See you in New Orleans!

Are you attending the American Library Association in New Orleans, LA this summer? I’m going! I’m speaking!

In an exciting group effort, I’ve joined with nine other non-fiction authors to propose a session, NON-FICTION BOOKBLAST!

Here’s what we’ve done so far:

1. Formed a group. Once the session was proposed on a mailing list of non-fiction authors it quickly reached its maximum of ten great authors. It was limited to authors who hae new books coming out this year that they could have available to promote at the June conference. Through an email-list, we’ve worked together to iron out details.
2. Proposed a session. The ALA accepts session proposals, but has a specific timeline and format. We’ve met every deadline and our session was accepted. There are still deadlines for sending in handouts, etc, but we’ve got those under control.
   Here’s the description of our session:

   Nonfiction Book Blast: Booktalks and Activities for Your Library

   Start school with new booktalks and activities from ten nonfiction authors: April Pulley Sayre (Rah, Rah, Radishes), Kelly Milner Halls (In Search of Sasquatch), Deborah Heiligman (Charles and Emma), Loree Griffin Burns (The Hive Detectives), Carla Killough McClafferty (The Many Faces of George Washington), Christine Taylor-Butler (Magnets), Shirley Duke (You Can’t Wear These Genes), Darcy Pattison (Prairie Storms), Carla Mooney (Explorers of the New World) and Anastasia Suen (Read and Write Sports). (Handouts)

3. Group blog. We’ve established a group blog, NonFiction BookBlast blog. We’ve devised a schedule of posting, so that everyone can post before the conference.
   Check out these posts:
   • Weird Rocks! Writing the Books that Prove It, by Kelly Millner Hall
   • Horse Poop vs. Street Lamps by Deborah Heiligman

   I’ll post two things next Monday: a group book trailer and a post about my forthcoming book, PRAIRIE STORMS.

   

4. Each Person Promotes. It’s understood that each person will do as much promotion as possible before the conference. Our goal is to fill the room for our session! With ten of us working to spread the word, we hope to create excitement–and attendance.
   

   NonFiction Book Blast!

   American Library Association Annual Conference
   Sunday June 26, 2011 8 am – 10 am

Will the efforts be worth it? We hope so! When a similar group did a similar effort in 2009, their session had over 300 attending. That’s fantastic. May our room be overflowing this time! Hope to see you there!

New Orleans, here we come!