02
Jul 2012

Book Blogger conference from an Argentinian Book Blogger perspective

Archived in the category: Blogs

Note: Even though I only write posts in spanish, I decided to make an exception to discuss and share my experiences with fellow BBC2012 participants.

To have a little context, something about me and the blog:

My name is Dayana, I´m 32, single and no kids. I live in Cordoba, a province located in the heart of Argentina, and, no false modesty there, I can assure you it´s one of the most beautiful places of the country.

My blog was born in 2008 as a personal space where I started to compile information about my province from an infinity of subjects (from entertainment to official procedures) with the goal of making everybody easier the task of accessing to the information.
In four years it has gotten almost 7 million visitors and in the Book Blogging category I had 7 thousand visitors on June, and growing.

As a Book Blogger I started “officially” last October for a convergence of reasons:

– My province´s authors always say no media reviews and talks about their work.
– I had six official government recommended book lists posted since 2009. Among those lists there were near 2000 books for kids ages 3 to 15 and I thought it would be a good idea to review them.
– I love reading and sporadically reviewed some of the books I bought.

To better define this new part of the blog I named it: 400 books in 2012 in which I´m trying to read 400 books from November 2011 to November 2012.

To this date I have reviewed 200 books classified by age lists: 3 to 4 years old, 5 to 6, 6 to 8, 9 to 11, 12 or older and 15 or older, books for adults, books about Cordoba and from Cordobian authors, books in english and the recommended books by America Reads Spanish campaign that I learned about at BEA 2012.

Along with Guillermo, my boyfriend who writes about TV and entertainment books, we traveled to New York to attend BBC, BEA and Blog World Expo; and then a week of tourism visits in San Francisco for coverage on our blogs.

After all that ado, let´s talk about what I want to discuss with you, BBC attendees.

When reading the comments about BBC that most blogs wrote I found many complaints about the scheduling, the contents, the over selfpromotion by authors and the big space given to the industry over the discussion about blogging in itself.

When reading all those, I sincerely couldn´t quite understand what were the bloggers´ expectations and what would you have wanted to talk about specifically.

I think this paragraph sums it up quite well.

We attend because we want to meet other bloggers, because we want to listen and participate in a dialogue between bloggers and the industry, because we want to learn from other bloggers their tips and tricks of the trade, best practices, and how to become better at what we do best: write reviews and spread the word about books, both good and bad, and on our own terms.
The Book Smugglers

I´ve been blogging for four years now, and truth be told, I think any of those things can be accomplished by learning online, by asking virtually (e-mail, chat, Facebook, Skype) to a more experienced blogger. That if I´m talking about blogging in general.

If I talk about book blogs in particular, I think that reading other blogs and paying a little bit of attention to what they are doing you can quite grasp what´s everything about, (i.e. I learned about Review policies by reading book blogs and took notes to write my own according to my reality and context).

That´s why I don´t completely understand what you gals want, and why you complain so much about the industry that provides the raw material of what we do (and I´m not talking about review copies. I´m talking the whole book making). It´s as if those who blog about cars or cellphones rejected any nexus with brands of those categories just to be talking about blogging on cars or cellphones.

By the way, I think that your focus only sees the half empty glass and you are missing out on the half full part. If the industry chooses to speak with bloggers particularily, it´s because it recognizes value in that collective, an opportunity, and openness to dialog. Perhaps since it´s natural for you, you don´t see it. But know this… in Argentina it does not happen the same way.

Here, it´s not easy to find someone to talk to in the corporate world that truly understands what we are talking when talking about blogs. Much less know how to deal with bloggers or what we can find interesting and productive, something that was opposite both in BBC and BEA where everyone in the industry showed respect, interest and responsiveness when we told them we were bloggers (even with me that I blog in Spanish).

So I think the question is not to bitterly complain about an industry that had over a million books above our heads at Javits Center 1st floor, but to dialog in the utmost professional of ways between one segment -bloggers- and another – publishers – to help the relationship grow, flourish and enrichen.

And about this topic I want to calrify something else: to professional events, one attends with the “suit” on. Who wants to socialize has way better options and venues to do so, relax and chit chat. I, even in my craziest, would not have spend the 5,000 dollars it took me to come just to talk with other blogger. I cared about the industry and the business networking and opportunities that may arise and whatnot. If I could make friends in the process, much better, but truth be told, we had far more talks, meetings and empathy with publishers rather than bloggers.

About this, something that caught our radar: here in Argentina, when someone comes from afar, generally receives a warm welcome and attention so he/she can feel comfortable and appreciated. It doesn´t even need to be a different country, it can be a different state or even city. We make a special effort so that person does not feel isolated.

And, honestly, while you are all talking about the so very little networking time among bloggers available, I could only think that none of our fellow bloggers paid any attention to us. Not in the BBC, nor in the BlogWorld Expo. It´s not a complain or a demand or anything like that; it´s just befuddled us because if any of you were to come to Argentina you would see how everyone would go out of their way to include you, ask you stuff and make you feel welcome. (Not just because it would be someone from US coming; it´s just in our culture to try to make foreigners feel welcome. Empathy to travelers sort of speak).

