Library Journal's Graphic Novel Preview and General Thoughts On These "Preview" Feature Articles

I am currently working on my annual Horror Genre Preview for the July issue of Library Journal. This is my chance to look at the next 6-7 months of what is on the Horror horizon. I not only list titles of note that are coming soon so that you can get ahead on your ordering, but I also make general statements about the trends that I see forming at the moment. Well, not just me. I also interview Horror professionals to get their thoughts as well.

This article is both easier and harder to write than my quarterly review columns. Easier in that I don't have to read all of the books and crystalize why you should read them in 190 words, but harder in that it is actual journalism, a form of writing I only do once a year. I have to do research, solicit quotes, confirm my sources, double check it all, and then synthesize the massive amount of information into a coherent, readable, and useful article in 3,000 words or less.

You can click here to get access to the last four years of my genre previews. Scroll to the bottom of that page. They are still useful for collection development, displays, and suggestions.

But that is my Horror genre preview. Library Journal does many previews and because I understand how much work go into them, I also love passing them on to you to use as a resource for collection development, displays, and suggestions. And when there is a particular well done one, I like to highlight it.

Such is the case with the Graphic Novel Preview in the April issue. Take a look at it for yourself. Also shout out to author Thomas Batten for including an entire section on the increasing popularity of Horror comics. One, thank you for promoting Horror and noticing it is blossoming at the moment, and two, thank you for allowing me to not have to worry about tackling it in my preview article. That frees up more words for different authors. YAY.

Finally, here is the link to access all Genre Previews via Library Journal. They are an excellent resource for collection development, displays, and suggestions any time, not just when they come out and especially not just the current year's preview. The last 2-5 years hold a lot of useful information and titles you may have missed.

NoveList Post Encouraging You to Come to Librarians' Day

This year Summer Scares and the HWA has teamed up officially with NoveList to promote Horror all year long. 

As part of that partnership, NoveList is creating Summer Scares specific content and sharing the expertise of NoveList employee, Yaika Sabat, Senior Readers' Advisory Librarian as a presenter at StokerCon.

Click here to read Sabat's NoveList blog post about Librarians' Day happening on May 13, 2022, in person at the Curtis Hotel in Denver, CO with added information about how to access Summer Scares specific content in NoveList.

If you are anywhere near Denver on Friday the 13th of May, we'd love to spend the day with you. You still have time to register.

Click here or on the logo below for all of the details. It is only $75 and includes lunch, access to Horror authors, panels specifically about serving horror readers of all ages at your library, and ARCs, lots and lots of ARCs. For example, every single attendee will go home with a paper copy of two of the hottest, genre blending titles coming this summer-- The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias and Ghost Eaters by Clay McLeod Chapman. Other titles and swag are coming in every day, but I can confirm a large package has been received from Tor NightFire and one from Penguin Random House is on the way. 

We are not fooling around here. You will have a high standard of continuing Education options AND lots of fun swag to bring back to your library. And a buffet lunch.

I am especially excited for the final panel of the day and am extremely grateful to these established authors for agreeing to engage in such a personal discussion:

3:30-4:45pm: Different Paths to Horror Success: Moderated by HWA Trustee and Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Linda Addison and featuring StokerCon 2022 Guests of Honor, Brian Keene and John Edward Lawson, as well as Stephen Graham Jones and Lisa Kroger.

And finally a huge thank you to NoveList who along with LibraryReads are financial sponsors of Librarians' Day as well. Their sponsorship allows us to feed the authors and panelists who are joining us that day. We are greatly appreciative of their support for RA Service and Horror.

Forward this to your Denver area colleagues if you cannot make it. We want to meet as many library workers as possible to share our love of Horror so that you can pass it on to your readers.

Click here to register now!

Using Awards Lists As A RA Tool: The International Booker Prize and The Whiting Award

This is part of my ongoing series on using Awards Lists as a RA tool. Click here for all posts in the series in reverse chronological order. Click here for the first post which outlines the details how to use awards lists as a RA tool. 

I really enjoy finding awards that are broad and useful. Yes, the major literary and genre awards get a lot of attention and bring readers into our libraries seeking the winning titles, but there are so many other awards that alert us to titles that we can use to fill out our collections, giving us a wider range of titles to suggest to our readers.

Two such awards made announcements recently. The first you probably heard about: The International Booker Prize. The titles on the shortlist for this award are considered the very best books translated into English in the last year. And you can click here to get all of the titles throughout the history of the award-- long list, short list, and winners. 

