Recapping The Baltimore Book Festival

 

Yeah, yeah, yeah ... I know, I know ... I was supposed to do this weeks ago. So sorry!  I started telling you about my Baltimore Book Festival adventures but I never got around to telling you how the panels went. And that's after posting over and over again before the event, encouraging you all to attend.  Slacker.

Also, I didn't take but a few photos during the Festival, and definitely none during the panels.  You'll have to rely on other bloggers recaps for those. Sorry!

Ok, here goes ...

I was a bit worried on the drive to the Festival Sunday morning (9/26) because I had to use my windshield wipers. Yup, it was raining.  Drizzling really, but the ground was wet. Ugh.  That's usually a bad sign for the Festival since many people won't come out if the weather isn't good.  Then I found out that Ravens football had kickoff at 1pm right downtown, so the traffic was going to be a nightmare at lunchtime.  Oh boy, this is not looking good!

I arrived early since I needed to drive my car onto the Festival grounds to drop off several boxes of books and get the car off the grounds by 11am.  After I parked I made my way to the wonderful hospitality suite located in a gorgeous old Baltimore home.  (Did anyone who was there get photos inside the building? I'd love to show the rest of you what it looked like!)  I had a complimentary tea and muffin while I relaxed and read a book.

Then I headed down to catch part of Warren St. John's talk on his book Outcasts United.

Warren St. John

I really enjoyed this book and am excited that is was chosen for the One Maryland One Book campaign.  I couldn't stay too long though because soon it was time to head to Festival Stage tent and get ready for the first panel. 

Panel #1 - The Wonderful World of Book Blogging

At the tent I found a wonderful group of bloggers, some of whom would be on the panel and others who would be in the audience.  The panelists (Nicole @ Linus's Blanket, Candace @ Beth Fish Reads, Celeste @ Reading Local: Baltimore, Dave @ Read Street, and Serena @ Savvy Verse and Wit) and other bloggers helped me to get the handouts on to the audience chairs in the few minutes before we were to start.  Thanks to everyone who pitched in!

Each of the bloggers on the panel was invited to participate because his/her blog is unique in some way.  Nicole reviews a wide variety of books and hosts a blog-focused online radio show.  Candace's background as an editor and her focus on audiobooks gives her a different perspective.  Celeste concentrates on the local Baltimore literary scene.  Dave writes for a newspaper-affiliated book blog. And Serena features a lot of poetry and poets on her blog.  My hope was that these various viewpoints would come together to paint a picture of blogging and how diverse it can be.

I wasn't able to take any video of the panel (unlike last year) so I can't give you the specifics of what we discussed.  From my notes I can tell you that we touched on how each of us got into blogging, the global nature of blogs, the variety of niches out there, and how every reader can find a blog they relate to.  We also talked about negative reviews, author/publisher interactions, and blogging styles.

Several bloggers recapped this panel and some even included photos.  Definitely check them out because they include details that I'd forgotten.

• Serena @ Savvy Verse and Wit
• Dave @ Read Street 
• We were even mentioned in The Baltimore Sun (newspaper) online edition.

me and Jenn (Jenn's Bookshelves)

In The Interim

We had only a short break between the first and second panels ... just enough time to grab a glass of wine from the hospitality suite and enjoy the lunch provided by Jenn's (@ Jenn's Bookshelves) husband.  Jenn posted about both panels and our fun lunch at her blog, and she has lots of pictures - go there and check it out.

Then it was back to Festival Stage tent for panel #2 ...

Panel # 2 - More from "The Book Club Toolkit"

This panel was meant to build off a panel I moderated at last year's Festival, hence the name.  Panelists included bloggers Swapna @ S. Krishna's Books and Julie @ Booking Mama, as well as local book clubbers Melissa McCrory-Hatcher and Faye Houston.

The focus of this panel was finding ways to keep your book club going strong.  We discussed ideas for themed meetings, field trips, author chats, and new genres, among other things.  Julie did an excellent recap of some of the best ideas on her blog so definitely read her post. Jenn's recap post included some great ideas as well.

