What's Selling Now: Jon Fine

As Lin explains in her intro,

"Jon has been a great friend of the SCBWI" and oversees a lot of the philanthropic aspects of Amazon (and they've become a key player in children's publishing.)  He's the liaison between Amazon and the author/illustrator community, serving as Director of Author & Publisher Relations.

Jon Fine

In terms of the changes happening now in publishing, Jon is optimistic, saying

"I view this as an incredible time of opportunity for writers and readers."

He speaks of the biggest challenge we writers and illustrators face,

Tell your stories as well as you can and then
the real key is discoverability - how can people find your books?

And gives a shout-out,

"There is no group more supportive of its aspiring members than SCBWI."

Of independent bookstores, Jon says,

"A robust independent bookselling community is absolutely crucial.  What a bookstore looks like will change over time." And there's a discussion across the panel of the resurgence of the bookstore, and a growing appreciation and understanding of the importance of the community around books.

He talks about transmedia, subscription services, serials, interstitial works, keywords and other tools to get the word out, his take on current trends and the age at which it's okay for your kid to read "Hunger Games" (it's dropping), skype author visits, and even predicts some trends yet to come...

Yet putting it all aside, he reminds us that the core issue is to tell a great story.

"It's all about the story.  It's all about reading."

The panel is a fascinating view of the side of the business AFTER your book is published!

What's Selling Now: Robert Brown

You maybe also plan your vacations around places to visit that have awesome bookstores? One of my dream roadtrips involves a stop at Books, Bytes, & Beyond in New Jersey, and Robert Brown is one of the reasons it's such a great, independent bookstore. Now Bob is shining up Scholastic Book Fairs, get to know him a little with Martha's great, pre-conference interview.

My favorite part of Bob's intro: How important it is to him to help children find the books that are right for them. Bob did this at his bookstore, and now with Scholastic he helps 35 million (!) kids via school book fairs find thousands of fiction and nonfiction titles.

Bob's answers to some of Lin's bookish questions:

Lin asks the panel to take the market's temperature:

Bob is upbeat about the children's book publishing industry. The biggest challenge is to get kids to read more. The book fairs provide unfettered access for kids to be in direct contact with new books, not only the bestseller listers, but wonderful midlist titles as well. In addition, it's a community event, families come to the fairs and the events continue to be well attended, with robust sales and enthusiasm on all sides.

How are Scholastic Book Fairs getting into the electronic book world?

Bob recommends checking out Scholastic's Storia, an app for Windows, iPads and Android designed for kids learning to read as well as readers and parents looking for a a curated set of great books.

Dream book type for Scholastic Book Fairs?

Contemporary multicultural!

The Booksellers Panel Begins!

From Left to Right: Mary Brown, Robert Brown, Jon Fine and Lin Oliver standing at the podium.  (Peter Glassman has been delayed.)