This is BEA week. Who or what is BEA you might ask?
BEA is Book Expo America, the show where book people do business. And it’s usually in New York in early June. It certainly is this year, although there are rumors about 2016 in Chicago.
Not all of us get to make it to NYC for BEA. Although many of us wish we could.
(Most years, for me, it’s a logistical problem. The American Library Association Annual Conference is in late June, and I am committed to attend that. Two conferences in one month is very expensive. There is overlap, but it’s not the same. I really want to go to BEA!)
Because so many bloggers want to get to BEA, and can’t quite manage, some of the enterprising among us invented the fantastic Armchair BEA! (There’s armchair football, why not Armchair BEA? I ask you?)
The kickoff event for Armchair BEA (see, see!) is an interview. Each participating blogger is supposed to interview themselves. (There’s a list of questions here, if you’re curious)
1.Please tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? How long have you been blogging? Why did you get into blogging?
I started blogging in April 2011. We were about to move (again) and were packing up our huge book collection, trying to figure out what to keep and what to weed. I’m a librarian and weeding books is hard. I thought I’d be writing a lot about libraries, and it has turned out that I’m doing a lot of book reviews. Which I love.
The other things. I blog here at Reading Reality, sometimes known as Escape Reality, Read Fiction! I am also The Rocket Lover at Book Lovers Inc. My husband is the techie here at Reading Reality, although we are both die-hard geeks. Our cats otherwise run the house. Which moves frequently. Chicago to Anchorage to Tallahssee (FL) to Chicago to Gainesville (FL) to Atlanta. (I’m originally from Cincinnati, but that’s a whole bunch of moves ago!)
2. What are you currently reading, or what is your favorite book you have read so far in 2012?
I’m listening to The Scottish Prisoner by Diana Gabaldon and reading Deadly Secrets, Loving Lies by Cynthia Cooke. My favorite book this year is probably Blood and Bullets by James R. Tuck, and I need to get the review written.
3. What is your favorite feature on your blog (i.e. author interviews, memes, something specific to your blog)?
The feature that I’m proudest of is Ebook Review Central. Every Monday (except Memorial Day, so far), I cover the output of one or more of the ebook-only or ebook-mostly publishers for a month. Later today it will be Samhain who are ebook-mostly. I pull together all the reviews for their titles each month and highlight three with the most and best reviews. And I maintain a database with links to all the reviews. I also cover Carina, Dreamspinner, Astraea, Liquid Silver, Amber Quill, Riptide, Red Sage and Curiosity Quills.
4. Which is your favorite post that you have written that you want everyone to read?
There are two posts I would want everyone to read (yes, I know, the question said one). Back in February, the Oklahoma Chapter of the Romance Writers of America suddenly changed the rules of their writing contest to exclude same-sex entries. Not because they couldn’t find any judges, but because their chapter members felt “uncomfortable” with stories that had, in fact, won the contest in years past. My post titled Hot Buttons Popping was syndicated by BlogHer.
BEA is a book expo. And it is also an exposition of traditional publishing. My background is in libraries. One of the big issues facing public libraries is how to handle the ebook revolution when most of the “Big 6” publishers will not license ebooks to libraries under any conditions. But exactly who are the “Big 6” anyway, and what does that mean? I couldn’t resist an attempt at describing them in 9 Rings, 8 Planets, 7 Dwarfs, 6 Publishers.
5. Have your reading tastes changed since you started blogging? How?
It’s not that my tastes have changed, it’s more that they’ve expanded. Which is bad, in a way, because I have access to even more books than I did when I was working in a library. I get a lot of first novels and ebook-only books, because I promote them on Ebook Review Central, and because I get them through book tours for review. So many neat new authors and series. But I still love all the things I always have, like science fiction and fantasy, and urban fantasy. There are so many wonderful books, and I want to read them all.
(Banner design: Nina of Nina Reads; Feature image design: Sarah of Puss Reboots; Rainbow pencils photo credit Horia Varlan on Flickr)
Stopping by from Armchair BEA. That’s a lot of moves, you must be good at packing, which I’m terrible at! Interesting post!
I just read your post about the big 6 – very interesting. And how on earth have you managed to read 79 books already this year???
Christina @ The Literary Bunny recently posted..Better late than never – Armchair BEA 2012
I usually read a book a day. I’ve read more than 79, it’s just that I only count on Goodreads the ones I’ve reviewed. I’m (cough) a little behind on reviews.
The “big 6” I could right until next year. Or the year after that. Glad you found it interesting!
Marlene Harris recently posted..Author Interview with Blair McDowell
I still can’t believe the publishers not licencing eBooks to libraries. It’s insane, and makes no sense to me. Libraries are huge customers for publishers, and would they randomly decide to stop selling their hard copy books to libraries? I don’t think so. It’s just such a bizarre decision, and I almost hope it will hurt them in the end. Love your post about it!
Here’s my introduction post.
Ashley @ Book Labyrinth recently posted..Armchair BEA: Introductions First
Thank you so much for stopping by! I love your intro post about literary places you want to visit.
Libraries are about 10% of publishers sales. The bigger thing is that libraries introduce people to new authors, and how is that going to happen for new authors in any other way?
There are a LOT of small towns where there is NO bookstore anymore. But there is a library.
Marlene Harris recently posted..Author Interview with Blair McDowell
I like how you answered that question about your reading tastes. That’s exactly what I should have said. Before my blog, I struggled to find enough books I liked to keep me happy. Since, I can’t keep up.
Thanks for participating!
Here’s my intro
Valerie
StuckInBooks
I love your blog and your answers! Hope you have fun during Armchair BEA!
Debz @ Debz Bookshelf
Wanted to say hello. I’m a fellow obsessive and BEA participant. Enjoyed meeting you through your intro and am looking forward to reading more of your posts.
Vikk @ Down the Writer’s Path recently posted..BEA Armchair: An introduction
I also said that my tastes haven’t changed as much as they have expanded – I still love the same types of genres that I did pre-blogging, but I’m much more open as a reader post-blogging.
Kelly
Radiant Shadows
Kelly recently posted..Kicking off Armchair BEA: Introductions First!
Wow that is a lot of moving. I hate packing and unpacking, but I love decorating a new space – that’s the only perk to me. LOL
Chrystal @ Snowdrop Dreams of Books recently posted..Stacking The Shelves (5)