One idea that I loved came from Faye.  She has run a club at a local library for over 20 years.  At the start of every meeting she provides a handout that includes info about the author and a summary of the book.  This helps to jog readers' memories and also allows members who didn't read the book to still participate in the discussion.


On The Whole ...

It was a great day.  The weather cleared up and it was actually pleasant out.  There was a good crowd at the festival.  Both panels would have benefited from more people in the audience, but the location of our tent meant that we didn't get a lot of foot traffic passing by so that means fewer people stopping in.  Still, I feel that both panels were successful.  And most importantly I had a FANTASTIC time hanging out with everyone.


A Big Thank You To ...

• All the panelists who rearranged their schedules to be at the Festival and share their ideas
• Barbara Mead @ Reading Group Choices for providing Reading Group Choices 2011 for everyone in audience, and for lots of books to giveaway to audience members 
• The Baltimore Book Festival staff for being open to new ideas and allowing me the time and space to do both of these panels
• Jenn and the J-crew for hanging around with Kiddo and I (and my husband, though he only stayed a short while) after the panels
• All the bloggers (and their families) who came to either/both of the panels
• The authors who dropped in for all or part of the panels, especially Justin Kramon and Alma Katsu
• My wonderful husband for keeping Kiddo busy all weekend and taking him to a ridiculously early ice hockey game on Sunday morning so I could get a full night's sleep before the panels

Kiddo and the J-boys, making faces and having fun

Upcoming Panel: More from "The Book Club Toolkit"

I've mentioned several times that I'm moderating some panels at the Baltimore Book Festival (BBF) this month that I'm really excited about.  It is finally time to tell you about them!  Yesterday I told you about the first panel and today I'll share about the second..

Sunday, September 26, 3-4pm: 

More from "The Book Club Toolkit"

Last year I moderated a similar panel and it was quite successful.  I'm using the same format this year, but with different panelists and a new audience (and a new location) there are bound to be new tips and ideas!

More from "The Book Club Toolkit"

Join veteran book clubbers for an hour of ideas guaranteed to help you bring out the best in your book club. Topics will include ways to liven up your club, tips on choosing books, suggestions for dealing with problem members, and more. Bring your questions – we’ve got answers!

View location details on the Festival schedule.

Moderator:

Heather Johnson, also known as The Book Club Madam, is the head of Storie delle Sorelle, a 20-member book club in the Glen Burnie area. She reviews everything she reads on her book blog where she also writes about topics of interest to readers everywhere. If Heather could make a living out of reading and running book clubs, she’d do it in a heartbeat; until then she freely shares her knowledge and experience with anyone willing to listen.

Panelists:

Melissa McCrory Hatcher - After completing my PhD in English, I needed a new place to discuss books! When I moved to Maryland, I found Storie delle Sorelle online, and they happily made me a member of their book-loving family. We are women in varying stages of life who meet monthly to share our thoughts. We average around 10 people and 1 bottle of wine per meeting.

Swapna Krishna - I'm a member of 2 book clubs, one online and one in-person. Our online group has 11 members and has been meeting for about a year and a half. We meet via Skype, with audio and video chat, while the in-person group has just 4 members and has been meeting for a year. Both have been very successful and a lot of fun for all members! You can also find me at my blog.

Julie Peterson - I am a big fan of book clubs, so much of one that I belong to three different ones that meet monthly. My regular book club is called The Preschool Moms Book Club (although that's no longer true anymore since our kids have moved on!) and we've been meeting for eight years. We usually read literary fiction, but we've been known to try other genres every once in awhile. My on-line book club, Wired & Bound, is made up of fellow book bloggers from around the United States and England. We have been meeting via Skype for around a year and a half and usually discuss literary fiction. My final book club is a mother-daughter one called The Tweeny Bookworms. We've been meeting for around two and a half years and consist of nine mother-daughter groups. Find me online at Booking Mama.