Use this award and its nominees to flesh out your "in translation" offerings and/or to build a display. What is wonderful about a display of the very best titles translated into English is that just by pulling the titles and displaying them together you are sure to get a display that represents many different cultures and types of stories. The titles that get the International Booker distinction often are not straight up literary fiction [like we tend to see with literary prizes here in America]; rather they tend have strong genre influences. Click here to see what I mean. You can also click here for other resources I have written about in order to identify titles in translation that are worth considering for your public library collection.

The second was one I was vaguely aware of, and when it was announced I ended up spending a good 30 mins browsing through the backlist of winners: The Whiting Award. From the award webpage: 

Since 1985, the Foundation has supported creative writing through the Whiting Awards, which are given annually to ten emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama. Read about the most recent cohort below, browse the 37-year history of Whiting Award-winning writers, or search the full list of winners.

Okay, so you may not know the 10 writers getting the 2022 distinction, but that is sorta the whole point of the award. However, go browse the history of writers who have earned this distinction and wowza!, you will see literal household name authors there.

The time I spent perusing that list of past winners made me realize this is an award we all need to pay more attention to. And with 10 each year, across the spectrum of publishing-- fiction, nonfiction, poetry, an drama-- you are sure to have a wide range of stories that will appeal to many different readers.

While you may not be able to add entire books by these emerging writers yet, you can go back to the last 2-8 years of winners and see what they have published. At the very least, they are worthy of considering an add to most public library collections.

PRH Spring Book & Author Festival w/ Library Journal [Featuring ME!] and General Reminder About All Library Marketing Resources Via Publishers

 

Last week, I was a part of the event above. My part was pre-recorded:

The Horror!

With supernatural torments and ghostly encounters, these terrifying page-turners are not for the faint of heart.

Isabel Cañas, The Hacienda (Berkley)

Clay McLeod Chapman, Ghost Eaters: A Novel (Quirk Books)

Ramona Emerson, Shutter (Soho Crime)

Alma Katsu, The Fervor (Putnam) 

Josh Malerman, Daphne: A Novel (Del Rey)

Moderator: Becky Spratford, Readers' Advisory Specialist

There were many panels featuring a wide variety of authors across all of the PRH imprints, interviewed by library people. I missed the live event myself because I was presenting for another library that day. But, good news, you can still register to watch the recordings for free at this link.  

However, while I have your attention about this large scale event, I also wanted to remind you that EVERY publisher who has a library marketing person or website is listed on this LibraryReads page. 

So while PRH can do an all-day event because, well they are huge, don't forget that many of the publishers [big and small] have excellent webpages where they are uploading their own upcoming title presentations, information, and more on a regular basis.

Or, if you want to see a mix of titles from different publishers all at one time, the Adult Library Marketing Association hosts mini book buzzes regularly on YouTube here. These bring together reps from different publishers. I enjoy watching these to get a sense of the full picture of not only what is coming soon, but also, what the publishers are choosing to market. This is an easy way to get ahead of trends across the breadth of the publishing landscape.

Please remember, all of these programs about upcoming books are not just for those who have collection development duties. Anyone who interacts with any adult readers at the public library should be watching these. You can get a sense of what is coming soon, what other authors these titles are similar to, and, my favorite, get a great example of a quick way to book talk a title. These library marketers are all very good at giving you 1-2 sentences of plot and then a whole bunch of appeal.

So again, you can go back and watch the entire PRH Spring Book and Author Festival, but don't forget about using all of the library marketers as a general resource, on a regular basis.

To Beach Their Own: A Booklist Reading List by Susan Maguire

It's Friday and I have a fun list to share. It is from the current issue of Booklist and it is entitled, "To Beach, Their Own," and it is by my editor, Susan Maguire. 

Maguire makes a "Beach Reads" list every year, but I have to say this is one of my all-time favorites. Why? Well, I'll let her explain. From the intro to the annotated list:

A beach read is anything that takes the reader on a little inner vacation. In other words, for us, “beach” is a state of mind. For some, a beach read is a leisurely stroll through a simple story; for others, it’s a fast-paced, danger-soaked thriller. Or maybe it’s a long, sweeping saga or a book of transporting, incisive poetry. With all that in play, here is our annual selection of beach reads that can be read anywhere, anytime and that are sure to provide readers with just the immersion they crave. We hope this list inspires you to find your own, appeal-based approach to recommending beach reads.

Click here to read her comprehensive and outside the box "beach reads" suggestions. There are 6 categories; for example, one is titled, "Cults!" and I am totally here for a cult book to help me relax. But not everyone is, so there are 5 other categories as well.

"Beach Read" is a broad term, and this list embraces it in all of its wide reaching glory.

Why not try one for yourself this weekend and take a little mini-vacation on your couch? Or just file this away to help inspire a new display at your library. You can also use it to give a great reading suggestion anytime. 

No beach required. 