However, there are three views of BBC I highlight:

#BookBlogHelp: Tips for New Bloggers Attending Publishing Industry Conferences. The well-read wife.

Book blogger recap. Confessions of a IT girl.

All my Notes from BlogWorld Expo #bweny #BEA #beabloggercon. David Lee King

Finally, I would like to close this post with some questions that remained unanswered and I´d love for you to answer from your standpoints:

– In Argentina there´s a lot of people saying “Blogs are dead / dying”. In neither event at Javits Center was such phrase said, which is why I´d like your thought on that line.

– Another common phrase in Argentina is “People is reading less and less” (even though I think that people is reading at least the same if not more, albeit in different formats and genres) Do you think people is reading less in your country?

– In Argentinian subconscious there´s a impendant need to discriminate artistic literature from commercial literature. Do you feel as if there´s an ideological difference between a book blogger who reads “cultural books” with another one who reads best sellers and upcoming promoted titles?

– In Argentina many authors tend to avoid all proactive actions to promote their books because of the idea that every Marketing tool is to convert a bad book into a product for everyone to buy. Seeing how en BBC and the US in general, the vision towards marketing and promotion is much more favorable when about cultural products (books, authors and such) What would be a healthy equilibrium between self promotion and working with Book Bloggers?

– What´s the reality of the different genres? I saw tons of dystopian and Young Adult novels but I don´t recall any about short stories. What´s happening with kids books, non fiction, poetry, theatre, etcetera?

– In book blogs there´s a lot of new books being reviewed, ARCs, new titles and such. What is happening with the classics? Are they being read? Discussed? Reviewed?

– In Argentina, authors (let´s better call them artists) always complain and b**** about lack of diffusion of their work. How do book bloggers manage space for new authors? Do you do something special with newcomers? with successfull published authors? Everything gets in the mix and the marketing vortex from publishers?

– Is there any interest in promoting regional literature o state specific themed books?

– What do you think about e-readers and e-books? Here in Argentina e-readers are really expensive, but in New York I didn’t see that many people with one of them (i.e. on the subway if I counted 10 people reading, 8 were paper books and two were tablets (and I couldn’t know what they were reading, obviously). Why is people still choosing paper?

– What concrete subjects would you like to see covered in the next BBC?

 

I truly hope this post kickstarts some debate, and generates the networking we could not have during the event. 🙂

20 comments for “Book Blogger conference from an Argentinian Book Blogger perspective”

1

I´m eager to know the opinions of other book bloggers on this.

July 2nd, 2012 at 3:02
2
Bekka @ Pretty Deadly Reviews

I did not appreciate the way things were handled with BEA Bloggers this year. Admittedly, this was the first time I attended, but in that same vein this is also the first year BEA handled the event, and not bloggers themselves.

There are a few key reasons I left dissatisfied with the entire thing:

1. I paid a lot of money for someone who is currently unemployed. To pay any amount of money, I expect a good product or service in return. I wanted to go to a blogger conference, held by bloggers for bloggers. Instead I paid a good deal of money to be advertised to. There were only a handful of actual bloggers on the panels and the rest were industry professionals. If I’m not mistaken, there was plenty of time in the following days to work with the industry. BEA Bloggers or BBC is about bloggers. Plain and simpley.

2. The event was very disorganized. The authors at the speed-dating sessions didn’t know what was going on. One author didn’t even realize we were bloggers! Another author didn’t even show up to my table at all. The sessions took more time than was allotted and so other sessions were cut short. It was a mess.

3. Instead of learning about blogging, meeting other bloggers, and enriching my blog, I was told how I can be an unpaid member of a publishing house’s marketing team. And worst of the worst: I was told not to write negative reviews. Uncool.

Plain and simple, the BEA Bloggers event was not FOR bloggers. Instead we were a captive, PAYING audience to be advertised to and told how to blog. There was no time for real networking. And ultimately I learned absolutely nothing. BEA is the time for the industry, which is fine. But BEA Bloggers is time for the bloggers.

July 2nd, 2012 at 4:23
3

I did my own review here… it´s long, so I don´t paste it here in the comments
http://seriesandtv.com/my-views-on-the-bea-bloggers-conference-2012-on-new-york/10320

July 2nd, 2012 at 5:50
4

I hope this makes sense. It’s 4am where I am, so I’m a little sleepy.:)
First I want to answer a couple of your questions:
1. As far as blogs dying out in the US, I don’t think the blogs themselves are dying, but the word blog is being used less and less. It’s become an almost antiquated term, because the sites themselves are evolving stylistically to where they resemble polished magazine style websites. Though most of these are still run from blog platforms.

2. There are a few bloggers that cover the classics in the US. The first blogger that comes to mind is Amanda from Dead White Guys. Her blog is awesome.