Faye Houston – Book Club Coordinator for the Pratt Library Central Branch - Our Saturday book club was originally started by 2 library staffers, me and Richard Oloizia (now also retired), 15 years ago. We meet on the last Saturday of the month, generally, and read a broad range of fiction, non-fiction, children´s books, sci-fi, and non-fiction (history and biography).

Mandy Entwistle – I am one of the original members of the The Paige Turner Book Club, a group that has met monthly since January 2008. As a group we've explored everything from classics by Shakespeare and Austen to more recent publications from Jodi Picoult and Alice Sebold.

Best Book Club Books of 2009

I am seriously behind in sharing this with all of you, but here goes!

Flashlight Worthy Books asked 10 bloggers - including me - to come up with a list of the most discussable yet overlooked books published in 2009. We did a really good job if I do say so myself. You can check out our Best Book Club Books List at this link: http://www.flashlightworthybooks.com/list/545 You'll have to go check out that link to see which book I suggested.

And if you like lists be sure to check out Flashlight Worthy Books' other lists, like ...

• The Best Books of 2009
• The Best Graphic Novels of 2009
• and lots more!
  

BBF Recap: The Book Club Toolkit Panel

Baltimore Book Festival Recap
My Panel – The Book Club Toolkit

I have been working toward Saturday, Sept. 26, for several months now and part of me can’t believe it is all over. On the whole, everything went very well – I’m so pleased!

Early that morning I got a message from one of the panelists; her son was injured at football and she was at the hospital with him. Needless to say, she wouldn’t be able to make it. However it worked out in the end because the other 4 ladies had more than enough to say to fill our allotted hour. In fact, we could have continued to chat for hours without running out of info to convey!

Panelists from left to right: Nancy Berla, Natalie Wiekart, Cheryl Hazel, and Trish Collins. For details about the panelists click here. (I'm not in the photo but I am in the videos.)

I did my best to capture the panel on video using my digital camera. I didn’t get all of it, but I did get some. Below are the four videos I took – I hope you enjoy them!









I am so grateful to Barbara Mead of Reading Group Choices for the bags of books she brought as giveaways and for attending the panel, and also to author Kelly Simmons for the book club pack of her novel STANDING STILL and for attending the panel as well.

The gal in charge of the tent where we held the panel was thrilled with the audience response; she invited me to work with her at next year’s Festival as well. She also introduced me to the head of publicity at the Pratt Library in Baltimore (it’s a huge, well-respected library system) who wants to talk to me about working with the Pratt at the CityLit Festival in April. Add that to the great comments I heard from the audience, and I can say that the panel was a definite success!

Once you get a chance to check out some of the videos I hope you'll let me know what you thought of it - any input would be great.

BBF: The Book Club Toolkit (part 4)

This is the 4th post in a series about The Book Club Toolkit panel I'm moderating at the Baltimore Book Festival on 9/26 @ noon. You can read the first post here, the second here, and the third here.

The Giveaways

Thanks to the generosity of The Baltimore Sun's Read Street blog, author Kelly Simmons, and Reading Group Choices I have LOTS of books to giveaway during the panel!

Read Street is providing a selection of newly released books chosen specifically for book clubs.

Read Street, The Baltimore Sun’s book blog, is written by Dave Rosenthal and Nancy Johnston. Each day, you’ll find news and opinion about the world of books. Just go to www.baltimoresun.com/readstreet

Kelly Simmons is providing 5 copies of her novel STANDING STILL to one lucky book club, along with a DVD to enhance the book club's discussion.

Publishers Weekly called Kelly Simmons' novel, Standing Still, “an electrifying debut” in their starred review, hailing it as "the perfect read for a stormy night." And Entertainment Weekly praised its “invigorating prose” and likened it to “Midnight Run featuring a female Charles Grodin character.”

This unique novel about kidnapping, panic disorder and immigration has been embraced by hundreds of book clubs across the country. It's been named one of Target Stores' Breakout Books, and tapped as one of Simon & Schuster's top book club picks for 2009. Kelly Simmons is an East Coast author who regularly travels to book clubs to join their discussion. She offers free chapter samples, free DVDs, and free autographed book plates for book clubs. Details on her website.

