Postcard For Reader

My ideal book blogger convention.

This post has taken way longer to finish than anticipated.

So after reading a few posts on BEA Blogger Con - The Book Smugglers, Stacked, Parajunkee, Wrapped Up In Books, Specific Romance - I started thinking of my dream blogger con. I won't even pretend to think that the bloggers and speakers I chose don't lean towards the YA side, because they definitely do.

Here's my ideal book blogger convention.

8:45 - 9:15 AM: Breakfast
Why do we need to show up at 8am for the breakfast? Nah; we're gonna start a little later in the day, and everybody can get breakfast during the first half hour of the blogger convention. And not some light appetizers, either - I want to see some hearty muffins on that table, orange juice, apples, whatever we can manage to put on that table. And if I know bloggers, a lot of coffee. Everybody can settle in and get ready for the opening speaker - which, of course, they can eat throughout.

9:15 - 9:50 AM: Opening Keynote
Speaker: Maureen Johnson
Who understands the blogging and reviewing community, is involved in publishing, and can be hilarious enough to entertain a bunch of sleep-deprived bloggers early in the morning? That honor is reserved for Maureen Johnson, author of quite a few YA novels and Twitter extraordinaire. Not only would she be able to hit what we are on the head - she's spoken before about being a person, not a brand; she understands the separation between author and book; she's actually in the industry - but she's bound to make all of us laugh.

Or maybe her and Libba Bray could write an opening keynote together. That would be great.

10:00 - 10:50 AM: Trends in Young Adult (& New Adult?) Publishing
Moderator: Barry Goldblatt
Speakers: Cheryl Klein, Rachael Stine, Tirzah Price

Instead of creating a showcase for editors, let's talk about all of the books in the genre - what's recently come out and what's coming out soon, and what trends are we spotting? What would we like to see more of? What should we keep an eye out for while we're blogging that would make good posts - and what books do we just need to review?

For the young adult section - and tentative new adult section, which could be seen as a trend that we should talk about - I'd like to see Barry Goldblatt as the moderator. (You'll notice a trend where I choose literary agents over editors and such for moderators for these panels; it's not that I don't love and adore editors, but literary agents tend to see all sides of the spectrum, and they can discuss books that aren't specific to one publishing house or to just his clients.) I know Barry's abrasive to some people, but I adore him, and he understands the young adult industry really well - look at his client list! He can definitely drive the conversation in the right direction.

Let's bring back Cheryl Klein, one of the editors of Scholastic - and more specifically, the fantastic Arthur A. Levine Books - to come talk on this panel. She's got quite a few young adult novels under her belt and, being part of one of the best publishing house teams, can definitely talk about what trends Scholastic has been noticing as they move forward in the upcoming year. Cheryl also blogs on her own, so she's an ideal choice.

I'd also love to bring in Rachael Stine from The Book Muncher and Tirzah Price from The Compulsive Reader. Both are fabulous bloggers who are heavily involved with books outside of their blogs - Rachael as an aspiring editor with countless internships under her belt; Tirzah as a bookseller - who really understand the industry.

10:00 - 10:50 AM: Trends in Kidlit & Middle Grade Publishing
Moderator: Danielle Smith
Speakers:
Suzanna Hermans, some other kidlit and MG bloggers?

Instead of creating a showcase for editors, let's talk about all of the books in the genre - what's recently come out and what's coming out soon, and what trends are we spotting? What would we like to see more of? What should we keep an eye out for while we're blogging that would make good posts - and what books do we just need to review?

For some reason, we never talk about kidlit bloggers, and there are plenty of them out there! For this section - and tentative new adult section, which could be seen as a trend that we should talk about - I'd like to see Danielle Smith from There's A Book moderating. Not only is she a kidlit book blogger, but she's also a literary agent who sells books in the kidlit and middle grade field. She'd be perfectly qualified to generate discussion and pose questions about both sides of the spectrum - on where what to look for in publishing as well as what bloggers need to watch. (Danielle also spoke at this year's con on the YA Book Blogging Pros panel.)

Suzanna Hermans gets a slot on here. I love Oblong Books and I love her taste in books and she's smart and clever and yes good.

