Inviting: Authors, Publishers and Other Parties

[bookgazing]

Thoguht it would be a good idea to have a thread about who we might
want to get involved with this event from the publishing world. Add
any authors, publishers or other people you think might be good to get
in touch with when we start that phase. Shall we have a big, old long
list, because we'll probably get a lot of people saying they can't
help out because of schedule clashes etc.

I'll start on the publisher front (my list of desirable authors would
run into the thousands), I'd love to get a few small UK publishers
involved, as they're often blogger friendly:

Snowbooks
Peirene
Persephone
Tindal Street
Virago (although not sure you could call them small now)

Fantasy moment - I'd love to see Persephone and Virago duke it out
over (of course I mean politely discuss) 'The Whipple Line', where
Persephone publishes Whipple, but Virago famously said they draw the
line at bringing back her writing ;)

I think someone somewhere (possibly on the Google form) mentioned the
idea of trying to set up publishing house tours - what does everyone
think? Do you think big publishers are better to approach or small?

[Iris]

I am not sure what publishing house tours would be?

I agree with the small publishers, Peirene came to mind straight away.
I do not know Snowbooks or Tindal Street, but I'm sure they're good
choices too. And Persephone and Virago of course :)

I went through my twitter and found some more London based publishers:
Duckworth Publishers
Quartet Books

There are of course the bigger publishing houses, wouldn't it be weird
not to invite them?

[Amy McKie]

I think the big ones should be invited as well, as I would suspect quite a few bloggers might have relationships with them as well. 

Publishing house tours went over well I know in NYC - it was just a chance to go around and see how things are done at the publishers, though I didn't attend one I know everyone that went loved them. 

Amy 

[bookgazing]

1.) The London Book Fair has a huge exhibitor directory which probably
has a lot of the big London names in publishing on it:
http://www.londonbookfair.co.uk/page.cfm/action=ExhibList/ListID=1/t=m/goSection=7
so we can cull names from that. Could do with creating a Google doc
for that and putting down office location, email address and any
publishing specialities of the house down.

2.) Also we could do with a list of potential authors tp invite (not
quite sure how to go about that - any ideas on who we should invite?).
I guess we see who wants to attend and allow them to shape the kind of
seminars we can offer?

3.) Does someone have time to draw up a general invite that we could
send out (leaving the dates and location blank for now). Might as well
get on with that while we gather survey responses. Should we be asking
them to exhibit, or work with us to create seminars, or send us some
of their authors (or a mix of all three).

4.) Going to send emails out to those who said they'd like to help out
when they filled in the survey and ask them to put up a post or a
tweet about the survey. Might also give them access to this group -
what do you think?

> > > think? Do you think big publishers are better to approach or small?- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[bookgazing]

Right have set up publisher and author contact details sheets, which
we can all start populating (should have shared it with everyone I
think, if not let me know and I'll add you).

And sent those emails asking people to help us out by promoting
linking to the Google form.

On 12 Aug, 09:40, bookgazing <bakerjo...@googlemail.com> wrote:
> 1.) The London Book Fair has a huge exhibitor directory which probably

> has a lot of the big London names in publishing on it:http://www.londonbookfair.co.uk/page.cfm/action=ExhibList/ListID=1/t=...

> > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

[Alex]

Hi all, just joined the group after exchanging a few emails with Jodie
(hope that's ok). Just some quick and random ideas building on what
everyone said so far:

- Great idea with the publisher's tour, I'd love to know how things
are done on the inside. Why not literary tours as well? The UK is full
of book-related sites.
- I would like to hear both from small and big publishers (Penguin?).
If possible some that have a Pan-European or worldwide operation. I'd
like them to give us the European side of the publishing world (is it
different? how? do they have different marketing strategies in
different countries?)
- Isn't there a popular TV/radio show in the UK about books? How about
inviting the host?
- My dream guest: Stephen Fry. Not exactly a book blogger, but a great
blogger none the less and a fellow book-lover :)
- Why not take advantage of the Convention to announce something
“enduring”, e.g. a European BookBloggers Database, like the one the
Australians have just launched?

As I said to Jodie, I’m more than happy to travel to the UK for a face-
to-face meeting and venue hunting – I live in Brussels. Also, I work
in media relations, so can help on that area.

