similar to what I describe in my 5 Resources You Cannot Live Without list on my 10 Rules of Basic RA page when I list the following as an essential resource:

Authors recs of other authors: There isn't a single place you can go per se, but do not forget that many patrons will love trying an author or book that one of their favorite authors recommends. Try searching for a patron's favorite author on Twitter [don't need an account to view] and then see what authors they are promoting there. Most established authors do this. Also the back of a book a patron liked-- does it have blurbs by other authors? Those can be readalike author options. And Fantastic Fiction tries to catalog as many of an author's blurbs or recs that they can. Search an author in the site and scroll to bottom of record for examples. Then use Novelist or Goodreads to find out more about any titles or authors you find.The point here is you are using resources and need to know nothing about any of the authors involved, just that the patron in front of you likes them.

If a patron has a book or an author they really love, handing them something that same author suggested or blurbed is usually a sure bet, even when the books do not share much in common.

Now, many of you are probably confused because I spend a lot of time writing and talking about how we have to match book's based on their appeal. But hear me out. 

For many readers enjoying a specific author and wanting more by them or, if that is not possible, more books that they also enjoyed, is an appeal. It is enough that this reader will be predisposed to enjoying the title suggested by a favorite author. 

I have seen it work hundreds of times especially with the more "picky" patrons. If you suggest an outside of the box title to them, they will refuse to read it or hate read it. But if  their favorite author suggest the same book, they almost always love it because they want to like it. Even if it  is  very different from said author.

This is an especially good way to find a suggestion you would never think of yourself. If the patron comes back and likes this very different book, you are in luck because now an entirely new lane of suggestions has just opened up right in front of you. 

You  can use the Goodreads list or my more general guidelines and let authors suggest the books to their fans through you. 

Library Journal Day of Dialog On Demand Until August 28th

Real quick post today because I am busy all day celebrating our daughter as she gets her diploma, ironically from a much closer vantage point than we would have previously. [If you are interested in what it will look like, here are photos from the beginning of the alphabet. Really personal for almost 1,000 kids in her grade.]

Yesterday was Library Journal's annual Day of Dialog, an event that always coincides with Book Expo. This year, it was their first ever virtual DoD. I attendee all day yesterday and I can tell you that it was a huge success. The technology worked extremely well, the interactivity in the virtual exhibit hall was better than the physical exhibit hall I experienced the 1 time I went to this event [ when it was in Chicago a few years ago].

Seriously, I spent more time in the virtual exhibit hall than I did at the live event, and it wasn't even close. Honestly, the virtual exhibit hall was the most surprising and exciting part of this event for me. I knew the panels would  be good. Doing the panels virtually  is not that much different than everyone sitting on a stage. Plus, those  of us int  he audience didn't have to sit in uncomfortable chairs for  8 hours. I was able to get up and walk around, even do the  dishes, throughout the programming.

But even better than the fact that some of us experienced  this as a one day event ...you can actually still experience everything from home or  work, in your own time frame, for free, from now until August 28th!

Use this link to enter the virtual platform. If you already registered, you can enter the necessary info. If you did not, no worries. There is a link to register still.

Again, I repeat, anyone can participate in this amazing event for free for 3 full months!

Watch the recording of the panels, yes, but please also visit all of the exhibit booths. There are videos and resources there too. Also, the author chats have been preserved. So while you can't ask a question and get a response, you can read the questions and responses from when it happened. Again, I was blown away by the exhibit halls in a virtual environment.

For those of you who need CE certificates, those are available after you complete each video. There are hundreds of hours of CE credit available...for FREE!

You can also access the Twitter chat, even if you do not have a Twitter account, by clicking on this link for #LJDoD


Visit today, or file this post or the link for further access but just don't miss out on the chance to see editors and authors chatting about upcoming books in a variety of genres, access resources, get digital downloads, and more.

And thank you Library Journal for offering the day virtually and for FREE. I know it was a lot of work to organize and pull off. And the On Demand viewing option for 3 full months is a very nice bonus too!