EveryLibrary Presents: Censored Authors Speak: A round table discussion about book banning in America

Last night EveryLibrary hosted a roundtable discussion that I wanted to make sure everyone who reads this blog has access to. From the YouTube recording landing page:

Join our panel on Wednesday, April 6th at 8pm EDT as they discuss the personal impact of having their books banned in libraries, how it is influencing their current and future writing, and their concerns and hopes for America's young readers. Our lineup: Alex Gino Ashley Hope Pérez Andrew Karre Mark Oshiro Robin Stevenson IW Gregorio Dr. Tasslyn Magnusson (moderator)

It is just over an hour. Watch it when you have a chance. I have also tagged it "censorship" so it will pull up anytime you click on that tag.

Click here or just watch the embedded video below.

What is Sunshine Noir? via Book Riot

One of my favorite places to get information about trendy book topics is Book Riot. Why? It is precisely because they are actively trying to get clicks on their content. This is a good thing for us because it means they are out there looking into the topics that readers are most interested in. They have the time and the staff to pursue trends immediately, meaning articles and book lists are created and we get topical resources.

[And this doesn't even take into account that they will not release an all white-cis-hetero list about anything, which is also key because you know their content is going to have presentation of marginalized voices.]

So on Monday, when I was at Tamarack District Library and showed them Book Riot as one of my "5 Resources You Cannot Live Without,"  I paused at one of the lead articles myself.

It was entitled "What is Sunshine Noir? Plus 6 Sunshine Noir Books to Read." I literally stopped in my tracks and said to the group that this was EXACTLY why I loved this resource. An emerging subgenre is defined and books are given immediately. I told them that I would be returning to that list when I finished with them and they should look at it to.

And here I am fulfilling my promise and I want to make sure all of you know about it too. To give you a little frame of reference, the article opens thusly:

Nordic noir is a well-known and well-discussed genre, especially among crime fiction lovers. But from its surge in popularity came its literary opposite: sunshine noir.

Click here and read the article, with its links to the origins of this term and see a 5 books list.

But then use their cool graphic [below] with attribution and make a small display at your library and/or on your social media. Add more titles that you have that fit this new trendy subgenre. Your patrons will be intrigued and check out these books-- many of which you already have on the shelf right now! A re-centering of them as Sunshine Noir will help them fly off the shelves and into the hands of happy readers. 

And honestly, that is what the best resource are there to help us do.

Click here for the graphic

What I'm Reading: The Daughter of Doctor Moreau

In the latest issue of Booklist I have an unequivocal star for Silvia Moreno-Garcia's upcoming novel. As usual, here is my draft review with more appeal info to help you hand-sell this title-- or others like it while people wait for July to come.

STAR
The Daughter of Doctor Moreau

By Silvia Moreno-Garcia

July 2022. 320p. Del Rey, $28 (9780593355336); e-book, $13.99 (9780593355343). First published April 1, 2022 (Booklist).

Carlotta, the beautiful, and brilliant daughter of Doctor Moreau, lives on an isolated estate, on the Yucatán Peninsula in the 1870s, where her life revolves around her father’s work, and his hybrid human-animal creatures, raised to obey him. Montgomery, a troubled man, running away from his past, was brought to be Moreau’s new overseer by his patron, the wealthy Lizalde, when Carlotta was 14. Now six years later, he has become a vital part of their grotesque utopian “family.” But, outside the walls of the estate, instability and violence rule as colonial powers, the Mexicans of Spanish descent, and the Mayans are vying for control of the country, and an unexpected visit by the the handsome son of Lizalde lets the turmoil of the outside world in, forcing all to reckon with their pasts. Told from Caroltta and Montgomery’s point of view, and clearly inspired by H.G. Wells, this novel is wholly new, painting a vivid picture that is as alluring as it is unsettling, filled with action, romance, and of course, monsters. However, it is Moreno-Garcia’s ability to mesh the unease of the scientifically created beats with the real life terrors of a life on the margins and the horror of colonialism that elevates this story. Readers will fall into this tale immediately, enchanted, even when the story sinks its claws into them, threatening to never let go. A new entry in the growing canon of titles that take on genre classics from a marginalized perspective crafting original, thought provoking, and highly entertaining tales such as Boy, Snow, Bird by Oyoyemi or The Ballad of Black Tom by LaValle.

Further Appeal: I am very hard on authors I enjoy and this book delivered on all fronts. This book works as BOTH a retelling of a classic AND as a story about the real Horrors of colonialism and marginalization. But I also want to make sure you know it was fun and entertaining to read with sex scenes, action sequences, immersive descriptions, fascinating and well developed characters.

You don't need to know anything about the Wells story to enjoy this one for what it is, but there is also an excellent authors note that frames it all both re Wells and in regards to the location [Yucatan] and historical context.

