Tips » Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog

BEA Tips (Part 2)

Posted by Anastasia on May 20, 2012 3 Responses »

May 202012

Part 1 is here. I hope everyone who’s going to BEA has a lot of fun!

7. Stick around after closing hours on the last day (if you can). Publishers start giving away tons of books, even the ones that weren’t available beforehand, because they don’t want to cart them back to wherever they came from. I didn’t actually do this because I was at lunch when it happened, but people who DID stay said it was amazing. Oh, but that reminds me:

8. Don’t be overly grabby. I personally only saw people acting lovely, but there are always stories of (bloggers, usually) bumrushing stacks of ARCs or whatever. Don’t do that. Stand in line, if there’s a line, and get one copy of whatever book you want. If you want two (or more), ask one of the publishers first if it’s okay. Usually they’ll say yes, or they’ll even send you more after BEA if you want to do giveaways or whatever.

If there’s no line, just try to gently move yourself forward to where the books are. I’m pretty good at dodging around elbows and stuff, so I managed okay, but if you see an ARC you want and can’t get to it, either wait for the people ahead of you to move or say “excuse me” and THEN wait for them to move.

And don’t forget to say thank you to the publishers! Make eye contact with one of them, lift up your book(s) and say (loud enough to be heard): Thank you! I’m looking forward to reading this/these!

9. On that note, TALK to publishers, too. Unless you’re not there for meeting publishers (I know some people just go for bloggers/authors). But if you ARE, I’d recommend getting a catalog (they always have a stack of them), flipping quickly through it, and then finding someone who doesn’t look too harassed and talk to them about it. Ask them what their favorite book coming out this year is. Ask them about midlist titles you should read. And so on!
10. Ditto that for authors. Sometimes you don’t have a whole lot of time to chat (and if there’s a lot of people in line behind you, PLEASE DON’T have 10 minute conversations, even if the author’s your best friend in the whole world) but I always tried to ask them how they’re doing and if they’re enjoying being at BEA. I think they appreciated it.
11. Try to plan out your day. (Maybe this should be nearer the top?) What I did was make a list of the authors I wanted to get autographed books from first, and then I went through and added in events, panels, and so on. I saw people with really fancy spreadsheets and I saw people with scribbled lists. Whatever works best for you is fine. Be sure to get a copy of the daily newsletter thing (they give them away at the front entrace) as there’s other events and signings listed in them that aren’t listed online. Usually you can figure out what ARC a publisher’s giving away at what hour, too (check the ads).

Be sure to mark the locations of where things are, too! Mark them on your map as well, to be most efficient.

12. Bring lunch in with you, if you can. The food inside the convention center is HORRENDOUSLY expensive. What I did was buy breakfast outside (if you got a few blocks over there’s always food trucks), eat half of it, and then save the rest for lunch. Coffee’s cheaper outside, too; there’s a Starbucks but it’s about double the price of any other Starbucks so I don’t think it’s worth buying, personally. If you bring a water bottle you can refill it at the water fountains, too.

13. Send your books back home via USPS, if you can. There’s a big post office not too far from the convention center that you can use. Depending on where you’re from you might get a better deal somewhere else, but I sent mine back via Media Mail rate and it only cost $14 for a huge box of books. Some people sent them back with the prepaid rate boxes (more expensive, but quicker). Whatever works for you.

And that’s all my tips! Any of you kind readers have some you want to impart? Leave ‘em in the comments!

BEA Tips (Part 1)

Posted by Anastasia on May 19, 2012 3 Responses »

May 192012

I won’t be going to BEA this year, but I learned a lot last year (which is when I DID go) that I think might help some of you all. So!

1. Don’t bring any tote bags. They’ll be giving tons of them away anyway so you don’t need to bring your own.
1b. Use the luggage area or whatever it’s called. For $4 (I think) you can keep a suitcase or a tote bag or whatever you’ve got in a special area all day. You can even go back and dump more books into your bag! What I did was get the biggest tote bag I could find each day and leave it there with a few books inside. Then I carried around a smaller tote bag and, when it was full, I emptied it into the larger tote bag. This saved my shoulders/back/etc. Don’t forget to go back and get it at the end of the day!

2. Get a paper map and use it. The BEA mobile app really sucked last year, and I don’t know if it’s any better this year. I’d recommend getting a paper map of the convention center and marking off publisher booths, author signing areas, etc. so you can find them easily later on. It’d also be handy to mark off the bathrooms, food places, and where you’re going to meet your friends.

