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I was super excited to hear about Razorbill is offically planning an event for the launching of Razorbill. Even more excited when I found out that they were coming to Chapters and not just any Chapters but the one that is literally five minutes from my house. There is also signings happening in British Columbia and Toronto.

We don’t get alot of young adult events at this location because of probably the location and turn out. Sadly most of the events will happen down town. The last young adult authors to come to this location was in 2009 when Kelley Armstrong, Scott Westerfield, Holly Black and Casssandra Clare came. Both of the events were a huge turn out and tons of people showed up.

So I am excited to say that the following authors will be making a Montreal appearance:
 Jay Asher (so excited because I have both books. Just need to read Thirteen Reasons Why now)
 (I am so thrilled Lesley Livingston is a part of this tour. I have all the books apart from Tempestuous which I will have to pick up before the event.)

Charles de Lint is the author of several books but this is the only one that I own. So I will be reading this one very soon, definitely before the event. I love that this is the first book in a series.

So I will be attending this awesome event, will you? If you are planning on attending please let me know and perhaps we can do something after the signing. We could invade the Starbucks upstairs.
The event is happening:
April 18th, 2012 @ 7pm in Pointe Claire, Quebec

Today I am honored to be doing a Q&A with Charlie Barrett, who is the owner of a publicity company called The Barrett Company. You can find out more about this company in an upcoming post today along with a give away.

So please help me welcome Charlie Barrett to Cindy’s Love of Books.

Cindy: Charlie, What is a typical day like for you?

I usually arise at 7am and drink 2 cups of Brazilian organic coffee while watching CNN, Fox News and the other morning TV chat shows before I check my I-Phone for messages and emails from my office. Once in the office we meet and see what is in the news that day that we can match up one of our author, TV producer, celebrity and movie maker clients to get their creations publicized. Next its the phones and emails that I hit heavily, contacting a range of media outlets from “Today” to “Publishers Weekly” and maybe Teri Gross of “Fresh Air” radio show on NPR. Lunch in LA is always a challenge since you have to drive to get everywhere and fight traffic jams. Often I invite media people or clients to a few good and easy-to-reach restaurants in Beverly Hills or next to UCLA where I am. Afternoons are filled with more phone calls, emails and meetings with clients and media. Evenings after 6pm I see at least one to two pre-release movies a week at the studios before they arrive in movie houses. Or, I will attend the meeting of the Publishers Association of Los Angeles, The Independent Book Marketing Association or maybe over to LA ‘s popular book store Book Soup for a client book signing. We were really busy during Oscar week in LA since we had a few clients that were nominated. I usually settle down at least 3 evenings a week at home to read or watch HBO’s new series “Luck” with Dustin Hoffman or “Walking Dead” on AMC. Looking forward to the new season of “Mad Men” come March on AMC. Reading Bill O’Reilly’s “Killing Lincoln” and look forward to reading his new book on JFK.

Cindy: Wow Charlie, you are busy. What has been your best/worst part of your job to date?

Best: Successfully creating and executing a solid and successful PR campaign for a client be it an author or TV series or movie. Worst: When the media doesn’t spell a book title correctly or misspells an author or movie star’s name. A late arriving celebrity on the Red Carpet has proved troublesome for me too, but only a few times over the 30 years I have worked the Oscars, Emmys.

Cindy: If you could have dinner with someone (dead or alive) who would it be and why?

It would be cool to dine with Thomas Wolfe and Jack Kerouac, the Beatnik writer. Both played a huge role in my education to appreciate good American writers like Norman Mailer, Saul Bellow and today Dean Koontz and Scott Turow. Yes…dinner with Thomas and Jack would be one I would like to book at LA’s famous Musso & Frank Grille in Hollywood, which opened in 1919 and was the watering hole for such authors as Raymond Chandler, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nathaniel West. Musso’s is among LA’s most vintage and atmospheric restaurants..I totally recommend it for any visitor to this unique city.

Cindy: What would someone be surprised to know about you?

Most people I find are rather surprised to know that before I became a book publicist some 12 years ago I was NBC’s ” Tonight Show” staff publicist working with Johnny Carson and Jay Leno as their media reps. I also am among the few book publicists I know anywhere that actually worked as a journalist and news reporter/critic before becoming a publicist…so I have a solid media background as well as some solid publicist credits. Hope that doesn’t not sound egotistical…but you asked.