Alex

[Alex]

Sorry, just one more thought: BookDepository is UK-based. How about
inviting their founders?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_Depository
A.

[Darren Owens]

On 12 August 2010 17:04, Alex <alexand...@gmail.com> wrote:

Sorry, just one more thought: BookDepository is UK-based. How about
inviting their founders?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_Depository
A.

The amount of money I've given them recently, I think that's a great idea! ;)

 

[Iris]

Absolutely love the idea of announcing something more "enduring" at
the conference.

And I agree, seign the "European" side of a worldwide publisher would
be good too!

So many great ideas:)

On Aug 12, 6:26 pm, Darren Owens <darrenjow...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Nymeth]

I'd love to personally shake the hand of the founder of The Book
Depository, so yes, lovely idea :D All these ideas are great - the
only thing I worry about is time. Are we thinking of a one day event?
If so, would we have the publishing/literary tours the day before or
after?

[Alex]

How about a full-day event just for the Conference (by the way, Conference or Convention?) and then the day (or only morning) after we can have a more hands-on day: a few parallel visits (you chose the one you want) and/or workshops (HTML editing, search engine optimization).

 

Alex

[bookgazing]

Thanks for joining up Alex. Heavy message following, hope you all make
it through.

I really like that day 1, day 2 structure - if people are coming from
outside the UK they'll be staying around I imagine. It would be nice
to give them a bit of a unique tourist experience with publisher tours
the day after.

I love the idea of literary tours as well, those would be so easy to
set up if the event took place in London too (Baker Street would be a
hot spot). Also means no one has to miss the main seminars on the day.
So that probably means we either need to get in touch with companies
that organise lit tours/find volunteers among book bloggers to walk
them out. Adds to list.

The idea of getting the founder of The Book Depository is fab - can
anyone think of a way to spin it so we could include him in a book
blogging conference?

All the UK book programs I know about are awful (The Book Show). Oh
but Jo Brand presents that terrible The TV Book Club thing and I love
Jo Brand. It would be cool if we could set up a debate between someone
involved with that and the Brit bloggers who set up Not the TV Book
Club. If only the Richard and Judy Book Group still existed.

I think so much is kind of up in the air until we know where we're
holding it and when, but we should try and draft out a rough schedule
for the main day. Here's my preliminary idea (tweak it about until it
fits a bit better)

Day One

Registration and meet and greet reception 8 - 9:30 (do we need to be a
bit more generous with this?)

Opening speech 9:30 - 10:00

Seminars: If we allow 40 minutes for each we could get in 2 running
one after the other, with time for people to move between). Paralell
workshops would be running I guess, as I'm pretty sure that's what
they did at the US one to give everyone a choice - 4 seminars running
at the same time tends to be the standard for conferences - so that
would be 8 seminars running before lunch

Lunch 12 - 1:30

Seminars until 5? We could get 5 in running one after the other, with
time for people to move about. With four seminars running at the same
time that would be 20 seminars after lunch. So 28 in total - does that
sound like a bit much?

Some kind of after event - Should we organise this, or just let people
do their own thing? Omg a literary themed theater trip, followed by
drinks would be fantastic but I might be getting a bit carried away.

Day Two

Fit literary tours around the times publishers give for publishing
tours.

Workshops - that's the only bit I'm not sure about, because I think
it's going to be a lot of experienced bloggers, less newbies. (I think
this is also because I would have good intentions to go to tech based
workshops, but would actually go shopping in Covent Garden). Maybe
author signings? Do we want to include author signings.

Everyone would love to see Stephen Fry! He has twitter, surely he
would love this!

Conference or convention - First is more professional, while the
second sounds more fun - shall we put it to a quick vote (I'll pick
convention, but I think either will work).

> > > > > > Alex- Hide quoted text -

[bookgazing]

*cough* looking at the US version which had 6 seminars including
keynote I definately think 28 is too many ;) I think I went off into
fantasy land there. Maybe just a single seminar program them with
seven slots and an opening speech.

> > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

[bookgazing]

Probably a good idea to look at the site for the US event first! So
much hammered out. http://bookbloggerconvention.com/agenda/

Don't want ours to be a duplicate though, although their event looked
excellent. Maybe this is just me, but I'd love to include some panels
that don't touch on marketing, or how to blog (although it's a book
bloggers thing, we might have one discussing maybe the different ways
people do blog, one on how to increase your prescence).