Again click here  to participate for yourself. I promise you it is worth it.

[PS: sorry [not sorry] in advance for exploding you TBR]

Summer Scares is Here to Help You Kick Off Summer Reading for All Ages

Welcome to the 2020 edition of Summer Scares, our second annual outing, and although this year is a bit different, I dare say, the program is better than ever.

From the Summer Scares FAQ and Resource Page:

The goal of the Summer Scares program is to introduce horror titles to school and public library workers in order to help them start conversations with readers that will extend beyond the books from each list and promote reading for years to come. Along with the annual list of recommended titles for readers of all ages, the Summer Scares committee will also release themed lists of even more “read-alike” titles for libraries to use when suggesting books to readers this summer and all year long. And, in order to help libraries forge stronger connections between books and readers, the Summer Scares committee will be working with both the recommended list authors and horror authors from all over the country, to provide free programming to libraries. From author visits (both in person and virtual) to book discussions to horror themed events, Summer Scares is focused on connecting horror creators with libraries and readers all year long.

Originally, the kick off for Summer Scares was scheduled for May 7, 2020 with HWA Librarians' Day, an all day event at the Naperville Public Library. While that event was rescheduled for November 12th, Summer Scares forges on.

Last year all we had was that online resource page. [Click here for the Summer Scares archive from 2019, which by the way you can still use for more reading options]. We still have an excellent resource page filled with links, interviews between our spokesperson, Stephen Graham Jones and the selected authors, and more suggested reading links. Click here to view it.

However, after speaking with libraries who ran with Summer Scares last year, we quickly realized that if we wanted to get more libraries involved, we needed to provide more assistance. Since the Summer Scares Team is 100% volunteer, we needed to look outside of ourselves, and approaching one of the libraries that went all out with Summer Scares in 2019 made sense.

Today, I am happy to present to you our "spooktacular" programming guide courtesy of Konrad Stump and his team at the Springfield-Greene County [MO] Public Library. They got on the Summer Scares bandwagon early last year. They generously offered their experience and staff to help us help all of you. Click here to access the entire guide, but here are two sample pages:

Cover

Full list of titles

This guide has a page for each title focusing on that book's appeal, a list of readalikes, programming ideas, and book discussion questions. Just this amazing guide alone is enough for you to run a successful Summer Scares program at your library, but wait, there's more.....

This year we have also created a Summer Scares 2020 video playlist to provide you with more help and content for your patrons too. You can click here for the Summer Scares YouTube playlist hosted by the Horror Writers Association.

Those videos introduce the program. Konrad himself is even there to walk you through the programming guide and give you some of his expert tips on how to use Summer Scares at your library [in person or virtually]. We have videos with the 2020 Summer Scares authors [more coming soon]. We asked them to record a short video to introduce their book, give you some background behind the title, and suggest more reading options for your patrons. 

These videos can be embedded onto your websites to share with your own patrons. And, all of the Summer Scares authors have agreed to connect with your library virtually if you are interested. Please send those requests to me and I will connect you. My contact information can be found here.

Besides featuring the authors and explaining the program over on YouTube, we are also working with HWA author members who have already worked with libraries, libraries which has recommended them and their programs. These authors will be submitting videos introducing themselves to libraries, providing contact info is you are interest in hosting a virtual program with them. Our first one is already up.

Everything on the Summer Scares resource page, including the links to the YouTube videos and the programming guide are available for FREE. You can use them with your patrons, at your library, on your social media and websites, etc.... There are no restrictions.

We will be adding more content to the YouTube playlist and the Resources page in the coming weeks, so check back often. In fact, if you do something with Summer Scares that you want to share with all of us, contact me. I'd love to showcase your library.

Summer Scares is brought to you by the Horror Writers Association, United for Libraries, Library Journal/School Library Journal, and Book Riot.

