The Written Nerd

As you may know, I spent a brief but producctive stint working for BookStream , an independent book wholesaler for the northeast and mid-Atlantic regions. It's a company staffed by smart, passionate, book-savvy folks, and dedicated to raising the level of discourse and profitability across the book industry. To that end, BookStream geniuses Carolyn and Ken have once again cooked up a fabulous TitleWave event: author readings, staff picks, lunch, and free galleys! They've got some fabulous authors lined up for the August 4 event in Princeton, NJ. It's almost a mini-trade show or Winter Institute, and a chance for booksellers to get a look at the books coming out in the next season and learn how to sell them better. I've included Carolyn's press release below with all the details. I'm encouraging all of my colleagues to go, to support BookStream's efforts, and to take advantage of this chance for professional development. And there's no arguing wit...

Well, our first TitleWave event at BookStream was a smashing success. I'm working on writing up the press release now, but I can tell you informally here that the whole thing was awesome. Around 30 booksellers, plus sales reps and other folks, were in attendance. Our three authors -- Richard Price, Steve Toltz, and Hillary Jordan -- were each completely compelling in different ways. And Ken Abramson did a bang-up job of presenting his "pick of the lists" for great literary fiction and nonfiction from all publishers for the spring and summer seasons. You'll be hearing more about it from me and Carolyn Bennett in the days to come. If you're a bookseller who was there, I'd particularly love to hear from you! Thanks to everyone who made this possible, and who attended and enjoyed. On to the next event!

This morning I'm scrambling, along with my BookStream colleagues, to pull together the final details for our fabulous TitleWave event this Wednesday, February 27, in Hartford, CT. If somehow you've failed to hear all about it, here's what several dozen lucky booksellers have to look forward to: 10:00-10:15 arrive at the Sheraton East Hartford (free parking! TitleWave is in the Junior Ballroom) 10:15-10:30 introduction by BookStream CEO Jack Herr 10:30-11:00 Pick of the spring lists by sales rep extraordinaire Ken Abramson 11:00-11:30 Picks from the rest of the BookStream staff, presented by Carolyn Bennett and Jessica Stockton Bagnulo 11:30-12:00 Pick of the summer lists by Ken Abramson 12:00-12:30 Presentation by Richard Price, author of Lush Life (Farrar, Straus, Giroux) 12:30-12:45 short break for book signing & galley pickup 12:45-1:30 Lunch 1:30-2:00 Presentation by Steve Toltz, author of A Fraction of the Whole (Spiegel &...

The momentum is building for TitleWave, the awesome (free!) event for booksellers I've been helping to put together at BookStream! Bookselling This Week has a nice writeup of the event... Today's Shelf Awareness mentions TitleWave (though I can't seem to link to today's issue in the archive yet)... And Megan at Bookdwarf gives it a mention as well... For myself, I spent the last week missing subway stops reading Mudbound by Hillary Jordan, one of the authors who will be speaking at TitleWave. I was trying to explain to myself its addictive appeal -- it's not unusual structurally or formally, and the setup is almost Greek or Shakespearean in its simplicity: struggling farm, stoic husband, unhappy wife, charming brother, plus nasty racist father, plus bright black WWII vet, plus resourceful midwife and preacher husband, and a big storm on the way. But I couldn't put it down, nor predict just what would happen. Jordan writes effectively in every voice (except...