Something like a critical thinking session about expanding your
reading perspective - with activities? Or a 'Be Excellent to Each
Other' panel about building community and creating collaborative
initiatives. I love the idea of holding a blogging and social
responsibility seminar. Any else got seminar ideas?

Right I will stop spamming this group now :)

[Alex]

After having a quick chat with Jodie on gtalk, I've been doing some research during my lunch hour and put some ideas down. Warning: long email!

 

Venue

·         Priority would be to get a venue for free. Organisations we can approach:

o    British Library (surely they have an auditorium they can spare?)

o    British Council (Arts) (we’re Europeans but write in English about books, won't they find it interesting?)

o    Royal Society of Literature

o    Arvon Foundation

o    Book Trust

o    City Literary Institute

o    London Book Fair

o    Other smaller organisations, which at least we should send information to: www.londonliteratureonline.org.uk/writers_groups.htm

·         It would be good to get a venue, or at least some initial interest from one, before approaching publishers and authors - Whomever is willing to give us a venue for free could also be a partner for the event, put some weight behind it.

·         How many people are we expecting? 100? 200? The US had about 200 among bloggers, authors and publishing industry. I think we should also focus on non-profit, there are lots of interesting book-related NGOs in London and UK in general.

·         A good sell-in is important to get the venue for free. We need powerful arguments (what’s in it for them?). I don't mind drafting an initial email, but need your help is gathering arguments. Some initial thoughts:

o    Event similar to the successful US Convention

o    We’re XX bloggers in Europe - together we have a readership of XX across the world (how can we get these figures? Is it possible at all?)

o    We promote reading and books -  we’re an effective communication tool on literary themes and issues, most publishers use book bloggers as promoting channels

o    Free publicity: Although  the event will be held in the UK, our network is spread around the world  and we’re experts in passing the word along! Also, we’ll implement media relations activities around the event – press releases, follow-up, invitation to attend, dedicated press area on the website, etc.

o    Book blogging is a whole new powerful movement, you need to be involved!

Sponsors

·         The Americans had sponsorship packages, is it something we also want to consider? If yes, also bronze, silver and gold? What can we offer for each?

·         Possible targets: publishers, book-related magazines and blogs, city council(s)

Programme

I’m not a blogger long enough to have very strong opinions here, but I personally like the idea of the ethics of blogging and even more about the social responsibility: do we play a social role or are we just a group of people who like to chat about books? If there is a social role, what is it and how can we expand it? How can we mobilize ourselves to e.g. promote literacy?

 

That's it for now,

Alex

http://thesleeplessreader.wordpress.com/

 

[Iris]

I love all your ideas.

About the workshops, I personally would enjoy a focus more on
community building initiative and social responsible blogging than
marketing. I think marketing is less relevant to EU bloggers, but
maybe it will be for UK bloggers? I talked about it with Zee from
Notes from the North a while ago that for bloggers blogging in English
in countries that mostly read books in their own non-English language
teaming up with stores etc. is simply not relevant. So I think the
issues to be raised for European bloggers would be different, simply
because the situation is different? Or is that a crazy thought? It
might be a little too controversial to do a seminar on that right? :P

And I do not mean to sound very simplistic, but I would love some
extra "meeting up" time somewhere. I know that that is my main
motivation. (But I might be in the minority). Of course, you could
also say that this is up to the individual bloggers to do before or
after the conference or convention. I like convention more for the
reason of it sounding more fun, because blogging is supposed to be
hobby. Yet conference might convince publishers that blogging is
serious? I think that the US one also had a dinner or night specific
for meet and greet between bloggers and publishers?

I think a free venue is the best way to go, if it works out. I think
sign up for the convention in the US did cost something, so if free
doesn't work maybe we could ask for a small contribution from
everyone?

On Aug 13, 1:43 pm, Alex <alexandra.r...@gmail.com> wrote:
> After having a quick chat with Jodie on gtalk, I've been doing some research
> during my lunch hour and put some ideas down. Warning: long email!