27 Female Authors Who Rule Science Fiction and Fantasy Right Now via EW

As I mentioned here, with Early Word closing, I am going to make an effort to post more collection development type lists that I didn't used to always write about on the blog. Today is one of those types of posts.

This week Entertainment Weekly wrote:

Here at EW, we’re always looking for the next great sci-fi or fantasy epic. Consequently, a much-maligned National Review article, which dismissed the Bechdel Test and wrote off an absence of women in blockbuster films as a result of the lack of women writing blockbuster-worthy stories, had us raising our eyebrows. The article says, “Have a wander through the sci-fi and fantasy section of your local bookstore: How many of these books’ authors are female? Yet these are where the big movie ideas come from.” Well, actually, quite a lot of the authors are female (and many of them already have sold the film/TV rights to their books). Fiction from J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter), Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid’s Tale), and Diana Gabaldon (Outlander) has inspired some of the most popular film and television of recent years, but there are countless others who fly slightly more under the radar just waiting for their stories to become the next big thing. Here are 27 female authors who rule sci-fi and fantasy right now.

So click through and see the list.  Each author gets a nice description that will help you both for collection development (check your shelves, you need to have these authors available for checkout because patrons will come in asking for them, like right now) and to hand sell the titles you already own.

Use the author descriptions here to easily book talk their titles. You can just read the EW annotations word for word. It's not cheating, it's called using your resources. That's what we librarians do, use resources. Again, you don't have to have every read a single book by these authors to help a reader. You just need to know where to find resources by people who do know about them.

Also, I don't want to say this but I am afraid if I don't I will regret it. And, I know it might be obvious to some of you, but unfortunately I know it is not to all of you. So here goes-- You can suggest these female authors to readers of all sexes.

Now, Carry On!  [click through that pun is intended]

Want to Understand The Book Industry Today? Ask an Author

I know I spend a lot of time on this blog talking to you about working with publishers, helping patrons, and using resources, but I rarely talk about the authors themselves beyond discussing their work and which readers they most appeals to.

However, if we want to fully understand the book industry we library workers are a part of, I think we have to talk a little more about authors and how they do or do not make a living in today’s publishing world.

Few authors are more vocal or honest about the financial issues of being a writer than horror author Brian Keene. Unfortunately, as he would tell you himself, he came into being an author advocate and expert in working with publishers [as a professional writer] by accident. It was because of his place in the center of one of this century’s biggest publishing collapses-- the shuttering of Leisure Books.  Back in 2010, I blogged about this issue and Brian’s place in it on the horror blog here.

Brian led a group of authors, many of who are gracing your library’s shelves right now, in a fight for to reclaim the rights to their own works from the closing publisher. This was a HUGE deal, and something that still happens to authors all of the time.  Without fighting to get their rights back, these authors’ works would not be able to be published again. Brian Keene’s The Rising was caught up in this mess, a novel that is cited all the time [along with the first Walking Dead comic and the film 28 Days Later] as the beginning of the current zombie craze.  It is a seminal work in popular culture and it was almost lost.

I think this is an issue that many library workers don’t even know about. Most of us just assume if an author writes something that gets published that said author still owns the works.  Often they do not. Brian brought this often hidden issue out of the shadows.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the issues authors have to deal with in today’s publishing world. And, I think it is important for us to understand their perspective.

Thankfully, once Keene started giving a public voice to the large mass of mid-list authors, he didn’t stop. For the 9 months he is writing a weekly column for horror publisher Cemetery Dance about his life in publishing.  You can click here to read all of the columns. They come up in reverse chronological order.  The first four are up now.  But to get you started, here is the link to the first one.

After reading these columns, I think you will have a fuller picture of the industry behind the books we are hand selling to patrons each and every day.

Collection Development with Booklist's TOP 5!

On April 26th, I presented Five Things to Know in Top Genres as part of the Booklist and NoveList RA Conversations Live Event.

Today, the newest issue of Booklists's The Corner Shelf came out with the video and handout access.

Click here for the full issue of The Corner Shelf.