Unfortunately, because I don't often read middle grade or kidlit, I'm at a loss for what bloggers to put on here - but we need at least two bloggers! Who do you suggest?

EDIT: Erin suggested Charlotte and Betsy Bird, both of who sound awesome to speak on this panel!

One panel every section would ideally be in a round-table discussion kind of manner - beanbags on the floor, a more relaxed environment. (In logistics, it means it can fit less, but hey, comfy chairs!) For this section, the kidlit one earns that room, because what's better to talk about kidlit than sitting on the floor like a kid?

10:00 - 10:50 AM: Trends in Adult Publishing
Moderator: Janet Reid
Speakers: Rebecca Schinsky, Jim C. Hines, Mary-Theresa Hussey

Having worked under Janet for several months as an intern, I'm partial to her for the trends in adult publishing - not only is she funny, but she more than knows her stuff. She's a literary agent, plus she runs the blog Query Shark, which I absolutely adore. She could definitely add some great conversation and drive this in the right direction while keeping it all snarky and fun.

Rebecca Shinsky used to run The Book Lady's Blog and now blogs actively over at Book Riot. As funny as she is smart, she has a fairly good knowledge of the some of the adult book industry genres - which, sadly, I know little about, so it's hard for me to pick who I'd want for this section! She was also on the panel for Adult Book Blogging Pros for year's convention.

Let's also bring Jim C. Hines in on this - he knows the fantasy genre pretty well, and as a combination of blogger and author, he's pretty qualified for the position.

And hell, let's bring Mary-Theresa Hussey from Harlequin up on this thing. I like romance, we all like romance, and she's pretty cool herself.

11:00 - 11:50 AM: Critical Posts - How do we write them? Why are they important?
Moderator: Me!
Speakers: Kelly Jensen, Donna, Katie

Critical doesn't mean bad, and it doesn't mean we don't love the book - and it doesn't mean those posts are for everybody. For those interested in the critical and criticism parts of blogging, this panel would be ideal. It's for blogs that focus less on the books they love or don't and focus instead on what makes a good book. (Neither blogging style is better, mind you. They're both very important and very different!)

I love this panel, and considering all I write not is critique posts that look at the industry, and considering all of my reviews fall under the critical category, I'm giving myself the moderator panel. Because hey, I can, damn it.

In terms of speakers: I would normally make make Kelly the moderator, but I want her to talk because I adore everything she has to say. Kelly spoke this year on the Book Blogging and Big Niches panel, but what I love most about her posts on Stacked is her ability to look at things critically - and how she encourages others to do the same. I'd love to here her speak on the topic and how we can generate more critical thoughts in the blogosphere.

I need Donna - formerly from Bites, now over at Bitching, Books and Baking - on this panel, because she's one of those brutally honest bloggers that's full of snark that has, in the past, gotten slammed for reviews. She's critical of the books she reads in a biting, snarky voice - but she's never, ever once blatantly attacked an author or a publisher or anything. She's just criticized the work itself. And I love her for that.

Surprisingly, I'd also like to bring in Katie from Katie's Book Blog, because while she tends to only review books she likes, that doesn't mean her reviews aren't thoughtful or non-critical; they just happen to be about books she liked. It would also bring in a voice that wouldn't be told that they're snarky or something because, uh, she's not. She's just adorable.

One panel for every section gets the round-table discussion kind of manner - beanbags on the floor, a more relaxed environment. The critical reviews and posts section gets this one. As a topic that can cause some heated debate and is taken very seriously by those in it, and by those who are offended by it, sitting comfortably and talking in a circle would definitely help generate some interesting discussion.

11:00 - 11:50 AM: SEO & Coding Workshop
Speakers: Lori, Stephanie Leary

I don't think this one needs a moderator so much as everybody taking turns talking with opportunities to explain and for everybody to take notes and stuff. Thea posted this idea in her BloggerCon recap post and I loved it; SEO and coding workshops, I think, are a great way for both all bloggers to see what other bloggers are doing.