> **
> *Venue*
>
> ·         Priority would be to get a venue for free. Organisations we can
> approach:
>
> o    British Library <http://www.bl.uk/> (surely they have an auditorium
> they can spare?)
>
> o    British Council (Arts) <http://www.britishcouncil.org/new/arts/> (we’re

> Europeans but write in English about books, won't they find it interesting?)
>

> o    Royal Society of Literature <http://www.rslit.org/content/home/>
>
> o    Arvon Foundation <http://www.arvonfoundation.org/p16.html>
>
> o    Book Trust <http://www.booktrust.org.uk/Home>
>
> o    City Literary Institute <http://www.citylit.ac.uk/>
>
> o    London Book Fair <http://www.londonbookfair.co.uk/>

> *Sponsors*
>
> ·         The Americans had sponsorship packages, is it something we also

> want to consider? If yes, also bronze, silver and gold? What can we offer
> for each?
>
> ·         Possible targets: publishers, book-related magazines and blogs,
> city council(s)
>

> *
> Programme*

[Nymeth]

"Something like a critical thinking session about expanding your
reading perspective - with activities? Or a 'Be Excellent to Each
Other' panel about building community and creating collaborative
initiatives. I love the idea of holding a blogging and social
responsibility seminar."

I LOVE these days! And no, it's not just you - this would definitely
interest me more than the marketing stuff. I think it also makes for
sense of a EU conference, as European bloggers don't tend to have
close ties to the publishing industry the way some US ones do (not
saying this is good or bad; just an observation!). [Also, I have just
read Iris' comment now and saw that she made the same point, so I feel
better now :P] And yes, we should probably go with fewer seminars,
even because we'd be hard pressed to find themes for them all :P

Personally I like the idea of html workshops a lot, but I do wonder if
Jodie is right that those attending wouldn't necessarily need them.
Hmm, do you think a second survey later on where people could vote on
themes for workshops would be a good idea? Maybe we could include this
in a website about the event?

As for number of people, I have the impression that we're looking at
fewer than there were in the US - 50-100, maybe? But I could be wrong.

I'm also with Iris on the extra hanging out time. So perhaps a dinner/
relaxed meet up of some sort on the evening of the first day could
work - or will people be too tired then? I wonder if we could also
have some sort of informal hang out the evening before the convention,
since many people will surely already be around then?

Alex, I love your arguments for getting the venue for free. I think
the US one was paid, right? With a venue for free and a sponsor or two
maybe we could do without registration fees at all, or is it *me* turn
to have gone to fantasy land? :P

[Nymeth]

Also, an idea I had today for the more practical workshops: what about
image editing? This is something many bloggers know how to do, of
course, but then you see others asking for help creating buttons
fairly often, so there might be some people interested in something
like that. What do you guys think?

[Iris]

I would like to know more about image editing, it is something I'm not
good at which is why I never make my own images.

[bookgazing]

I sent out an email to those who wanted to volunteer looking for
anyone who might be able to create us a logo, but so far everyone
wishes they could help, but can't. Anyone know a blogger with good
graphic skills would might be able to help make us a logo? I did find
someone with html experience which would be good for anything advanced
we want to do with the website.

Extra arguments for free venue - I'd say the potential for 100 +
people, who live close enough to visit their space again later and pay
to do so would be a decent argument for somewhere like the British
library.

Venues like the London Book Fair could probably gain a bit of extra
interest from the media if they partnered with us because book
blogging still seems to be a bit of a curiosity for the mainstream
press, it would give their event a bit of a fresh spin. It might also
attract a younger crowd who are interested in technology (but we would
put it a bit more diplomatically). I think that ties in with your idea
that we're a powerful movement Alex.

We could offer them a spot on a seminar panel? If we could get the
Bookdepository founder, maybe a publisher, and a non-profit speaker we
could create a panel about the range of book related endeavours and
channels bloggers could be aware of and forming connections with the
insiders in the industry (but not in a skeevy, we give you books so
now we own your soul kind of way). Then we could offer whoever gave us
the venue a place to chat about their endeavour. All those venues
above have excellent campaigns and events that they run so it would
give them a space to promote and a chance to connect with that
influential, wide ranging blogging group you were talking about Alex.
Put a blogger on the panel who has made connection with some
organisations in the industry and one who maybe doesn't for a bit of
balance? What does everyone think?