Screen shot from the newsletter

Click here to watch the video.

Click here to access the handout.

Remember, this is an excellent resource for collection development for all three of these genres. In this video, I also provide a quick tutorial at the end of the genre specific presentations about how to use NoveList to stay up to date in ALL genres.

Finally, as Rebecca mentions in the screen shot from the newsletter above and in the video, there are now many of these Top 5 programs available for a wide variety of leisure reading genres [fiction and nonfiction]. All make for great collection development tools. Click here to access handouts and slides from older Top 5 presentations.

RA Conversation Starter: How Relevant Is the Author's Bio?

The question above is one that comes up for all readers at some point in their lives.  Some readers always want to know how a work of fiction relates to the author's life while others do not care as long as the story they are reading rings true.

For me this question came up twice in the past week as I am working on fishing up a Read Alike article for Novelist on Dan Simmons [and considering his biography as I summarize his work and why people love him in a mere 1300 words] and as I read A Constellation of Vital Phenomenon for a book discussion, an amazing book all about Chechnya, but written by an American.

So it was fitting as I was catching up on old NYT Book Reviews to see this point counter point in the Bookends column, "When We Read Fiction, How Relevant is the Author's Biography?"

From the text:

"Each week in Bookends, two writers take on questions about the world of books. This week, Thomas Mallon and Adam Kirsch discuss whether knowing about an author’s life deepens or detracts from the pleasures of reading fiction."

Author Thomas Mallon wrote about how much less the bio matters now, while writer and editor Adam Kirsch talks about how history has shown that there are times when understanding the biography of the writer makes 

What I like about the essays is that they are both right. Anyone who works with readers or is a reader his or herself would enjoy taking a look at what each has to say.

Me, I am still completely up in the air as to whether the author's background is important to me or not.  I guess it all depends on the book and my mood.  But I was happy to read 2 eloquent writers debate the merits on both sides of the issue.  It made me feel okay to stay ambivalent.

But the real reason I posted this installment of Bookends is to give you a new passive RA idea.  Why not post the weekly column of Bookends at your library near where leisure readers browse or near your desk each and every week.  Who knows what kind of conversations it will start between staff and patrons?

Sometimes, our patrons want to ask us for help picking out their next great read, but they think they need to have a specific title in mind in order to approach us. Let's anticipate that and instead give them as many reasons as possible to talk to us.  Once we provide the conversation starter, the RA transactions will flow. And if the conversation starter changes every week, they have a reason to come back.  Even better, if we use resources like the NYT Book Review (for which we are paying for a subscription already), we are making less work for ourselves and being more efficient with the patron's tax dollars.  Everybody wins!

Tomorrow, I will share with you one of the easiest and most effective conversation starter tricks that we employ to great success at the BPL RA desk.

Stewart O'Nan: A Great Sure Bet Option

As I was scanning my RSS feed the other day, I came upon this short but wonderful reading recommendation courtesy of my NPR Books feed:

Inspired by the missing Malaysia Airlines flight, author Jonathan Evison recommends the novel Songs for the Missing, by Stewart O'Nan, as a book with something to say about mysterious disappearances.

Click here for the full transcript.

I agree with Jonathan Evison when he said, about this novel in general, "it's a deeply human, finely detailed, achingly sympathetic approach to the characters."

I feel like that is a great description of every book O'Nan writes.  They are all on different subjects, but each of his novels is character centered.  O'Nan sympathetically portrays his characters, documenting some large event and its aftermath.  We see the characters thoughts and understand their motivations.  Each novel has a slim investigative angle, but more on the psychological suspense track.  These can be slightly sad stories, but I describe O'Nan as for readers who like the idea of a Jodi Picould but find her melodrama a bit over the top.

His novels also tend to be short and fairly fast paced with a polished writing style that will even appeal to more discerning literary fiction reader too.

As readers start coming in looking for what to read while on Spring Break, try suggesting Stewart  O'Nan.  His works will appeal to a wide swath of readers and you are bound to have some on the shelf.