3. Meet your friends! Everyone’s going to be busy doing their own thing, mostly, but it’s still nice to meet up with people throughout the week. Be sure exchange phone numbers so you can text about where to meet.

4. Meet new friends! Talk to people standing in lines with you. Usually they’ll be very nice, and you can make new friends very quickly that way. Be sure to also

5. Exchange business cards. If you don’t have any business cards…well. Can you maybe get some printed off beforehand? Basically everyone exchanges business cards with everyone else, and they’re very helpful reminders of who you talked to (publishers) and who to add to your RSS reader after the convention (bloggers).

If you’re shy about exchanging cards: Don’t be. Usually the conversation goes like this:
A: Hello! I really like your tote bag/that book you’re holding/your hairstyle/something.
B: Thanks very much! I like your [whatever].
A: [more conversation about books/BEA/whatever]
B: We are now good friends. Do you want to exchange business cards?
A: Of course! Here is mine.
B: And here is mine.
A: Oh, it is a lovely card. Thank you.
B: Thank YOU. I’ll be sure to look you up after I’ve recovered from BEA.
A: Yes, indeed.
FIN.

Or if it’s a publisher:
A: I have long admired the books you publish.
B: Thanks ever so much. We love bloggers and free publicity and etc.
A: If I wanted to review one of your books later on, who would I get in contact with?
B: The person you would contact is me! [Or someone else.] Here is a business card.
A: Thank you! And here is one of my business cards for you. I shall email you after BEA about setting up contacts or whatever.
B: That sounds lovely.
FIN.

Basically, just have a normal conversation with people, and then work in the Exchange of the Business Card. Sometimes they won’t have business cards to give you (they run out, or they didn’t bring any) but try to get their blog address or something and write it down for later. Which leads me to

6. Write notes on the backs of the business cards you get. After the 20th new person met, they all start blending in to one another. Write down where and when you met the person on the back of their business card so you can actually remember them post-BEA.

Tips for newbie bloggers (7)

Posted by Anastasia on April 29, 2012 4 Responses »

Apr 292012

Get it?

Tip #7: Ask for help if you need it. (And know where and how to ask.)

Really, this goes for everyone, not just newbie bloggers! There will come a time in your blogging life where you’ll need help with something, whether it’s an event you’re planning or how to fix your layout when it mysteriously breaks. Or maybe you just need to know how to email a publisher correctly, or how to respond to weird review requests! Not knowing how to do something isn’t at all shameful, despite what some people may think. The key is to know when to ask for help, how to ask for it, and where to ask.

When to ask
This is kind of self-explanatory? But: ask for help when whatever it is you need help with can’t be solved through some strategic Googling. If you find yourself entering increasingly weird combinations of keywords for hours on end just so you can figure out what a publisher’s email is, that’d be a good time to find someone to ask directly. Continue reading »

Tips for newbie bloggers (6)

Posted by Anastasia on February 13, 2012 4 Responses »

Feb 132012

Baby voert moeder biscuitje / Baby feeding mother a biscuit

Not this kind of "feed."

Tip #6: Keep your feedreader under control.

When I was a newbie blogger I subscribed to basically every other book blog I could find– mainly so I could see what other people were reading/blogging about, and so I could make friends (see Tip #2)! You can’t make friends if you don’t read other blogs, so having a feedreader and making good use of it is important. My feedreader quickly grew out of control; I think by the time I’d been blogging for one year I was subscribed to over 300 blogs. I wasn’t able to keep up with that many blogs every day, especially when most of them updated at least once a day, sometimes more. I started marking whole chunks of blogs as “read” without actually reading them, and even when I re-organized my subscriptions into something I thought was more manageable¹ I still wasn’t reading very many posts. Continue reading »

Tips for newbie bloggers (5)

Posted by Anastasia on February 6, 2012 No Responses »

Feb 062012

Previous tips:
Tip #1: Don’t try to do everything all at once.
Tip #2: Don’t be afraid to make friends.
Tip #3: Interact with other bloggers (outside of your blog).
Tip #4: Scheduling is your friend.

Tommy Dodgen, age 4, standing by the largest lamp in the world: Tampa, Florida

It's a giant lightbulb. Get it?

