RT 2013 YA Track information
To those interested in the YA Track for the RT Booklovers Convention 2013--
RT 2012 was a huge success. The convention saw record attendance (more than 2500 people!), and the YA events were overflowing. This year, I am again steering the YA events at the convention. In 2011, Jennifer Lynn Barnes co-captained; in 2012, Melissa de la Cruz co-captained; and for 2013, Kelley Armstrong will be co-captaining. Due to the growth, there are several additional volunteers this year: David Macinnis Gill, Rachel Vincent, Rosemary Clement-Moore, and Mari Mancusi.
Panels really are at a premium on the YA track. For 2012, we had 71 YA authors, and for 2013-a full calendar year away at the writing of this message-we already have 28 authors 43 authors signed up. We’ve doubled our participating author attendees between 2011 & 2012, and I am already seeing a huge number of signups for 2013. In other words, no promises on panels! The objective when I’ve built the panels the past two years was to a) build around the attending authors, & b) build with those best suited to each panel. To fit as many people as I could in this year, I ended up being a speaker on only ONE panel.
That said, the big Teen Day party, the YA Alley at the Giant Signing, the YA bookseller party, and the opportunity to donate books to the teens on Teen Day are open to all members of the YA track. There are a lot of benefits to participation above and beyond being on a panel : )
Due to the number of contact issues that were in play this year with 15 panels, two social events, 71 authors, and almost 4000 books donated, I had to send a lot of email. I don’t expect 2013 to be less chaotic, so all RT attendees interested in the YA track need to be in direct contract with me. If anyone is interested in participation, s/he needs to email my assistant (donna @ melissa-marr.com) to be added to the database. What I have required the past two years is contact address, YA release data for existing and current YA books (the adult data is unnecessary), and brief book synopsis. Please note that you should only contact me if you are committing to attending. In fairness to all of the authors, I don’t want to hear from “maybes” or those whose attendance is conditional on being assigned a panel.
With regards,
Melissa
OTHER
To see RT 2012 photos, go here.
To read a few readers' opinions of the 2012 YA events:
http://talesofbooksandbands.com/2012/04/19/rt-teen-day-re-cap/
http://www.sophistikatied.com/2012/04/event-recap-rt-teen-day-2012.html
http://areaderspensieve.blogspot.com/2012/04/rt-teen-day-in-chicago.html
RT 2012 was a huge success. The convention saw record attendance (more than 2500 people!), and the YA events were overflowing. This year, I am again steering the YA events at the convention. In 2011, Jennifer Lynn Barnes co-captained; in 2012, Melissa de la Cruz co-captained; and for 2013, Kelley Armstrong will be co-captaining. Due to the growth, there are several additional volunteers this year: David Macinnis Gill, Rachel Vincent, Rosemary Clement-Moore, and Mari Mancusi.
Panels really are at a premium on the YA track. For 2012, we had 71 YA authors, and for 2013-a full calendar year away at the writing of this message-we already have 28 authors 43 authors signed up. We’ve doubled our participating author attendees between 2011 & 2012, and I am already seeing a huge number of signups for 2013. In other words, no promises on panels! The objective when I’ve built the panels the past two years was to a) build around the attending authors, & b) build with those best suited to each panel. To fit as many people as I could in this year, I ended up being a speaker on only ONE panel.
That said, the big Teen Day party, the YA Alley at the Giant Signing, the YA bookseller party, and the opportunity to donate books to the teens on Teen Day are open to all members of the YA track. There are a lot of benefits to participation above and beyond being on a panel : )
Due to the number of contact issues that were in play this year with 15 panels, two social events, 71 authors, and almost 4000 books donated, I had to send a lot of email. I don’t expect 2013 to be less chaotic, so all RT attendees interested in the YA track need to be in direct contract with me. If anyone is interested in participation, s/he needs to email my assistant (donna @ melissa-marr.com) to be added to the database. What I have required the past two years is contact address, YA release data for existing and current YA books (the adult data is unnecessary), and brief book synopsis. Please note that you should only contact me if you are committing to attending. In fairness to all of the authors, I don’t want to hear from “maybes” or those whose attendance is conditional on being assigned a panel.
With regards,
Melissa
OTHER
To see RT 2012 photos, go here.
To read a few readers' opinions of the 2012 YA events:
http://talesofbooksandbands.com/2012/04/19/rt-teen-day-re-cap/
http://www.sophistikatied.com/2012/04/event-recap-rt-teen-day-2012.html
http://areaderspensieve.blogspot.com/2012/04/rt-teen-day-in-chicago.html