I'm not sure we're going to be able to get reader numbers, but maybe
we could find average reader numbers for a typical book blogger to
quote? But once we reach 100 form fill ins we'll be able to quote that
as a reasonably sized number of people who will attend and talk about
the event. The other arguments are great, definately emphasise the
publicity aspect/potential for future connections bit I say, the
relatedness of our convention to their goals (we read and we're
excited about spreading the word - this should work well with
BookTrust for one) and looking at how successful the US event was is a
fantastic idea - precedent. I think I might email the organisers and
see if we can get numbers for how many attended and anything else
relevant that might help us convince.

Agree with Nymeth that we're probably look at 50 - 100 bloggers.

Iris I love the idea of a seminar based on book bloggers writing in
English, in a country where English is a second language if that -
what are visitor numbers like from within the country, language
translation services (I have no idea how that works at all, would be
fascinating). Is there anything UK bloggers can do to make their blogs
more accessible to people who are not English speakers? That's all
about community building across countries. Great idea!

I would also like meeting up time (+ I think we all tend to get
learning burn out). Nymeth I love the idea of an informal meet up
before the conference! Great suggestion.

Then we should have tea and coffee along with registration, so
everyone can say hello and find the people they want to hang out with
through the seminars. And lunch.

I like the idea of a dinner and drinks thing on the evening of the
first day too, although we might have to get a small cost for that and
maybe hire a room. Maybe we could organise a book swap, or something
in there too where everyone brings a book and everyone takes a new one
away.

Do you think people would be into a theatre night on the night after
the second if they're staying around - not too much pressure to be all
chatty after a long day, big touristy thing and fun. Maybe a pre-
theatre dinner, a show (cheap tickets) and then a chilled drinks meet
up after for anyone who didn't fancy the theatre. I can go and go
usually so let me know if that sounds like a bit too full on after a
day of potential tours and workshops!

Wherever we go we'll need catering for lunch as well as tea and
coffee, which I would guess will not come for free. So sponsors sound
like a good idea. Maybe we could offer them the chance to sponsor the
tea, the lunch or the drinks event afterwards - that's a common
package at conferences I've attended and it just means putting some
promotional material out with the food and some branding. Also the US
had swag bags, which is a fab, easy sponser idea as they just have to
donate one item in quantity to the bags to get a bit of visibility.
I'm not quite sure how the benefits differed between bronze, silver
and gold so I might see if I can ask the organisers of the US event
what they offered. I'd love to do without fees at all - especially as
people will ahve to pay travel and hotel costs.

Workshops - I like the idea of an image editing workshop. Coding and
personalising your blog with graphic design would probably be popular
too. I do think search engine optimisation is probably quite advanced
too, as it seems simple but can be complex and fiddly to make it work.
Maybe making your blog accessible to people with disabilities (know
there's a website about this, but might be hard to get someone
knowledgeable to run it). Should we invite industry professionals to
exhibit on this day? Or should we try to get authors to hang out and
sign? Or just keep it simple with workshops and tours?

If we're inviting industry people to the conference who aren't going
to be involved in speaking at the seminars are offering them the
chance to make contacts with bloggers and pick up knowledge (thinkin
of 'what's in it for you' in the email invites? Anything else that
might hook them in?

Actions

Draft emails to send to potential venues (Alex can I leave that with
you?).

Let's hash out a seminar programme. I like new threads so think I'll
add everyones seminar into a new thread later today and see what we
have, think we have 5 or 6 so far) maybe stick with 6 and an opening
speech - think which bloggers/organisations and back ups we'd like to
have on them (say 4 - 5 for each). We can fiddle about with that for a
while.

Draft e-mails to send to industry people (I'll crack on with that)

Find someone to design the logo (any help appreciated) and sort out
wesbite space (I was thinking wordpress?)

Look into literary tours for second day (anyone with a bit of spare
time could have search round the web, or think of ones we could run
ourselves)

There are like a million other things, but let's start with those
shall we :)




The British Museum might be a good bet too as they've big conference
facilities (although they are on conference sites, so may not be up
for free).

> > > > >http://thesleeplessreader.wordpress.com/- Hide quoted text -

[Darren Owens]

Well I don't know about good graphic skills but I'm ok in photoshop.

I've knocked this http://yfrog.com/ed68638375p together just to throw out some ideas, I wanted to stay away from the skyline/bookcase of the US event because well we want our own identity I would think and if we start using EU landmarks someone is bound to ask why we haven't included so-and-so...