Three words that describe this book: strong sense of place, dual narrative, constant unease Readalikes: Besides the 2 in the review above, other Island of Dr Moreau retellings like The Madman's Daughter by Shepherd are a great choice. Also the upcoming The Hacienda by Cañas [which I reviewed in the April issue of LJ], which is also a Horror novel about the horrors of colonialism, but the Cañas is a debut and while it is very good, Moreno-Garcia elegantly weaves it all together as only a seasoned, award-winner storyteller can. I also think this is a great read for those who were intrigued and repulsed, but then intrigued again, by the playing god theme in Inspection by Malerman. I also LOVED that novel.

All of these different angles at how you can approach providing readalikes for this novel is a further testament to how good it really was. I know Moreno-Garcia is a library worker and reader favorite and you won't need help attracting readers to this title, but I think it is important to note that it is just as stellar as her other beloved novels.

RA for All Roadshow Visits Tamamrack [MI] District Library: All Day and In Person

On the road again. Well, that is an  understatement. I've been on the road basically nonstop since 3/21 between PLA and Spring Break, but today is a little different. Today is a return to in-person, full day, staff training. I did have 1 program in person, in IL this summer, but this is the first trip I have taken in 2 years. And it is one of 2 this month. 

While I have been able to adapt my programs to virtual and still make them interactive, no one wants to be trained all day by someone on a screen. 

Today, I will be at the Tamarack District Library in Lakeview, MI working with the entire staff for the whole day. I will walk them through my signature series of RA Service training with breaks for exercises.

Although I no longer post the slides for every training I do, I thought today it was useful to post the slides and the schedule to serve as an example for other libraries who are starting to get back to in-person staff training. 

Please note, I work with every library to create a schedule that works for their needs and their time constraints, as a result, the below list is but one example of what I can offer. You can also go to my Recent and Upcoming Presentations page to see more examples of what I am doing for other libraries and systems.

And now, here is what is happening all day today in Lakeview Michigan as I get back to business. 

8:30am-10:30am: RA for All: Flip the Script and Think Like a Reader: Readers Advisory belongs in every library, no matter its budget. The implementation of this vital service is the responsibility of every staff member-- from pages to directors, from those behind the scenes to the ones on the front lines. This program will remove the mystery behind providing great RA service. Using her “Ten Rules of Basic RA Service” as a guide, Becky Spratford will use your own love of your favorite books to show you how to help any patron find their next great read. It's not as hard as you think. But more importantly, you will learn why a staff that can harness the power of sharing a great read will become a stronger team and improve service to all patrons, especially the hardest to reach ones. 

Slide access here

 

10:30-10:45am: Break

 

10:45-Noon: Booktalking Your Way to the Friendliest Library in Town: Booktalking is at the heart of what we do with patrons each and every day at the public library. Whether we are sharing books informally at the services desk, presenting a prepared list of books, or posting information online, talking about books is something we do each and every day. It is a core service, but it is also hard to teach. Booktalking is more of an art than a skill, but with the right guidance and some practice, it can go a long way toward engaging your patrons and re-energizing your staff. Join experienced Readers’ Advisory Becky Spratford as she shares the secret behind delivering great book talks, giving you tips and tricks you can begin using right away to hone your own skills. Rediscover the power and joy that comes from sharing books with patrons. 

Slide access here

 

Noon-1pm: Lunch

 

1-1:15: Conversation Starter Exercise: I have a series of note cards with conversation starter questions that we will be tackling in small groups.

 

1:15-1:30: Break

 

1:30-2:50pm: Demystifying Genre: Nothing is scarier than trying to help a fan of a genre you yourself don’t enjoy. You want to help that, for example, Romance reader find the perfect book, but you are having trouble knowing where to begin because...eek!... you don’t read Romance. You are afraid they will find out you are a fraud. How can YOU possibly help THEM?!? Never fear, in this program, Readers’ Advisory expert, Becky Spratford, will teach you the basic appeals of the major genres, give you the inside track on what a fan of that genre is most drawn to, and provide you with talking points to get your genres readers to tell you what they want. This program focuses on providing you with a diverse and inclusive list of up-to-date authors with at least 40% of the example titles representing “own voices”. You will leave this session with the confidence and skill to help fans of every genre, regardless of whether or not you have ever read a book in that genre yourself. And that will leave a trail of happy patrons in your wake.

Slide access here

 

2:50-3pm: Break

 

3- 4pm: Speed Reading Exercise and Ask Becky Anything

RA for All On Spring Break

I planned to be off all week, but I preloaded Monday and Tuesday.

I will be on and off Twitter, but no blog posts until Monday 4/4.

See you in April