Armchair BEA: Author Interaction

One of my favorite things about book blogging is the author interaction that has come with it. Back in the day we had a blogger party and invited authors. Newbie author James Dashner showed up! And look at him now! Also back in the day, sort of newbie author Ally Condie came to the library and then  joined my book club as we discussed her book in a back room. And look at her now! Yes, this author interaction thing is so fun!

But before I go on, here are the Armchair BEA questions of the day on this subject:

Let’s talk interacting with authors IRL (in real life) or online. This is your opportunity to talk about your favorite author readings that you have attended. Or, you can feature your favorite author fan moment (i.e., an author sent you a tweet or commented on your blog). Maybe you even want to share how your interactions have changed since becoming a blogger or share your own tips that you have learned along the way when interacting with authors as a blogger.

Before I started blogging I'd rarely gone to an author signing. Now, seven years later, the amount I've gone to is too many to count. The signed books and connections made and money spent on brand new books are endless! This author stalking I've done has been so much fun!

As for my favorite author fan moment? Hmmm... really? Are you sure you want to ask this question? I'm sure my regular readers are SICK to death of my recounting these fan moments, but assuming there are some new readers this Armchair BEA week who haven't heard about my fangirling, here goes...

Remember that one time I wrote a letter to Markus Zusak? He tweeted me back:

@SueySays Suey - I got your letter! Thanks. I'll reply when I've done some decent work on the new book. It's killing me. THANKS AGAIN- mz
— Markus Zusak (@Markus_Zusak) March 7, 2012

And while I never have received a letter from him, I did get this postcard:

And I've had several other tweets from him too. When I first fell in love with this author, he was no where to be found. No online anything! And now he tweets back to everyone, he does Ted talks, he Facebooks and Tumblrs pictures of his dogs and his scribbled notes, and not only that, he's had a movie made! It's so awesome! But the best thing ever was when  he came to my city and made fun of me for having so many of his books that I wanted him to sign.

The coolest thing about author interaction these days is Twitter. So  many authors use it to connect to fans and it's awesome when they respond. Or even if they just pay attention to you when you tweet about them. And then you go to a signing and say, "Hi, I'm Suey." And they say, "Oh, Suey from Twitter?" Yeah. I love it when that happens. (This is where having a weird nickname comes in really handy. People remember it!)

That being said, sometimes I feel there's an exclusive author club that only the cool bloggers can infiltrate. Or the bloggers turned authors. I get frustrated with this sometimes as I'll never be one of the cool ones, and as for turning an author, I can't imagine that day either. Or sometimes authors are all nice and cozy when they are newbies and just starting out, but when they get published a few times, they have joined the exclusive club and forget about the little people. Sigh. Am I taking a sudden negative turn here? I just have felt this a bit lately and thought I'd throw it out there for you to chew on and see what you think.

But mostly, it's all good and fun and games and I love the connection!

My most recent author interaction, Dan Wells signing Ruins.

I don't have many, but the few tips I came up with for author interaction are as follows:

* be yourself and hopefully they will be themselves back
* don't expect interaction.
* don't be overly fan girly, that's just scary!
* do be brave and not shy
* do make time to go to signings
* do put your money where your mouth is and buy their books and support them

Seriously. It's one of the best things about book blogging and I'm jealous of all the bloggers at BEA this week who are doing this very thing! Give 'em hugs for us all!