If nothing else thowing some ideas out will help whoever does the final one, have a better idea about what we think works and dosn't.

Darren

[bookgazing]

Photoshop is great, thanks for having a go Darren! I really like that
design, using the EU flag is a good idea and the text is clear. I just
had a bit of a check the EU flag isn't covered by copywright and I
can't find anything that says it is. Fab - what does everyone else
think?

On 15 Aug, 16:45, Darren Owens <darrenjow...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Well I don't know about good graphic skills but I'm ok in photoshop.
>

> I've knocked thishttp://yfrog.com/ed68638375ptogether just to throw out

> some ideas, I wanted to stay away from the skyline/bookcase of the US event
> because well we want our own identity I would think and if we start using EU
> landmarks someone is bound to ask why we haven't included so-and-so...
>
> If nothing else thowing some ideas out will help whoever does the final one,
> have a better idea about what we think works and dosn't.
>
> Darren
>

> ...
>
> read more »- Hide quoted text -

[Nymeth]

I really like the design too! Well done Darren :)

On Aug 15, 6:07 pm, bookgazing <bakerjo...@googlemail.com> wrote:
> Photoshop is great, thanks for having a go Darren! I really like that
> design, using the EU flag is a good idea and the text is clear. I just
> had a bit of a check the EU flag isn't covered by copywright and I
> can't find anything that says it is. Fab - what does everyone else
> think?
>
> On 15 Aug, 16:45, Darren Owens <darrenjow...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Well I don't know about good graphic skills but I'm ok in photoshop.
>

> > I've knocked thishttp://yfrog.com/ed68638375ptogetherjust to throw out

> ...
>
> read more »

[Iris]

I like the design. I'm going to be annoying and pass on some of the
things people have said to me on twitter about the name: A few people
have commented that "EU book blogger convention/conference" sounds
like it is only meant for people in the EU. This could also mean that
people from Europe or near feel excluded because EU has a different
connotation than Europe? I'm not sure I agree with that, but it has
been said. Plus, I'd like it to be open to anyone not just bloggers
from Europe, although of course that is here the focus might be on.
I'm not sure how to get that all fitted into a name though?

On Aug 16, 12:32 am, Nymeth <untune...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I really like the design too! Well done Darren :)
>
> On Aug 15, 6:07 pm, bookgazing <bakerjo...@googlemail.com> wrote:
>
> > Photoshop is great, thanks for having a go Darren! I really like that
> > design, using the EU flag is a good idea and the text is clear. I just
> > had a bit of a check the EU flag isn't covered by copywright and I
> > can't find anything that says it is. Fab - what does everyone else
> > think?
>
> > On 15 Aug, 16:45, Darren Owens <darrenjow...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > Well I don't know about good graphic skills but I'm ok in photoshop.
>

> > > I've knocked thishttp://yfrog.com/ed68638375ptogetherjustto throw out

> ...
>
> read more »

[Alex]

Hi Iris,

 

I actually agree with the EU comment, it is restrictive to 27 countries... maybe European Book Bloggers Convention? We're not exaclty restricting it to just-Europeans, but it will be focused on us. We can make sure this clear on the website.

 

A

[Nymeth]

Good point, Alex and Iris. I hadn't thought of that, but I can see how
people would feel left out. I guess we need to find a way to convey
that the "European" refers to the place where it's being held and not
to who is invited to participate? And also that we can't just call it
"Book Bloggers Convention" because we need to differentiate it from
the one held in the US.

On Aug 16, 8:28 am, Alex <alexandra.r...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Iris,
>
> I actually agree with the EU comment, it is restrictive to 27 countries...
> maybe European Book Bloggers Convention? We're not exaclty restricting it to
> just-Europeans, but it will be focused on us. We can make sure this clear on
> the website.
>
> A
>

> ...
>
> read more »

[Alex]

Hi y'all,

 

First draft of the begging-for-a-free-venue letter in attachement. I think we should as much as possible adapt it to the organisation we're writting to and this draft is targeted at the Royal Literary Society. Please be ruthless in your comments, this really has to be right on target :)

 

By the way, how shall we approach this? Invite oprtion A and if no/negative response go to option B or send it to 2 or 3 at the same time and hope for the best?