Article on Stephen King's Family of Writers

I make no bones about the fact that I love Joe Hill.  Click here or here if this is somehow news to you.

I have also said, in a published book, that Stephen King is one of our greatest living storytellers.

I know I am not alone on either of these 2 opinions as there is a lengthy NY Times magazine article, just posted today, that looks at the King family in depth.  Yes there are childhood reminiscences and great family photos here, but what the feature also ponders is how Stephen and Tabitha King fostered the next generation of novelists.  It is very rare for a great writer to have kids who are also so talented.

If you like reading and storytelling or if you just want to see a normal, happy, non-dysfunctional family profiled for a change [hey, they might write about some messed up folks in their books, but they are pretty normal people], click here.

Listen Up: The Bat Segundo Show

Recently I have been spending more time trying out literary podcasts.  They are easy to download on my phone and they are fun to listen to while gardening.

One of my favorites is The Bat Segundo show.  From their website:

The Bat Segundo Show is a cultural radio program devoted to quirky and very thorough long-form interviews with contemporary authors, idiosyncratic thinkers, and other assorted artists. Guests have included John Waters, John Updike, Stephen Fry, Marilynne Robinson, Karen Russell, David Lynch, Weird Al Yankovic, Robert A. Caro, and more than 500 others. Follow Your Ears is an investigative radio program committed to original inquiry and the pursuit of a specific subject through several angles. A new Follow Your Ears episode is released every month. The remaining weeks are devoted to Bat Segundo. New shows are released every Tuesday.

The show recently returned from a short hiatus, and is now back better than ever.  What I like about this show is the interesting conversations the host is able to coax out of the guests.  The "quirky" description above it very true.  Often when an author hits the book promotion circuit, you end up hearing the same sound bites over and over. Not on Bat Segundo though. You will hear your favorite authors like you never have before.

Also, I appreciate the professionalism of the show.  This is not a two people in the basement talking about books show.  It is professionally produced by professions from the radio world.

Take a look at the guest archive and try out a show featuring your favorite author or don't forget to suggest the show to a patron.

Remember, leisure reading is about more than just suggesting a specific book to the reader in front of us.  Those of us who work with leisure readers need to remember that readers like suggestions for other things they might enjoy.  I regularly suggest TV shows, movies, nonfiction, apps, websites, and podcasts to patrons.  Readers Advisory is about letting the patrons know about new and interesting things they may enjoy, things (authors, websites, movies, etc...) that they would not know about without our help. They can find out what the next Sue Grafton title is on their own (they are going in alpha order for goodness sake), but have they heard Grafton talk about her process and books she likes?  They can here.

You can access this podcast through their website or subscribe for free on iTunes. 

World's Top Paid Authors

Here is an interesting list with analysis from Forbes about the world's top paid authors.

As I am sure it will come as no surprise to any librarian out there, the man who eats most of our book budget each and every year....James Patterson tops the list.  Well, if you author or co-author 7-8 books a year, and I have to buy at least 7 copies (if not more) of each, what do you think is going to happen?

So after Patterson, there is the rest of the list.  Again, click here to see it all.  But one thing that Forbes has noticed this year is how many women are quickly making their way up the list.

Take a look for yourself and realize how very few authors ever "make it rich" from their writing.  Then take a look at your library shelves, contemplate the huge number of authors in your collections, and then look at the list.  It is just further proof that authors write because they love to do it; they do not do it for the money.

Finally, compare what one of these authors makes for using their imagination to create stories that enthrall us with what Kim Kardashian makes for breathing.  Scary, no?

Have a nice weekend.

Booklist Online's Hostile Questions for Authors is Tons of Fun

One of my favorite features on Booklist Online's Likely Stories blog is when Daniel Kraus is let loose to ask famous authors some very hostile questions.