Cindy: No it doesn’t sound egotistical at all. Its interesting to know that about you. Working as a publicist, what are your thoughts on how popular book bloggers have become?

The impact of book bloggers in the media landscape continues to grow and is an impressive one. Book bloggers have carved a special place for themselves in the book review/book news areas. They play a special role as they inform the book buying public and an important and vital one too, especially with the shrinking print media outlets that once published 15 page book review sections in Sunday newspapers. I admire what book bloggers are doing…we need them in today’s book publishing market.

Thanks so much for taking the time out of your very busy schedule to answer my questions, Charlie. I truly appreciate it and I am sure my readers will as well. I couldn’t agree with you more on the book blogger reply. I know after reading about you I truly appreciate what you do.

So in case you are wondering what is Smart Chicks Kick It Tour is about:

Our Tour, Our Way
Author tours are usually organized by the publisher. All we have to do is show up, which is great, but we started thinking maybe we’d like to try something different. Organize our own tour, just the way we want it. Pick the cities. Pick the authors. Organize the events. So, in Sept 2010, we did just that.

Kelley Armstrong and Melissa Marr are the organizers behind this tour and apparently its the final one. So I am super excited that they are stopping here. We are one of three Canadian cities who will be visited.

I haven’t seen Kelley since October 2009 so it will be nice to see her again and it will be nice to see Melissa de la Cruz again.
September 15th, 2012, 2:00 PM, Pointe-Claire Chapters, Montreal, Quebec, Canada:
Kelley Armstrong, Melissa Marr, Rachel Caine, Rosemary Clement-Moore, Melissa de la Cruz, Carrie Ryan, and Margaret Stohl

There are so many great authors who will be touring and if you get the chance you should check the stop out if they come to your area. If you are interested in seeing where they will be stopping be sure to check the schedule.

So I guess I have some reading to do before the big day. I have checked my bookcase and I think I have everyone’s books apart from Rachel Caine’s so I might have to look for them.

Tynga has created a facebook page for the event  check it out if you are on facebook. This is for the Montreal stop only.    Will you be going?   

Its hard to believe that BEA is literally 3 months away. Are you ready? Are you going?

I know I am excited to go but I think I am far from being ready. I thought I would have had more money put on the side by now but sadly things in real life takes priority.

So this is where you come in. Are you going to BEA and thinking about perhaps rooming with someone for the week? Well I am thinking of perhaps doing this again. I did it the first time I went to BEA in 2010 and it was a life safer in regards to money.

If you are or even perhaps thinking about it please fill out the form and I will contact you right away.

Thanks in advance everyone.

I was just made aware of this video this morning when I was volunteering at my son’s school library. The librarian showed it to us and its amazing. Have a look. Please note its over 15 minutes long though.

What do you think?

I am super excited to be able to share with you the trailer for the book Embrace.

I am super excited to tell you about another addictive YA trilogy that you have to add to your must-read list, and that is Embrace. The debut novel of author Jessica Shirvington hits shelves on March 6 and follows 17-year-old Violet Eden. Violet, a kickboxer who’s training for a marathon, discovers her trainer is a Grigori—part angel and part human—who hunts exiled angels. As you can imagine, this complicates their relationship. Watch the exclusive trailer for Embrace after the jump.

Doesn’t that sound so good?

Book two in the series is Enticed and its scheduled to hit shelves in September. Then the final book in the trilogy is called Emblazed and its only due in March 2013.

More than 3.4 million books bought and loaned in typical January week in Canada. – 10% of English book sales are now in digital format.

Vancouver, February 16, 2012: The numbers are in for the second annual National Book Count, sponsored by the National Reading Campaign (NRC), and for the first time e-book sales have been counted. E-book sales comprised 10% of all books sold in English Canada. Public libraries reported that 3 % of their circulation comprised digital formats. This finding puts English Canada near the very top of international estimates on e-reading. *

Book sales and public library circulations were counted for the week of January 23-29, 2012, as a snapshot of a typical reading week in Canada. A total of 3,405,687 books were counted as being sold or circulated for the week of January 23-29, 2012. That works out to more than five books sold or circulated every second in Canada.

