{"id":33171,"date":"2021-04-30T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-30T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/?p=33171"},"modified":"2021-04-30T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-04-30T12:00:00","slug":"the-fun-of-the-virtual-booktalk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/?p=33171","title":{"rendered":"The Fun of the Virtual Booktalk"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you had told me when I posted my last blog <\/a>that I wouldn\u2019t be writing another one for 13 months, I wouldn\u2019t have believed you. I won\u2019t lie, it\u2019s been (and continues to be) a scramble as we\u2019ve adapted every process and every approach to every single thing that we do\u2014along with the rest of you. But here we are, and it feels nice to settle back into a routine where we can take a minute to write down what\u2019s on our bookselling minds again.<\/p>\n\n\n

Our virtual-oriented lives haven’t been all bad, of course. Seeing my colleagues\u2019 home offices, living rooms, kitchens, porches, rambunctious DOGS (including my new one) and crazy KIDS (also mine, who inevitably barge in just when it\u2019s my turn to talk) come and go this past year has offered neat glimpses into each others\u2019 lives\u2014and, I think, has brought us all a little closer. Something about the impact of a shared experience, I\u2019m sure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

But, I\u2019m not going to slide into an indulgent episode of \u201cslithering reflectiveness<\/a>,\u201d as my colleague Kenny Brechner would say. Because despite everything that\u2019s changed over the last year, so much of what we do has stayed the same. And at the core of that is and has always been connecting with readers wherever they are. This effort has taken different forms and involved much more technology than normal over the last 13 months, but it\u2019s also kind of cool sometimes because virtual events bring out a different side of kids (and even grown up booksellers) in unexpected ways.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Nikhil watches BookPeople’s event for <\/em>Twins with Varian Johnson and Shannon Wright<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

More often than not younger kids at virtual events just want to pop into the chat or Q&A box and let the authors know they have a dog just as they would in person (so it\u2019s good to know that some things don\u2019t change)! And watching my own third grader type his questions (inevitably under my login name) at our virtual events is always a moment of happiness that he’s so engaged followed by a moment of chagrin that my colleagues think I\u2019ve been typing \u201cwhen does the next book come out\u201d over and over or that I’ve submitted a “question\u201d to Tui Sutherland just saying \u201cdo a acidwing book.\u201d Unsurprisingly, our pre-event Q&A solicitation for Rick Riordan and Roshani Chokshi brought in a record number of responses, probably a good 80% of which bore no discernible relationship to questions at all. But letting everyone participate and feel free to chime in without volubly disrupting the conversation is part of the fun of this format. Of course, sometimes you have to just shut it down\u2014like when 200 Baby-sitters Club fans can\u2019t stop fighting over which character they are in real life while the graphic novelists are talking!<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

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A recent middle school booktalk<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

I don’t think the virtual experience fully replaces the excitement of seeing and conversing with authors in person. But the anonymity can also spur boldness in those who are maybe shy to raise their hands in person and need a little time to edit their question until it\u2019s just the perfect one to submit. I will say that the We Need Diverse Books Essay Contest winners\u2019 reception that we hosted with authors from the Texas Teen Book Festival has never drawn out a better conversation. In the room, the kids can be shy to raise their hands and call attention to themselves, but in our cozy virtual space with Nic Stone and Francisco X. Stork, the kids filled the chat with some of the most insightful, vulnerable, well-thought out questions about writing, representation, and identity that I\u2019ve ever seen asked at a YA event. And, revealingly, most opted for me read them aloud by proxy rather than to voice the questions themselves. <\/p>\n\n\n

And it\u2019s funny because I see a similar dynamic in myself. We normally booktalk to groups of kids on fields trips or in classrooms, which is just a terrific chance to connect with some of our schools\u2019 most avid readers. I love giving in-person recommendations one-on-one, but as a relatively significant introvert, I\u2019ll admit that when I stand up in front of a large room of kids, I can occasionally feel a tad tongue-tied speaking off the cuff. Unexpectedly, this is a tradition that has actually thrived during the pandemic. First of all, it\u2019s nicer than ever to see young readers faces staring back at us through the screen, enjoying their lunches, chiming in to give us cricket tips after talking about Pay Attention, Carter Jones, <\/em>or offering fierce OPINIONS about f\u00fatbol teams during a booktalk on Furia.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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Eugenia booktalks <\/em>Furia!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Our Kids Marketing & Events Coordinator, Eugenia Vela, and I do these together, and while I think we both were nervous about transitioning these to a virtual setting, the screen has provided a bit of a structure that\u2019s helped me personally get more comfortable with the dynamic in ways I feel just might transition to in-person talks later on. <\/p>\n\n\n

In fact, next week, we\u2019re dipping our toe into offsite events with an IN-PERSON booktalk in an outdoor classroom. I can\u2019t wait! Maybe it took a pandemic to turn this socially anxious introvert into an extroverted booktalking butterfly? Or maybe this virtual format will find its place in the mix of what we offer schools and community partners too. Only time can tell!<\/p>\n\n\n

P.S. Of course we love giving our opinions about books we like, but getting book reviews back in return absolutely makes our day! <\/p>\n\n\n