I'd love to see Lori from Pure Imagination here; she has a lot of how-to posts that would be really fun to explain in real life, and she's very talented. Stephanie Leary is a Wordpress consultant who spoke on this year's blogging platforms panel, and considering how obsessed Wordpress is with their SEO stuff, teachings on how to maximize that from her would be fantastic.

I'm not sure who else I'd want - or if I should just leave it at that, and split it up fifty/fifty. Perhaps somebody else who has Wordpress or Blogger or general coding information? Who do you suggest?

11:50 - 12:50 PM: Lunch!
With publicists and such in the audience, there's plenty of time to network with industry contacts, as well as other bloggers. An hour is also plenty of time to run out and grab a snack if you don't want the lunch that we'd provide - which is hearty, full of subs and salads and all sorts of things. (Including vegetarian and gluten-free and allergy-free options.)

Oh, did I mention I'd provide coffee and such throughout the day to pick up during the ten-minute intermissions?

After lunch, for those who don't want to attend various panels - or just need a break - the relaxing room that kid-lit and the critical posts conference took place in is open for mingling. Grab a snack and take a seat, and if there's a few publicists or bloggers in the room, network while you're at it!

1:00 - 1:50 PM: Publishing & Bloggers - What do we expect of each other?
Moderator: Chelsy Hall
Speakers: Faye Bi, Casey McIntyre, Rachel Rivera, Thea James

Chelsy Hall of Big Honcho Media is one of my favorite people to work with, and she was at the Book Blogging and Big Niches panel this year. A member of an independent publicity firm, she works with a lot of publishing houses and has quite a bit of bloggers - as well as the ability to create amazing blog tours. She knows her stuff and can ask the right questions and keep the comments flowing in the right direction.

As for speakers, Faye Bi is one of the publicists right now for Little, Brown's young adult and kids division; she's absolutely fantastic to work with and seems to really enjoy connecting to bloggers. She'd certainly be open about what she wants as a publicist to bloggers. Casey McIntyre currently works for HarperCollins and I'd love to see her there as well for all of the same reasons.

And unlike the normal three-person panel, there needs to be some even distribution of bloggers and publicists here; the two I'd choose would definitely be Rachel Rivera from Parajunkee and Thea James from The Book Smugglers. Rachel's spoken out before about participating in various campaigns and what worked and what didn't and how to make them better, plus her blog rocks. And we all know how perfect Thea and The Book Smugglers are - and how honest!

1:00 - 1:50 PM: Social Media - The most popular platforms & the best ways to use them.
Moderator: Liz B
Speakers: April Conant, Mundie Moms, Alice Marvels?

There's no one "right" way to use social media - but there's no denying that it's a huge part of the blogging industry, and that many people have become successful through their use of social media. What's up with Facebook? Why are we so obsessed with Twitter? Should we copy/paste our posts to Tumblr? Is Pinterest still a thing?

I want Liz B from SLJ to moderate - mostly because I love her on Twitter, and I love her posts, but also because I feel like she would ask questions that are actually useful and helpful to those in the audience.

I love how April from Good Books and Good Wine; she uses quite a few social media sites, and she uses all of them quite well. (Plus she has some great widgets on her blog - I wonder what she would recommend to integrate social media and blogging?)

Let's bring in the ladies from Mundie Moms - they're on more social media sites than I can count and use each one avidly. Combine that with their huge following and I'm sure they'd more likely than not have tips on how best to use various social media sites.

I'd perhaps like to see the owner of Alice Marvels on this panel as well. She uses her newsletter in a really clever way, and her Facebook feed is fabulous, though she has been conspicuously absent on social media the past few weeks.

Who else would you like to see?

EDIT: 2:00 - 2:50 PM: Books, Blogs & Diversity
Moderator: Alvina Ling
Speakers:

Erin's rockin' it in the comment section, and since I love her suggestion of a diversity panel, I had to edit one of my empty panels to have it! Talking about incorporating diversity into the blogosphere - in terms of reading more diverse books and speaking about more diverse issues - is definitely something I'd love to see talked about. This includes race, gender and sexual orientation issues.