These short interviews, made up of the same hostile but rhetorical questions, really give the authors a chance to show their skill.  They have to be funny AND articulate, interesting AND entertaining, intelligent AND down to earth.  This is hard.  Some of them do better than others, but from all, I feel like I learn something more about them and their work.  Plus most of these interviews make me smile, which is a nice outcome to get from some hostile questions.

Use this link to bring up all of the interviews, but below is the most recent with nonfiction author Mary Roach.

******************************************

Sure, Mary Roach looks like a formidable foe. She got up close and personal with decomposing flesh in Stiff, got intimate with death inSpook, got just plain intimate in Bonk, and then went cosmic, man, with Packing for Mars. But I have an edge: If there’s one thing I know about the nonfiction publishing industry, it’s the ceaseless GLITZ and GLAMOR. I’ll wait until she lifts her glass of Dom Pérignon… and then I strike!

Just who do you think you are?

A friend of mine was a production guy on the set ofNash Bridges. One day Don Johnson walks by one of the carpenters, a big guy named Tiny, and sneers, “What are YOU lookin’ at?” Tiny, without missing a beat and knowing full well he’ll be fired, says, “Third-rate actor with a drinking problem.” I’ll let Tiny answer this one for me: Overpaid hack with the mind of a 12-year-old boy.

Where do you get off?

The stop where no one else gets off, because it’s disgusting and it smells really bad.

What’s the big idea?

Truth! What happened to truth? Lies and lazy thinking are getting the upper hand on critical thought and solid, hard reporting. Ignorance and self-promotion are unseating reason and good. Me no like.

What is your problem, man?

Running out of body parts to write about.

Haven’t you done enough?

Enough to what? Drag the reputation of W.W. Norton and Company all the way down into the gutter? Yes. Embarrass my stepchildren? Yes. Stop global warming? I could maybe do a little more there.

RIP Ray Bradbury

Of course it was inevitable.  The great science fiction writer, Bradbury was in his 90s, so while I was not surprised that he passed away on Tuesday, I was saddened.

Bradbury is a writer I have always admired.  He wrote fantastical but accessible stories.  I felt a kinship with his world view.  And I adored how he loved the public library with all of his heart.

Fahrenheit 451 is one of my all time favorite books.  I have read it at least 10 times, but I refuse to own a copy.  Bradbury wrote the book by feeding dimes in the pay typewriters at the LA Public Library.  As a book all about the importance of books and reading, I feel like I show solidarity with his message by reading public library copies of this book.

Also, back in April, I wrote this "Back List Not to Miss" post about Something Wicked This Way Comes.

Many people have argued that Bradbury is responsible for moving science fiction into the mainstream. He was one of the first genre writers who transcended genre and was simply considered...a writer.  Current authors like Neil Gaiman, China Mieville, and Michael Chabon would not be held up as writers of great literary fiction without Bradbury first paving the way.  They might still be confined to the fringes as "genre writers."

As readers, lovers of great story telling, and, for me at least, librarians, we all owe so much to Bradbury, his vision, his imagination, and his talent. All I want to say is "Thank You."

Already planned before his death, a new collection of stories inspired by Bradbury entitled, Shadow Show, featuring new stories by authors as varied as Margaret Atwood, Joe Hill, and Jacquelyn Mitchard, is coming out in July.  What a fitting tribute to such an amazingly talented man.

Click here for Bradbury's official website.

Writers Ponder America and Its Role in Global Political Culture

Back on April 29th, The New York Times published a special op-ed section with this intro:

From April 30 to May 6, 100 writers from 25 countries will be in New York for a festival sponsored by the PEN American Center.

As part of the festival, A. O. Scott, a critic for The New York Times, will talk with the writers Martin Amis, Margaret Atwood and E. L. Doctorow at a Times Talk event on May 2, co-sponsored by the Consulate General of Canada in New York.

We asked those three writers — Ms. Atwood from Canada, Mr. Amis from Britain and Mr. Doctorow from the United States — to consider the question of America and its role in global political culture. Here are their answers.