Tip #5: Take advantage of your creative periods.

Just like there are times where you don’t want to blog, there’ll be times where you’ll want to blog a LOT. Take advantage of that! Write as many blog posts as you can (using tip #4!), start a new project, etc. Do keep in mind tip #1, though, while you’re doing all this. Creative, energetic periods are great when you’re in them, but once they’re gone you’ll probably regretting starting those fifty things all at once. It’s better to focus your energy on one or two really good things, things you can keep going even when you’re in a blogging slump, than giving up on ten or twenty things you don’t care about any longer.

I’ve noticed that I get a big energy boost whenever I meet up with other bloggers (tip #3), but after a week or so the energy is gone and I don’t feel like doing anything. If I can take advantage of that energy while I’ve got it, I can get a lot of stuff done in that short period of time before it goes away.

What gives you an energy boost? How do you take advantage of your creative periods?

Tips for newbie bloggers (4)

Posted by Anastasia on January 30, 2012 15 Responses »

Jan 302012

Previous tips:
Tip #1: Don’t try to do everything all at once.
Tip #2: Don’t be afraid to make friends.
Tip #3: Interact with other bloggers (outside of your blog).

Tip #4: Scheduling is your friend.

This doesn’t work for everyone, as some people prefer just writing posts the day they mean to post them, but if you can schedule in advance even one post a week it’ll be a big benefit to you and your blog. Scheduling, for those who don’t know, is when you write a post before the date you mean for it to go live. So, for instance, if I wanted to schedule this post in advance, I’d write in on Friday and set the post date for today, Monday. To set the date as something different from the day you’re writing it, check in the “publish” options on whatever blog platform you use. WordPress, for instance, has a thing that says “Publish immediately Edit”; if you click “edit” you can change that to any date you want! Yay!

So, why should you schedule posts? Sometimes writing a blog post a day, or even every few days, can get really tiring. It’s hard to keep up momentum over a long period of time, and eventually you’ll want to take a vacation from blogging. The easiest way to take that vacation without making your blog go silent for a week (or whenever) is to schedule posts!

For instance: In December I scheduled about two week’s worth of posts in advance. I did this because I knew I’d be tired from packing for my move– too tired to write a blog post every day like I usually do. So what I did instead was: I dedicated about two days a week to writing as many blog posts as I could! I wrote reviews, discussion posts, and prepped my meme posts so I could fill in the details later. Once I did that, I didn’t have to write anything for days at a time (except for filling in the memes). That meant I could then spend my time relaxing, talking on Twitter, and reading books.

Do you like scheduling posts in advance? Or do you prefer to write posts on the day they go live?

Some tips for newbie bloggers (2)

Posted by Anastasia on January 16, 2012 4 Responses »

Jan 162012

Previous tips:
Tip #1: Don’t try to do everything all at once.

Tip #2: Don’t be afraid to make friends.

Blogging is a great way to meet new people, especially if you blog about something specific like books. You’ll meet lots of book lovers and make lots of friends– if you make the effort to get out and meet people, anyway. And why should you make friends? Because friends keep you from feeling like you’re blogging into a void!

Us veteran bloggers know the drill: you start blogging, you wait for comments, you get no comments, you feel crappy. You visit a few blogs, you get some comments, you start making connections– you feel awesome! So what’s the key to feeling awesome when you blog? Making connections with other bloggers!

This is where making friends comes in. One of the ways you can keep from getting discouraged about stuff– big and small– is to have a friend who’s got your back. This can be either a real life friend or an internet friend, btw. Friends cheer you up when you’re in a slump, they help you work through ideas for new blog features, they stalk you on Goodreads and Twitter to see what you’re reading, and so on! Plus, and this is probably most important, friends make you feel connected to the larger book blogging world. In a blogosphere that’s getting bigger all the time, making friends and staying connected to them will keep you from feeling like you’re falling between the cracks.

Making friends is kind of intimidating, but book bloggers are some of the friendliest people I know and it isn’t all that hard to make a blogger friend or two. The easiest way to make a blogging friend is by commenting a lot on their blog. If you don’t let people know you’re there, that you’re reading their blog and that you’re willing to interact with them, then how will they know you want to be friends?

So! Get out there and comment (or tweet, or whatever). Meet people. Make friends! It’ll make blogging a lot more fun than if you just blog all on your own.