SIBA Wrap-Up

I was lucky enough to attend the SIBA Trade Show and the only way my weekend could have been better is if other bloggers had been there.  I did enjoy my time spent with booksellers, authors and publishers and found everyone to be warm and friendly.  No one thought I had an accent!  Almost every author and publisher I spoke with told me that they love book bloggers and feel that bloggers are important in the promotion of books.  The booksellers wanted to know how they could work with bloggers and I gave them several suggestions and told them about Dawn‘s Spotlight on Bookstores feature and about Natasha‘s relationship with her local indie bookstore.

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I heard several authors speak at meals and on panels.  Some of the highlights for me were:

• Anna Fields – Anna has written for As the World Turns, One Life to Live and The Guiding Light .  She has written several plays and has a book – Confessions of a Rebel Debutante– coming out in April 2010.  I got to chat with her for a while and she is really funny, so I have high hopes for her book.
• Mary Alice Monroe – Mary Alice is a South Carolina author with a passion for the environment.  She loves to write about relationships in women’s lives.  She serves on the board of the South Carolina Aquarium.  Her latest book is Last Light Over Carolina.  She is currently writing about butterflies.
• Richard Peck – Richard said he writes his dialogue standing up and acting it out.  He said kids need to leave their electronics for a while and read and he compared dialogue to chat rooms and action scenes to video games.  He told us about his latest Grandma Dowdel book, A Season of Gifts.  I’m not familiar with Grandma Dowdel, but I’m really look forward to getting to know her.
• Jill McCorkle – Jill is a fabulous speaker and her anecdotes kept us chuckling the whole time.  I’ll hear her voice in my head as I read her latest book, Going Away Shoes.
• Kevin Salwen – Kevin’s story is a remarkable one.  On seeing a homeless man one day, his fourteen year old daughter remarked that if they drove a less expensive car, that homeless man could have a meal.  That remark led to their family making a decision to sell their house and use half of the proceeds to help others.  This project has drawn their family closer together.  Kevin and his daughter Hannah have written a book, The Power of Half, that I’m really excited about.
• Belinda Acosta – I bumped into Belinda on the show floor and she was so much fun.  She asked me lots of questions about blogging.  Belinda is the author of Damas, Dramas and Ana Ruiz.
• I had the pleasure of sitting and chatting with Susan Gregg Gilmore and Patricia Harman. Susan is the author of Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen, and she has a new book coming out next year.  Patricia is a midwife and is the author of The Blue Cotton Gown.   We talked a little bit about books, publishing and book tours, but mostly we talked about life, moving and kids.  It was so much fun visiting with them!

Susan Gregg Gilmore & Patricia Harman

Kathy & Susan Gregg Gilmore

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Each season, SIBA members select a dozen books with a Southern theme to hand-sell.  These books are called Okra Picks and this season picks are:

• A Quiet Belief in Angels by R. J. Ellory
• A Separate Country by Robert Hicks
• Black Angels by Linda Beatrice Brown
• Give My Poor Heart Ease by William Ferris
• Going Away Shoes by Jill McCorkle
• Rebel Yell: A Novel by Alice Randall
• Secret World of Walter Anderson by Hester Bass
• The Better Part of Darkness by Kelly Gay
• The Long Snapper: A Second Chance, a Super Bowl, a Lesson for Life by Jeffrey Marx
• The Soul Tree: Poems and Photos of the Southern Appalachians by Laura Hope Gill
• The Widow and the Tree by Sonny Brewer
• Travel Guide for Reckless Hearts by N. M. Kelby
• Wyatt’s Revenge by H. Terrill Griffin.

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Check out my other SIBA Trade Show posts: Leila Meacham, The Lonely Shadow, Robert Hicks and Elizabeth Kostova.  I was told that SIBA’s Trade Show will be held in Daytona Beach, FL next year – if you live in the area, start making your plans now.