 

Darren, really liked the logo. Only concern is if the image in the central image works well in a smaller size. Do you have other options for that image? Do you think it would work replacing the yellow stars with open books (same image or in different positions of "openness")? By the way, very cool YA-D2 logo! I'll definitely join.

 

Looking forward to your comments,

Alex

[Darren Owens]

Darren, really liked the logo. Only concern is if the image in the central image works well in a smaller size. Do you have other options for that image? Do you think it would work replacing the yellow stars with open books (same image or in different positions of "openness")? 

Certainly. I only threw it together to get some ideas moving. Love the idea of open books replacing the stars. the center image is up for change as well.

By the way, very cool YA-D2 logo! I'll definitely join.

Cool. Look forward to it. I should have a post of some sort up by the end of the month. Lenore has promised to pimp it when Dystopian August ends. :)

Darren

[Amy @ My Friend Amy]

Hi everyone!

sorry I've been silent so far (i'm one of the Americans) but I wonder if we might think of changing the word convention to something more warm and inviting?  If not that's totally cool, but it would really help differentiate it.  I really like most of your ideas so far and I'm jealous I'm not a European Book blogger! :)

Amy

--
Celebrate your favorite book blogs September 13-17 during Book Blogger Appreciation Week!
http://bookbloggerappreciationweek.com
http://www.myfriendamysblog.com

[bookgazing]

Iris and Alex thanks for brining that up - we want everyone to feel
welcome :) Changing the title to European Book Bloggers Convention
sounds good to me, but like Nymeth says do you think people will think
that means only European bloggers allowed? The only other way I could
think of presenting the title was as The Book Bloggers Convention -
European Edition, or The Book Bloggers Convention - Destination,
Europe, but it's kind of wordy.

Amy I'm stumped on what to change Convention to. We can't have Meet Up
because there's a London book blogger meet up running. Maybe Event?
Congregation (yes I'm using the Thesaurus)?

Alex I think we should send out a few at once, because some venues may
not reply at all and we don't want to get hung up waiting for them.
Some may not be able to offer us a totally free service etc It would
be nice to see what all our options are and investigate things like
parking, hotels in the area, catering in a bit of depth.

Love the ideas about the logo, books replacing stars would be so cool
if they'll be easy to recognise in a small graphic. I really like the
yellow lettering, because that keeps the Europe colour scheme clear.
Just looking at the letter now.

[bookgazing]

Right can't work out how to attach the letter. So I've uploaded it
with some markup (see file uploads). We can keep batting it back and
forth by editing it in there I think.

[Alex]

Jodie, three small comments on my side, thanks for your input, it did make a difference!

 

A

[bookgazing]

Alex - Yes I agree about the first comment, thanks didn't think of
that when I was typing. Maybe we should just put a sentence after the
'Over 200...' sentence saying 'It was a huge success.' or should we
revert back to the construction of the first sentence do you think?

The second one - also good point, will probably be a big media hook
and since the organisation focuses on British literature it would be
interesting to them. I think looking at it again it just could do with
rephrasing a bit - the 'despite' might seem a little off putting to an
organisation that links in with a European culture organisation. Maybe
change it to something along the lines of 'as well as European Book
Bloggers being from diverse backgrounds and speaking different
languages we are also an English speaking community that mostly reads
and posts in English?'

How do you feel about coming out and saying we would like the venue
for free? Wasn't quite sure whether we should hook them in, then ask,
or just be upfront as I've been in this draft?

Going to get on with writing the draft invitations for industry people
asap and then we can tear into that too.

Oh and this is how the sponsorship packages worked for the US one:
http://bookbloggerconvention.com/2010/02/contribution-opportunities/

I'd like to see how we get on with getting venue and catering for free
before we sort our structure out so we know what we need sponsorship
for, but I'll leave a space in the invite to the industry to ask if
they'd like to donate.

You mentioned book related NGOs in a previous post. Just wondering how
you were thinking we could incoporate them into the event?

On 17 Aug, 12:55, Alex <alexandra.r...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Jodie, three small comments on my side, thanks for your input, it did make a
> difference!
>
> A
>

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>  100817_Venue_Letter.doc
> 62KViewDownload- Hide quoted text -

[bookgazing]

Right just uploaded the first draft of the email for industry people.
Have at everyone.

> ...
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