SOME VIRTUAL VISIT ODDS AND ENDS AND A NEW BOOK ON MY NIGHTSTAND

Today I had the pleasure of interviewing the delightful Sarah Chauncey, co-creator of SKYPE AN AUTHOR. Look for the complete interview post on Friday. To prepare for our conversation, I experimented a bit with Skype. Here are some quick conclusions (I bet you know all this but, just in case...):

1. Comb your hair and wear a nice shirt. Cameras are cruel.

2. Think about what is behind you. (Behind my desk are two lovely framed watercolors of which, unfortunately you can only see the bottom 1/3 when I am centered on the web cam.) Cory Doctorow has a cool shot of his laden bookshelves behind him as he reads from LITTLE BROTHER. He also shares a few personal details to help viewers understand the setting (his London office).  Bare walls or a pile of dishes on your kitchen counter...not good.

3. Look at the camera, not the computer screen. (This is hard for me as I compulsively want to check my hair.) John Green posted a hilarious review of TWILIGHT AND NEW MOON which is pretty straightforward technically (except for a quick photomontage at the start, it's pretty much John in the frame--also backdropped by bookshelves) but his gestures and energetic focus make it very engaging to watch.

4. Prepare & Practice. This point is echoed by Sarah Chauncey but more on that Friday.

To keep the issue of Virtual Visits in perspective, and to counterpoint the enthusiasm of some, I must refer you to a very entertainin blog post by author  Kirby Larson. This leads me to point number...

5. Manage your time. I don't have room to quote all the authors who comment on the amount of time required for virtual marketing (though arguably still much less time than is required to fly on airplanes to remote school districts across the country and world). The best advice I have heard is from a few authors who suggest setting aside a few hours on a particular day of the week for the cyber stuff and trying to stick to that.

Well, despite my Internet explorations this week, I've managed to finish two AWESOME books (gave them  both five stars at Goodreads): THE FARWALKER'S QUEST by Joni Sensel and AN ABUNDANCE OF KATHERINES by the above mentioned John Green. Now at the top of the stack on my bedside table: THE COMPOUND by S. A. Bodeen.  So, I'll sign off here and get back to trying to make sure to have time to work, write, research, blog and, oh yeah, READ!!!

A VIRTUAL HAPPY FRIDAY

For the last hour, I have been struggling to complete my introductory post on Virtual Author Visits. This is a huge topic right now, the subject of much discussion amongst writers, and amongst the marketing and publicity folks within publishing houses. There are some amazing things going on in the virtual world and also some frustrations. The topic is far too big for a single post, so consider this an introduction.

Virtual Visits, for the purposes of this conversation, include Skype, chats, blogs and vlogs, and any other internet medium through which authors connect with school or library groups.  At this point, Skype seems very popular.  Authors are handling Skype requests in myraid ways. Many offer free short (10-15 minute) Skypes with book groups, etc., and only charge for longer Virtual sessions. (If you're doing this, please share your experiences--thanks!). There are authors who Skype for free, those who charge a fee or require minimum book purchase, and every possible permutation and combination in between. Some just find the medium challenging (shy!) and are nervous about charging because they are not sure they are any good at virtual appearances. Others love the high-tech stuff. In sum, there is a lot of experimentation going on.

At work, I routinely receive requests for authors to Skype or otherwise "virtually visit" with school or library groups. With school and library budgets shockingly tight, it is not surprising that this is an appealing notion.  But, though the idea seems great, the hows of a successful virtual visit are still being figured out.
Here are a few third-party sites for those investigating Virtual Visit options. Not endorsing any of them as yet but it's good to know what's out there. Please do share your experiences or any other resources you may have found for Virtual Visits: Skype an Author; Teaching Books; SchoolTube; EduBlogs.

So the resources and interest are out there.  The big question, in my opinion, is how can authors build great relationships with schools and libraries, have successful interactions with students, and encourage readers to BUY THEIR BOOKS through Virtual Visits? What does it take to develop a thoughtful, payment-worthy Virtual Visit program? Next week, I'll look at some authors who are innovating in the virtual visit arena and a few I think are handling the medium with great success.

For tonight, I'll end with a Happy Friday book note: I finished THE FARWALKER'S QUEST on Tuesday (loved it, especially the notion of "The Forgetting") and am halfway through AN ABUNDANCE OF KATHERINES (artfully drawn protagonist and hilarious footnotes).

THE BUSINESS OF CHILDREN'S BOOKS: It's YALSA (ALA's Young Adult Library Services Association) Teen Tech Week 2010

The Teen Tech Week program was started by YALSA in 2007. It is a national initiative aimed at helping teens access and responsibly use their library's non-print resources. Curious? Click here for more YALSA Teen Tech Week details.

Got a bit behind on the blog recently because I was working behind-the-scenes on my third-grader's school  production of "Willy Wonka Junior" (he was an Oompa-Loompa). I love to see kids sharing their talents on stage and, though this was a giant group (over 100 performers, grades 1-6), the production was fabulous and full of life. There's actually a segue here to Tech Week: I took an informal survey of the cast and discovered that far more kids had seen a movie version of this story than had read Roald Dahl's CHARLIE & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY. Hmmm. Here's a case where I'm not sure I'm glad the kids had the tech resources to skip over the book though, admittedly, it was over the reading level of much of the cast. Still, this has me thinking hard about what I'll call Tech Platforms for School and Library visits.  So, having spent some time discussing reading guides (one type of content you can put on your website), I'm going to write a few posts on "Technology and Author Promotion."  I'll begin on Friday with some thoughts on school and library visits via SKYPE and the experiences a few of my authors have had with this medium.

THE BUSINESS OF CHILDREN'S BOOKS: Checking Reading Guides for Balance

I just sent out a reading guide for the first book in a fun new series. I was happy to be a part of this project but also nervous because I know the author is excited about this series and I wanted to be sure to do justice to this book and those that will follow.


So, although I finished writing the guide this past Friday, I did not send it out. Instead, I put it away for the weekend. Today, I opened up the file and looked for what I call "balance" in the piece. Here are some questions I asked myself:

1. Am I happy with the number of discussion questions? Do they flow together meaningfully? Have I included all of the major characters, plot elements and themes in one way or another? Do I feel that I have encouraged readers to see the elements in the story that the author is excited about exploring?

2. Are my activities balanced in terms of writing exercises, research, creative/arts-based activities, debate/interactive activities, etc.? As I look at each activity, can I imagine one real, specific kid who might enjoy it (another reason I recommend working in classrooms!) or one situation in which it might be useful?

3. Do I feel that the guide is practical for use by educators and by parents? Will students find some questions or activities interesting and appealing without adult guidance? Are there some easy, quick things to do as well as more complex suggestions?

After I tweak the material to satisfy the above, I print out a hard copy of the guide. Note that this is the same thing I would do for a draft of my own fiction. I take a look at the shape of the text on the page. Do some activity descriptions look too long? Do some questions look too short? And, of course, I do a red pencil line edit.

Finally, I type in my corrections, drink a cup of tea, wait a half an hour and take one final look. Just like any piece of writing, part of knowing when you are "finished" is a gut feeling. However, this is writing not just for myself but in support of someone else's hard work and ideas, so instinct has to be just a part of the equation. Examining the guide for balance gives me a metric for checking that I am honoring the objectives of the author and the publishing program.