This year, BEA has expanded its schedule of Editors Buzz forums and is staging a separate panel featuring editors of middle-grade books in addition to those featuring editors of young adult and adult books. The venues give editors a chance to spotlight a forthcoming book that they deem especially promising, and give booksellers firsthand early word about some of the titles they'll soon be selling.
The Young Adult Editors Buzz Panel will be held today, 2–3:15 p.m., in Room 1E15. Participating editors and the books they are discussing are Courtney Bongiolatti, editor of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing (The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin); Houghton Mifflin Harcourt senior executive editor Margaret Raymo (Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick by Joe Schreiber); Little, Brown Books for Young Readers executive editor Alvina Ling (Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Turner); Susan Chang, senior editor of Tor & Forge Books (Down the Mysterly River by Bill Willingham); and HarperCollins Children's Books senior editor Erica Sussman (The Carrier of the Mark by Leigh Fallon).
Weighing in on the value of this forum, Margaret Raymo calls it "a fantastic way to pique curiosity in a book or author and start getting the word out. It seems a lot of bloggers attend these panels, so it's great to start getting the book's name out into the blogosphere. But it's also nice, in the age of Twitter, etc., for it to be an actual person talking to people—in person—about their passion for a book."
Though Alvina Ling notes that she often "sells" the books she's edited to in-house sales and marketing teams, and to librarians and booksellers in smaller, more intimate venues, she says, "I don't know of any other opportunity for editors to talk about how much they love a book to so many influential people at one time. I think this panel is an effective way to spread early word about a book within the industry. Looking back at some of the books that have been talked about at past panels, it's amazing to see how many of them have gone on to be extremely well received in the market."
The Middle Grade Editors Buzz Panel takes place tomorrow, 2–3:15 p.m., in Room 1E15. Attendees will hear the following editors talking up these books: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing editor Lisa Abrams (The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann); Donna Bray, v-p and co-publisher of HarperCollins's Balzer + Bray Books (Wildwood by Colin Meloy, illus. by Carson Ellis); Scholastic Press executive editor Lisa A. Sandell (Icefall by Matthew Kirby); Jen Besser, v-p and publisher of G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers (The Apothecary by Maile Meloy); and Random House Children's Books editorial director Jim Thomas (Ashtown Burials #1: The Dragon's Tooth by N.D. Wilson).
Calling the panel "a fantastic opportunity to hand-sell a book we feel passionately about to the very community we hope will share our enthusiasm," Jen Besser remarks that she's particularly excited to be part of this forum. "As a genre, middle grade often hasn't been as big a part of the ‘buzz machine' as YA has been over the last couple of years," she observes. "But that seems to be rapidly changing. And as the middle-grade marketplace grows increasingly crowded, so does the importance of pre-pub buzz as an extra edge out of the gate."
Commenting that he "couldn't be more thrilled" to take part in the panel, Jim Thomas offers two perspectives on the benefits of this event. "There are so many terrific books published each year, any and every opportunity to single out a title is valuable. When the book in question is commercial in nature, a panel at BEA, with its focus on the trade, is especially coveted." And he adds, "While I'm eager to talk about my author and his work, I'm also glad for the opportunity to hear what my colleagues have to say about their books and the business. We are a small community of like-minded people, and it is always a pleasure."