I admire these three authors for their fiction, but I wasn't so sure about what they would have to say about this issue.  I think their thoughts are worth passing on.  I did not notice these essays linked anywhere else, so I am passing them on:

• Click here for Atwood
• Click here for Doctorow
• Click here for Amis

Personally, I am partial to Ms. Atwood's essay mostly because she said in order to understand America you need to read Hawthorne and Melville (my top 2 favorite authors ever!)

RIP Maurice Sendak

I have been away from my computer all day, but with an hour commute to my presentation today, I was lucky enough to get to hear Fresh Air's tribute to Maurice Sendak.

Quite often Terry Gross annoys me, but not when she would talk to Sendak.  He had an obvious affection for her and it came through in the many times they spoke.

Today, Fresh Air ran excerpts from many of these interviews ranging over decades.

A better tribute you will not see or hear.  Click here for access.

Readalikes Direct From the Author for the Stubborn Patron

I always forget to blog about this even though it is a tip which I pass on to patrons and students all of the time.  And it is one which never fails to make me look like a reading superhero.

We all have those patrons who have a handful of favorite authors from which they will not stray, no matter how much we suggest other authors to them.  You know the ones.  They say things like, "I have read everything you have here," even though you have thousands of books which they have never opened.  And you know you have the exactly perfect readalike option for them; it is an author who others whom like said author have loved; it is a best-seller; etc....  They still will NOT try something else.

For these patrons, and others who have absolute favorite authors, I have found success in directing them to the blogs, Facebook pages, and/or Twitter accounts of their favorite authors.  Some even have Goodreads or Shelfari Accounts too.  Most love for fans to ask to follow them on these book social networking sites; in fact, many will contact you first if they see you have their books or ones like theirs already on your shelf. Check out my friends on Shelfari. There are a few authors there.

Authors, especially successful ones, love to promote other authors.  They want you to read.  The more you read the better it is for all of them.  So on their personal social media pages they will talk about their favorite authors, new authors who they are excited about, and backlist gems they love.

To get started, simply Google the author in question and go to his or her homepage.  From there you will find links to any and all places where the author resides online.  It is really easy, but not an option that always immediately comes to mind as you busy helping a cranky patron.

So, take those stubborn patrons and show them how to follow what their favorite authors are reading and suggesting to their fans.  Your patrons will be ecstatic, and will may just finally be willing to try something different.  It may be the exact same title or author you have been trying to get said patron to try for months without success, but when it comes direct from the author's "mouth," your patron will probably finally take the plunge, and you will still be the hero.

Try it out and let me know how it goes.

Author Lilian Jackson Braun Dies

Braun, the author of the extremely popular Cat Who... Mysteries, died at 97 over the weekend.  Click here for an obituary.

Although I was not a personal fan of these books, I have many, many patrons who adored these cozy mysteries with their adorable small town setting and sleuthing cats.  Braun is also the inspiration between one of my favorite training phrases for librarians new to ordering fiction for the BPL:  Cat + Mystery = BUY!

RIP Braun.  And thanks for making my patrons so happy over the years.

Finding and Using Information About the Author

I am frequently asked by patrons and librarians about the best places to find out more information about authors.  In this case "information" falls into a few different categories.  First, there is information (aka marketing) that the author puts out about him or herself,  Second, there are third party interviews and information which authors also use as a marketing tool when they have something new out.  And third, there is professionally provided, neutral information about authors and their appeal.

It is important to understand that each category will provide a slightly different perspective on the author.  Depending on what you are looking for, you may go about accessing this information in different ways.  I will break down the three categories for you, explain how and when each is best used, and suggest resources.

Author Generated Info
This is pretty easy to obtain.  Anytime you or a patron want more information about an author from said author's point of view you should check three sources: the author's website, their Twitter feed, and their Facebook page.  Just Google the author to find his or her website.  From their you can expect to find the official author approved bio, lists of books, links to Twitter and Facebook, a possible blog, and news.