Reading Group Choices will give away Publishers Surprise Bags of Reading Group Picks! The “Bag of Books” includes various Advanced Reader Copies and finished books from Algonquin, Grove/Atlantic, HarperCollins imprints, Hyperion, Norton, Penguin imprints, Picador, Random House imprints, and Simon & Schuster imprints! Awesome – thanks to all!

Since 1994, Reading Group Choices has selected discussable books and provided resources for reading groups both in print and online. Even before Oprah, Reading Group Choices is proud to be the pioneer in enhancing the reading group experience. Check them out at www.readinggroupchoices.com.

In addition, everyone who attends the panel will get a copy of Reading Group Choices 2010: Selections for Lively Book Discussions thanks to ReadingGroupChoices.com!


THANK YOU to my three "sponsors" for all the books. I can't wait to give them all away!

BBF: The Book Club Toolkit (part 3)

This is the 3rd post in a series about The Book Club Toolkit panel I'm moderating at the Baltimore Book Festival on 9/26 @ noon. You can read the first post here, the second here, and the fourth here.

The Topics

Below is a list of some of the topics we'll discuss during the panel.

Setting Goals

• Does your club have a purpose? if so, what is it? clubs are different, there can be many difference purposes
• How often to meet - usually once a month, is your club different? how?
  

Members

• New book club vs. existing club - how to find members, how to choose members (based on club goals)
• Is your club open to new members? Under what conditions?

Choosing Books

• Does your club have rules or guidelines – paperbacks only? available at library? specific genres excluded? etc.
• There needs to be something worth discussing in the book
• How far in advance do you choose? Benefits/drawbacks to that system?

Leadership

• How does your club deal with this? one person or rotating leaders?
• Responsibilities include what? why is this needed?
  

The Discussion

• Research before the meeting – where to find info, what to look for
• Keeping the discussion on track - tips/suggestions?
• Dealing with books you don’t like - suggestions?
  

Keeping it fun

• Book/movie tie-in, themed meeting, new meeting place, etc.

Dealing with Problems

• Problems you've had in your club, and solutions?
• List common problems, suggest tools for dealing with them
• Ask for audience questions - what do they need help with

Are there any topics I've overlooked? I'd love to hear your suggestions!

BBF: The Book Club Toolkit (part 2)

This is the 2nd post in a series about The Book Club Toolkit panel I'm moderating at the Baltimore Book Festival on 9/26 @ noon. You can read the first post here, part 3 here and part 4 here.

Meet the Panelists

Moderator (that's me!):

Heather Johnson, also known as The Book Club Madam, is the head of Storie delle Sorelle, a 20-member book club in the Glen Burnie area. She reviews everything she reads on her book blog (www.age30books.blogspot.com) where she also writes about topics of interest to readers everywhere. If Heather could make a living out of reading and running book clubs, she’d do it in a heartbeat; until then she freely shares her knowledge and experience with anyone willing to listen.

Panelists:

• Natalie Weikart is a library consultant whose workshops have been launching lively, popular book clubs for 20 years. She was a presenter at Random House's 2004 "Reading Between the Lines" program on encouraging and marketing library reading and discussion groups. At Howard County Library she was head of adult educational and cultural programs, as well as coordinator of The Maryland Center for the Book. She also serves on an advisory committee to the Maryland Humanities Council.
  
  
• Trish Collins has been trying to join or start a book club for almost 10 years, and she finally has one she can call her own. Since starting her own, she has helped start a second book club and is in the process of starting a third. She is an avid blogger (heylady.net) and loves discussing books, thus her obsession with book clubs. As a natural extension for her love of books and blogging, Trish has started a blog tour company called TLC Book Tours, which you can find at tlcbooktours.com.
  
  
• Ladetra Robinson belongs to Sisters In Spirit, a Western Maryland book club comprised of a group of diverse women that reads books by African American authors. S.I.S fosters sisterhood among women who possess a passion for literature and enjoy cultural events. In the two years the club has been in existence it has registered over 25 women. Ladetra is the Director of Blossom School of Etiquette where she teaches young ladies from the ages of 6-17.
  
