Office of Scholarly Publications at Georgetown University: If your booth is about your readers, they'll love you

Saturday, October 06, 2007

If your booth is about your readers, they'll love you

Book Fair at the National Press Club is coming up on November 1! Given the recent post about BookExpo America, I thought I'd take this opportunity to issue a public service announcement to published authors. If your booth is only about you, it's boring! The typical booth is a "Hooray for me" or "cheer for our press" or "look, aren't we wonderful" affair that seems egotistical, and also fails to move copies.

So what goes into a successful booth? Plenty for the visitors! After all, a book is all about its readers, and a press is about these readers times several hundred. Readers buy books, review books, recommend books, and award authors. Every critic, every contest panelist, every bookstore chain buyer, every sales rep, and every customer is first of all a reader. If your booth is about your readers and their interests, they'll love you.

Vicky Moon, the author of a book about Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis's life as an equestrian, gave out horseshoes at her table. Elin McCoy, who wrote a biography of ubiquitous wine judge Robert M. Parker, Jr. offered communion-sized wine samples. Humorist Art Buchwald told jokes and posed for photographs, always focusing on his visitors rather than himself (and his humor was often self-deprecating). My friend Eleanor Herman, author of bestselling books about royal paramours, dresses in full Elizabethan costume at her book events, and makes sure everyone goes away entertained.

It's also great to have conversation starting ice breakers at your table. Haul in some artifacts from your book, especially if you have something visually captivating. Pietra Rivoli brought the actual tee shirt that her book was about. Even though a hundred conversations probably started with "Gee, is that really the shirt?", so what? It was a great way to give otherwise shy Book Fair patrons something to talk about. (NB on booth gifts: think beyond typical convention junk. The old, inexpensive standbys such as bookmarks and keychains are rarely as interesting as food and drink, or something the visitor can handle and talk about even if you aren't giving it away. Giveaways can be highly effective, as long as they avoid the trap of being cheesy or too cheap.)

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Writing a Book? Literary Advising at Booklab

Booklab works with authors outside Georgetown as well as faculty. Literary education is available either by the hour (advising) or by the project (nonfiction proposals, expert manuscript readthroughs, etc.). Write to us for more information and a course fee schedule.

If you're not a Georgetown author and you have a question, you can have it answered for free if you give us permission to post it on the blog. You will remain anonymous unless you wish to be identified by first name.

And yes, we occasionally lurk on Twitter as Georgetownbooks.

Click here to see a list of books we recommend about writing.

Literary Events

William Morris Endeavor Agency Visited Booklab. Eric Lupfer of the William Morris Endeavor Agency was my guest for a Georgetown University faculty book talk at noon on October 15 in the Leavey Center. Over 70 faculty members attended, including special guests from the Center For Advanced Holocaust Studies at the Holocaust Museum, and some from Mary Washington College. Eric focused on his own approaches, work he admires, and backstage realities at a major literary agency.
Matthew Carnicelli Visited Booklab. This former Dutton editor turned literary agent, first in his own boutique and now with Trident Media, captivated an audience of 70 faculty members with his insights on how scholarly research can form the basis of engaging and popular books. He discussed some of the mechanics of approaching agents, but his core message was what he particularly looks for in an engaging crossover book.
Cary Goldstein Visited Booklab. Director of Publicity and Acquiring Editor Cary Goldstein at Hachette's estimable imprint TWELVE discussed how academic authors can become quoted experts in today's voracious news climate. He analyzed nonfiction from both of his unique perspectives: as an acquisitions editor, and as a senior-level publicity strategist. He also discussed TWELVE and what distinguishes its editorial and promotional approach from other houses.
Smithsonian Books Editor and Georgetown Alumna Visits Georgetown. Elisabeth Kallick Dyssegaard, a senior editor at Smithsonian Books who was an executive editor at Random House and Farrar, Straus & Giroux, and who has been reponsible for several literary bestsellers, will co-teach a book proposal seminar in the spring. Please see the blog at the left for details.
Sebastian Junger Visited Booklab. Bestselling author Sebastian Junger -- who used to be a Washington, DC journalist and who is still a reporter at heart -- is also a great supporter of Booklab. He discussed his work with faculty. We met in the historic Philodemic Room, where he offered such unorthodox advice as "Write what you DON'T know... you'll learn along with your readers and tell a better, more thorough story." Afterward he accompanied our team to the National Press Club for its annual Book Fair and Authors Night.
Georgetown Author Barbara Mujica at Chapters Literary Bookstore. Georgetown alumna and Chapters co-owner Terri Merz hosted Barbara Mujica at Chapters for a special wine reception.
Oxford University Press Visited Georgetown. The Faculty of Languages and Linguistics hosted Cynthia Read, the executive editor of Oxford USA, on April 17 for a conversation and question and answer session.
University of Arizona Press Visited Georgetown. Carole Sargent welcomed Dr. Christine Szuter, Director of the University of Arizona Press, at the Book Lab townhouse on Wednesday, March 14 at 10:30 a.m.
The Authors Guild at Georgetown. Executive Director Paul Aiken and General Counsel Jan Constantine answered professors' questions about university press contracts, and authors submitted contracts ahead of time for detailed review.
Father James V. Schall read from his new book The Life of the Mind: On the Joys and Travails of Thinking, in late October.
Gemstone of Paradise: The Holy Grail in Wolfram's Parzival, by G. Ronald Murphy, S.J. was the subject of a book talk at the National Press Club's Eric Friedheim Library. Father Murphy regaled the audience with his fascinating story of actually finding the Holy Grail.

Office of Scholarly Publications
at Georgetown University

Saturday, October 06, 2007

If your booth is about your readers, they'll love you

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