Back-to-Business Monday: Taught by Teens

I had a most amazing morning on Saturday.  Inspired by some advice from SCBWI-WWa colleague Carol Lucas, I held a get-together for ACTUAL TEEN READERS to talk about the books they read, how and when they read them, and how they find them.  We met in the Starbucks corner of our local B&N and had a very fun chat. 

Kathryn, Sarah H., Erika, Alice, Colleen, Katy, Britta, Katrina, Mia & Sarah B. represented girls ranging from (almost finished with) eighth grade to college sophomores.  They were all super-nice and so gracious about giving up their morning to enlighten a forty-something newbie writer.  I brought a bunch of arcs along to share with them.  The one that sparked the most interest was Kieran Scott's HE'S SO NOT WORTH IT.

It is amazing how much the girls know about Facebook.  It is definitely their go-to social media resource.  They belong to groups for everything from sports teams to prom committee, and use the event/invitation feature, tagging, etc.  Some of them "like" authors, bands, etc., but not excessively.  One of the girls, who does follow some authors, mentioned that she got annoyed when she'd "accidentally" find herself on the author's website via their like page, preferring to get all of her information while on Facebook. They also explained some details of "like" pages of which I was unaware--very helpful stuff for techno-dense folks like me :)

The girls also had lots of suggestions for fun websites to visit, favorite teen magazines, and so much more that I'm still digesting.  It's quite incredible how much these teens do, and how capable they seem to be at managing their time and keeping focused on their interests despite the barrage of advertisers, etc., trying to get their attention.  Wow!  Way more savvy than I ever was (or am).

I was so grateful to all the girls for their time.  I hope they had some fun. For me, the conversation opened the door to many more questions.  Oh, and I'm definitely going to learn how to vlog!