Author Tour: Fri March 18

I'm excited for tomorrow night's Dark Days of Winter Tour at Anderson's Books (who just won Bookstore of the Year from Publisher's Weekly), which features four Young Adult fiction authors. They are: Kim Derting, Claudia, Gray, Courtney Moulton, Ellen Schrieber.

This is the first time I've been to an author event where I haven't read any of the books, so that will be different. I'm familiar with many of the titles, which are new releases being reviewed on YA Fiction blogs, and I already have Kim Dertring's book on my To-Read list. I'm hoping that a four-author panel will give a good perspective on the genre and the industry in general. These authors all write paranormal fiction, so I'm thinking they will have some overlapping views on this niche. I have a friend joining me tomorrow, so it should be fun.

Plus, it's free!

I have to give Anderson's credit for the authors they bring in. They support writers from a first novel on to the Big Time (like Twilight's Stephenie Meyer), and they regularly bring in Jodi Picoult, Neil Gaiman and some well known younger children's book authors. I'm making a point to go to more author events this year, especially for those whose work I'm interested in but may not have read. I figure this is the objective for book signings: to get their work out there and read. What a great chance to hear from the person behind the book.