Click here to run the Google search for James Patterson.  Notice his "official" page is the first result. Author generated info pages are best used by fans.  Authors use these resources to market themselves.  Nothing critical will show up here; it is all happy and positive. These resources also allow readers to get up close and personal with their favorite authors in a way that was impossible even 5 years ago.

Twitter in particular has become an intimate place for the author to interact with their fans.  Check out Neil Gaiman's Twitter Feed. He is having personal conversations with his fans, commenting on their opinions and thoughts, and even reposting their tweets. Fans also like to follow authors to see what their favorite author is reading, listening to, eating, etc...

If you have a patron who really loves a specific author, you should definitely ask them if they have visited their web site, considered following them on Twitter, or liked them on Facebook.

Third Party Interviews
When an author has something new to sell, they start offering interviews.  Thanks to the web, we can now access more than just current interviews.  In fact, many major media outlets have caught on the the readers' desire to access author interviews both past and present and have begun to create entire sites which archive this information.  Here are some of my favorite places to go to find author interviews; however, if you want to find interviews with a specific author, Google the author's name and the word interview.  Here is the link for said search run on Michael Chabon.

• Amazon's new page called "The Backstory" compiles all of their author interviews (along with other info) in order to provide readers with a central place to go when they want to access author information.
• The NPR Books page has an author interview archive.  I use this frequently, especially because NPR tends to interview the widest range of authors from popular to literary, fiction to nonfiction, self-help to controversial.  Their interviewers are also not afraid to be critical or ask the difficult questions.
• On The NY Times' Books Page you can use a drop down menu to search "Times Topics" for a specific author.  Using this search feature gives you access to everything the Times has ever written about an author, including interviews.  Click here to see the Times Topics for Stephen King.  You can do this on most major newspaper sites by using the search feature, but the NYT puts it all in one easy to access place.
• Bookslut does a lot of author interviews.
• Many of the Discussion Guides on Reading Group Guides contain author interviews that are particularly geared toward book discussion groups.

Who are interviews for?  This resource is not for every fan.  Third party interviews are great for book club groups, readers who want to know more about how an author got their ideas for a book, patrons who want to be writers themselves, and for hard core fans of a specific author.  Of course others may find these interviews interesting, I am merely suggesting situations in which you, the librarian, may want to go out of your way to identify a patron who would benefit from reading an author interview.  Remember, patrons rely on us to point them to the resources they did not think of accessing themselves. We need to let them know these resources are out there.  Do not assume they are already using them.

Professionally Generated Information
This third category is very different.  Here I am talking about independent and professionally compiled information about an author.  Here it less about who they are and more about how they write.  What can readers expect from a book by a specific author?

I write short, 100 word appeals statements about authors (along with many other contributors) over on NoveList.  They are written to a standard so that no matter who is writing the author description, users can expect similar information in each entry.  Also, these entries are looked over by an editor, so unlike a blog (even this one) where a librarian is sharing his or her opinion about an author's appeal, these are vetted by someone else.  THe BPL offers access to NoveList from home or in the library.

Also, most public libraries offer access to the online versions of the old print Contemporary Authors.  Oh, you know you remember using these for reports when you were a kid.  Instead of paging through hundreds of old volumes, you can now just put the author name into the database and get every entry in which he or she is listed.  Again, the information is researched by professionals and vetted by an editor.

All of this information will not be tied to marketing efforts by the author and is a great resource for any reader. Although there is much that shows up when a patron Googles an author, this professionally generated information, accessed through the library, is one of the only places where a neutral professional is writing about an author.

I find that librarians often forget to offer this information to readers.  We use it for ourselves, but readers are more sophisticated these days and I think they would appreciate having access to it.  We librarians need to remember to teach our patrons how to access these databases from our websites.  Their tax dollars are paying for the resources, but many don't even know they can access a wealth of author information, from any computer, as long as they have a library card.

So I am going to make an effort to show more patrons how to find this information on their own.  Not only will they be happy with my "above and beyond" customer service, but also, they will better appreciate all they get for their library tax dollars.