  
• Cheryl Hazel is a lifelong reading enthusiast who majored in English in college. She believes that good books are like good movies—more satisfying when shared with others. As an educator, she’s learned that if you share an experience with other people, there will be multiple perspectives and reactions to that same experience. After moving to Baltimore City last year, Cheryl connected with other readers through Femme Nouveau, a book club she found through Oprah’s website.
  
  
• Nancy Berla has been active in book clubs all of her adult life. She helped start a book club in Columbia called The Second Wednesday Book Club; it has been in operation almost 30 years. In addition to this group, Nancy coordinates book clubs at two retirement centers in Howard County. She has recently joined a fourth book club, whose members read literature in Spanish and discuss the books in Spanish.

So what do you think of the panelists? I'm really excited to bring together this great group of women. Between us we have about 60 years of experience organizing and running book clubs - I'm sure we'll have lots of tips to offer to our audience!

And on a completely different note, what do you think of my logo? I had lots of fun creating it. :)

Preparing For My Book Club Panel - input from you?

This is the first year that the Baltimore Book Festival will have a panel discussion focused solely on book clubs and I'm the one putting it together - yeah! The Festival is still months away (Sept. 25-27) but I've already begun preparing and I wanted to share my progress with all of you, and ask for your help.

My goal is to have a panel of 4-6 book club leaders who will discuss how to start, grow, and improve a book club. Included in that discussion will be how to choose the right book for your club, handling problems in the club, and lots more. Sounds like fun, right?

So far I have three women who have committed to join the panel and all three run very different clubs.

• One club is made up of only only African American women - they read a wide variety of books.
• Another club is comprised of various races and economic backgrounds - they read only African American books.
• And the third club leader participates in 4 clubs - a "regular" book club, two clubs she runs at a retirement center, and a Spanish language club for (I think) native English speakers.

There is another woman who may not be able to be on the panel but who will definitely help in my planning. She is a trainer of library book club coordinators - what a great job, right?!

I'd say there is some variety on that panel, wouldn't you? I'm really looking forward to working with these women - and with other club leaders - to create a fun and informative panel discussion.

I would love some input from my readers! If you were attending a panel about book clubs, what topics would you like to see addressed? What websites do you rely on for help with your book club? Are there any tips you want to share? I want this panel to be as helpful as possible so please share your ideas. Thanks!

Book Club Makeovers?

Yep, that's right! According to the newsletter I received today, ReadingGroupGuides.com is looking for book clubs who need some help. Here's what they say:

Over and over again I heard from people who felt that their book clubs were in a rut, or needed some new ideas, or had pesky situations cropping up that needed tending to. The more I heard these stories, the more I thought, "These book clubs need a makeover." So we came up with our Book Club Makeover program. Each month we will select groups and address their issues on the site. You may have the problems we already have heard; you may have something else that is keeping your group experience from being optimum. We want to hear from you.

Does this sound like your group? Here's more from their website:

Whether your book club is just a few months old or has been around for a while, you might be in need of a Book Club Makeover from ReadingGroupGuides.com. After reading your emails --- and talking to book clubs across the country --- we see that book groups often can fall into a routine and need a bit of livening up. It’s ReadingGroupGuides.com to the rescue! We’ll select groups each month for makeovers, review the problems, and make suggestions. Interested in a Book Club Makeover for your group? Fill out the form here.

If this sounds like something your book club needs, go on over there and sign up. And be sure to let me know if you do.

http://www.readinggroupguides.com/features/makeover.asp

Summer Travel, Contests, General Updates ...

This is sort of a catch-all post since I've got lots to comment on ...

Summer Travel
Does anyone have big plans for this summer? Personally, I'll be quite busy ... a wedding in West Virginia, a 4th of July wedding in Boston, hosting all-day scrapbook workshops, baby showers (and my sister's due date!), VBS, my 10 yr wedding anniversary, book club meetings (one with an author) ... did I mention that I still have to work?! ... yeah, summer will just FLY by for me!