We can now compare findings from the first count that took place in January 2011. The National Book Count is only a snapshot and the NRC cautions against over-interpretation, but as the only combined tabulation across the spectrum of book retail and public libraries in Canada, the National Book Count can reveal some dynamics of reading in Canada today. The major findings this year include:

• 1,153,081 print books were sold by retailers including Indigo Books & Music, Amazon.ca and other national chains, as well as over 260 independent bookstores across the country. English language print book sales for the week increased 4% over 2011.

• 111,053 English language e-book sales were counted. As this is the first year counting e-book sales, no direct comparison can be made, but publishers report a “significant” increase from 2011.

• 2,141,553 print books were borrowed from 28 participating public library systems.** 63,196 e-books were downloaded. Canadian libraries saw an 8% increase in print circulation and a 50% increase in digital circulation for an overall increase of 9% total circulation for libraries that participated in 2011 and 2012.

• French language print book sales increased 35% over 2011. This number primarily reflects increased count coverage, not necessarily a surge in book purchases. No French language e-book book sales were captured this year.

The National Book Count shows that Canada is a nation of readers—in a typical week in January -. But the emerging digital readership shows change is coming fast. The National Reading Campaign believes more needs to be done to foster pleasure reading and a passionate civic engagement that comes from reading. The NRC will meet in Vancouver May 2-4 for the third TD National Reading Summit to develop and finalize – a reading plan for Canada.

“The Book Count provides more evidence that Canadians are enriching their lives through reading” says Rick Wilks, publisher of Annick Press and Co-Chair of the National Reading Campaign. “It sets the stage for the National Reading Campaign, which will engage Canadians across the country to make reading a central feature of 21^st century citizenship.”

What books were tracked?

This is the second time that combined sales and library circulation for books has been tabulated in Canada. The 2011 Book Count took place from January 10-16. The 2012 Book Count took place from January 26-30. As in 2011, book sales were collected by three book sale aggregators: BookNet Canada, BookManager, and la Société de gestion de la Banque de titres de langue française (BTLF). Book circulation was tracked by the Canadian Urban Libraries Council (CULC).

The numbers were collected and combined by the National Reading Campaign and cover 28 public library systems, 80 % of the English language book retail market and 45 % of the French language retail market across Canada. No individual consumer information was collected. Online print book sales were captured from major online retailers including Amazon.ca and Indigo.ca. Digital downloads from public libraries were provided by the CULC and English language digital book sales were provided by the Association of Canadian Publishers and the Canadian Publishers’ Council. Digital book sales from Kobo, Kindle, Sony Reader and Apple devices were included.

* Global Assessment of E-Book Markets presentation by Giovanni Bonfanti, A.T. Kearny / Marco Ferrario, BookRepublic, Digital BookWorld, January 2012, ranked the top three e-book reading countries: United States at 20% penetration, South Korea at 14.5% and the United Kingdom at 7%.

** The Canadian Urban Libraries Council tracked circulation figures for 28 public library systems in Brampton, Burlington, Burnaby, Calgary, Coquitlam, Edmonton, Gatineau, Greater Victoria, Halifax, Hamilton, Kitchener, London, Markham, Montréal, Oakville, Oshawa, Ottawa, Regina, Richmond, Saskatoon, Surrey, Thunder Bay, Toronto, Vancouver, Vaughan, Windsor, Winnipeg and Whitby. The circulation figure covers over 13.7 million Canadians.

About the National Reading Campaign

The National Reading Campaign had its beginnings in 2008, when a coalition of readers, parents, writers, editors, librarians, bookstore owners, teachers, publishers and distributors came together to assess and consider the changing reading habits of Canadians. Their third and final summit takes place in Vancouver May 2-4, 2012.

TD National Reading Summit III marks the culmination of several years of discussion and research on how to make reading a national priority for Canada. Attendees will review a draft reading plan for Canada. Work has begun to promote the campaign across every possible platform and media. Details will be unveiled at the Summit.

http://nationalreadingcampaign.ca/

Wow I am truly impressed with these figures. I have no idea if my local library was involved in this count but when I go back and check that week I didn’t buy any books at all but I know I borrowed alot that week.

Although I think as library patrons we don’t need to rush to the library for that one week to borrow what we can, I think we really need to be borrowing throughout the year to show our library we support them. I know personally for us we tend to borrow alot more books over the summer because of the summer reading program and we are basically living at the library.

Just remember to support your local library if you can and to buy at indie bookstores.