Let's put Alvina Ling up as the moderator of this panel! Alvina is the executive director of Little, Brown and the chair for the Children's Book Council's diversity panel. I love the CBC Diversity blog and would love to have her in charge, as she's somebody who would definitely know how to push the discussion in the right direction.

Julie also came up with the idea of putting one of the editors from Lee & Lo Books - one of the few publishing companies devoted entirely to putting out books from minorities.

Who else should speak?

2:00 - 3:50 PM: Ethics & Blogging: Negative reviews, online friendships, FTC and plagiarism.
Moderator: Jane Litte
Speakers: Julie Kagawa, Sarah Wendell, Megan, and a lawyer? Maybe? And some more bloggers???

So this is a huge topic, so I gave it two time-slots so everything could be thoroughly discussed and so that questions and answers could be had. (Perhaps with a break in the middle for those who want to go to the other 3:00 panel, and for those at the other 2:00 panel to come in.)

This is a hard topic to talk about. What's wrong with a negative review? (Nothing, so long as you're not attacking the author.) Do online friendships influence reviews, and should you disclose them? (They shouldn't, and if it's relevant.) What does the FTC want with bloggers disclosing book stuff? (Hell if I know.) And what do we do about plagiarism? (Kill it with fire.)

Jane Litte from Dear Author did a fantastic job on this panel this year from what I understand, so why not bring her back to run it again?!

Bringing an author onto this panel seems relevant to me - especially regarding negative reviews and online friendships - and why wouldn't I choose Julie Kagawa? Julie, who has nothing against negative reviews - though she has no interest in reading them, of course - and whose friendship with bloggers online has led to no discoloration of any of the reviews. (At least, not my reviews.) Plus she blogs herself. And she's funny.

I need two bloggers on this panel: Sarah Wendell from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books and Megan from Book Brats. Sarah has spoken actively against plagiarism - including outing a particularly popular blogger back when she plagiarized - and is a supremely talented blogger who probably has lots of things to say about all of the things. Megan I chose because I love all of her posts - they're extremely thoughtful, and I'd feel like she'd have a lot of interesting things to say on the subject.

And I like the idea of having an FTC lawyer on the panel when specifically discussing that - like Kelly said in her recap post of BEA, learning about that was one of the few good things that happened at this year's BloggerCon, and I'd like to spread that knowledge! I'd also like to have another blogger or two on the panel?

3:00 - 3:50 PM: Blogshop
Janice's comment was spot-on -- why not use this as a chance to shop around your blogs? A room full of tables with a laptop on each, where groups can go to their blogs and workshop. What do you think of this layout? My reviews? And the groups can workshop their blogs in small groups of four or five while simultaneously networking. It'd be fun and be a productive way to end the night - and to combine everything we learned earlier!

I'm thinking about the missing panel. It's a tough one. I would be happy with it being mixed with the drink hour and just became a blogger social as one option. I also think what would be cool would be to have a "blogger group think" hour or something where we all has grouped tables and each table basically worked amongst themselves on each other's blogs. Like go around the table and have each blogger ask the group for advice about whatever they wanted. Like: "If you look at my blog, what do you think needs improving", or "How do you set up an affiliate link to amazon" or "has anyone tried SEO here?" etc. I also think this would be a GREAT way to interact with other people and exchange information and even keep in contact later, because some of the more complicated questions could end up with "I'm going to send you an email with really specific instructions" etc.

3:40 - 4:20 PM: Bar opens for pre-closing keynote drinks.
Who wants to listen to the final keynote with nothing in their hand to sip from? The open bar has officially opened, and you can run over and grab a drink - plus some pad and paper to write down fantastic quotes from the final keynote-speaker in. It'll keep everybody relaxed.

4:30 - 5:00 PM: Closing Keynote
Speaker: Thea James

"But Nicole," you cry, "you've already put Thea on a panel!" Well, in my dream world, she does the closing speaking as well. With Ana. She could always back out of that panel for speaking here. And let's be real - she understands bloggers, she's awesome, she could so pump us up to go back out and keep blogging. And that's the whole point of the convention, isn't it?

In my dream world, all panels are live-streamed for a small fee for those who can't make it in person.

What do you think? What would you wanna see? Would you attend my dream convention?