If you have time and plan to travel, why not add some literary adventures to your trip? Check out this post from the blog at ReadingGroupGuides.com for some great travel ideas. For more info check out the new book Novel Destinations. !

If you've never checked out the blog over there at ReadingGroupGuides.com I encourage you to do so. They have posts on a wide variety of book- and book-club-related topics by authors, librarians, book clubbers, etc. I've done two guest posts for the blog (click here and here to read them) and I'm thrilled to announce that I've been invited to be a monthly contributor! WooHoo! My first post goes up near the end of June ... I'll be sure to let you know when exactly.

Contests
On the contests front, I've got some cool news to share. In June I'm starting a monthly book giveaway here. What's better than a free book? Why, two free books! So to kick off the new contests I'll be giving away 2 books to one lucky person in June I've got some special things lined up for the next few months (ok, ok, just a sneak peek for later this summer ... how about a signed copy of Matrimony by Joshua Henkin and a signed Mary Higgins Clark book?!) I'll post the details of the first contest hopefully by late next week, but no promises there.

She Reads Books is running a contest right now and get this - she's giving away 5 books! Click here to enter her fabulous contest.

And here's a link for a really cool contest that you'll want to enter too. You can a BAGFUL of books including Novel Destinations (the one I talked about above).

General Updates
Thanks to my loyal readers (and in part to NaComLeavMo) I'm now getting between 50-100 visits per day to my site - way cool!!! Thank you to everyone who is dropping by. I hope you are finding things that interest you. Please add me to your blogreader so you won't miss out on the upcoming contests and fun reviews.

In other news, my book club is meeting with DL Wilson, author of Unholy Grail, in late July. He graciously offered to give copies of his book to each member of our club - and there are 17 of us! Plus he's coming to our meeting to explain the research he conducted for this book and whatever else we want to talk with him about. I'm excited about this meeting - I'm sure I'll have lots to post about it.

I'm taking part in three reading challenges at the moment. I expect to finish the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge first. If you're a fan of this genre, be sure to check out the blog we have going; all challenge participants are posting their reviews on it so you're sure to find something new that you'll like. I've also committed to the Irresistible Review Challenge which ends on Sept. 1 ... I've got quite a bit of work to do on that one still. And finally, I'm working on the 1% Well Read Challenge. Unfortunately I keep changing my mind about which books to read after checking out the other participants reviews!

So that's about all I have to say for now ... how about you? Any summer plans? Cool contests you know about? How are your challenges progressing? I'd love to hear from you!

How did YOU start your book club?

I recently did a guest post over at Books on the Brain about why I love my book club. Lisa is doing a series on that topic and I've loved reading the posts so far. I spent some time reading through the comments and it seems that everyone else is enjoying them too!

But I did notice one thing ... many commenters lamented the fact they they can't find a book club to join, or don't know how to go about starting one. So I thought "Why not do a post on how to start a book club?!"

What I'd like to do is hear from all of you out there. If you're in a book club, how did you find it? If you started one, how did you do it? Do you have any tips or suggestions for a person who wants to find or start a book club? Any do's or don'ts that you want to share?

I know that there is a wealth of info out there ... I just need to pull it OUT of all of you and put it INTO some kind of usable format! :) So please contact me with your ideas. You can post them in the comment section or email me at SharingMyStory at yahoo dot com. Once I get all the info organized I'll get the post up.

If you'd like to contribute, please contact me by June 12 (but sooner is better!). I hope to have the post ready to go later that week.

By the way, the photos are from some my book club's meetings. Can you tell we have lots of fun?!

Blog help needed!

Ok all you Blog-savvy people out there, I need some help!

I'm trying to learn how to create a button, and I just don't get it. I've googled it and tried to follow the instructions ... no luck.

What I want to do is take an image that I already have and turn it into a button that I can use for the contest I'm doing in June. Can anyone help me?

Thanks in advance!

PS. Anyone who posts a comment with advice/tips/how-to's by Tuesday, May 27 will get an extra entry in my contest next month as a "Thank You!"