3. On my blog I have tried to cover regional literature when I have time. I have a column called Southern Reads and the reviews for that column are about books that take place in the South Eastern part of the US. I don’t update that column as often as I should though.

I have a question for you. Who are some popular Argentinian authors that are also published in English. I would love to try to broaden my cultural perspective and read some authors I might not have heard of if not for this exchange.

On BEA Bloggers
I was very pleased with the way BEA Bloggers turned out. Early on I took the name change as a cue that other types of bloggers in the publishing industry would be in attendance and on some of the panels. This was their first year to put on the conference in this manner, so there are bound have been one or two missteps. However as the conference grows, I think they’ll implement a track system. This could be done in a number of ways.
Example 1: Track 1 Book Bloggers Track 2 Author/Publishing house bloggers Track 3 Librarian/bookseller bloggers
or perhaps the tracks could be 1. Fine tuning your craft (sessions all for those interested in writing better content and more varied content. 2. Technical Track (Sessions all day regarding html code, working with various blogging platforms,etc.
3.Business Aspects of blogging, this could also bring in a legalities panel as well
However with a track system BEA Bloggers would need about 700 attendees. Since the number in attendance doubled from the previous year, I don’t see that being a problem.

July 2nd, 2012 at 5:58
5

I agree with Bekka’s view of BBC. I was quite disappointed in BBC with it’s lack of blogger focus.

Regarding your other questions, books other than YA dystopian are quite popular and are read and discussed. There is a lot of focus on that particular genre, but everything else is still there. You just have to search a little more to find it.

This includes regional books as well. Being from Canada, I follow several books and am participating in a few reading challenges that focus on Canadian books. Again, it something you have to look for.

July 2nd, 2012 at 7:54
6

Thank you for sharing your views on the BEA Bloggers Conference and BEA in general. I am sorry that you did not feel more welcome among bloggers at the event – I hope it is not a cultural failing of ours!

As for whether blogs are dying – no, I do not think so. In North America, especially, some of them are big business. I believe they are still in a period of growth.

BEA did focus very much on Young Adult and Dystopian books, and I think that is a measure of the areas of huge sales growth. Romance, you will notice – there wasn’t a lot of that, but there is an entire conference (Romance Writers of America’s annual meeting) devoted to that genre. As for short stories, I picked up one book of short stories, and there were some children’s books – you had to look for them. Overall, though, you’re right – the conference was flooded with YA.

July 2nd, 2012 at 9:17
7

Hmm. I think there’s a different point of view here. I don’t think complaining about the organization of this years BEA Bloggers Con is complaining about the book industry. I don’t think that just because I thought the conference could be better that I’m seeing the glass as half empty.
You say that I could learn about book blogging from more experienced bloggers just via the internet or Skype or something, but I think that having an in-person session with experienced bloggers on a panel that I can ask questions to is not a unreasonable expectation during a conference that is supposed to be about book blogging. Having discussions about book blogging hijacked by the industry promoting their books all day was intrusive. Feeling like this isn’t that I’m spoiled and not seeing the merits of how they’re acknowledging book bloggers. BEA itself is for meeting and networking with the industry. I could and did do that on the floor. The Book Blogger Con used to be the place (when it was run by book bloggers) that was about book blogging and I could meet new book bloggers, but I didn’t have time anymore. I only got to meet maybe 5 new book bloggers in the Book Blogger Con because there was no time – networking with authors took over breakfast and lunch. It was only that I had a table with only 2 authors coming by that I could talk to book bloggers. Maybe I feel more strongly about this also because I have been to earlier Book Blogger Conferences and I have something to compare this years to. In my opinion, the conference organizers have some improvements to make.
As for not feeling welcome by other book bloggers: I feel terrible hearing about that. Book bloggers are sort of shy and more likely to talk if they “know” you online (I recommend getting a twitter account), but I still feel awful that you didn’t feel more welcomed.

Thank you for the post and linking it to me. I will be thinking about your opinion for a while.

July 2nd, 2012 at 10:19
8

Though I do review books on my review blog, I review products, there, too, and don’t consider myself a book blogger. I was there to talk about monetization, which didn’t endear me to the book blogging community, I don’t think. I’m sorry you didn’t feel more welcome, though I do think that is typical of the US — we are a society of individualists, I fear, though hospitality does differ in my experience regionally (I’m from the Midwest).

I’ll be interested to see how book bloggers and non book bloggers play into the discoverability of books, particularly debut authors’ books.

July 2nd, 2012 at 11:39
9

Bekka,
I read your issues about BBC and I can’t get your point.

1- You, being a responsible adult who is unemployed, chose to spend time and money in a non profit activity like a conference about book blogging; so you can’t blame BBC for it just because you didn’t enjoyed it.

2- You seem more focused on “Bloggers for bloggers” than in the things that were told. It seems likes if only bloggers know some kind of Holy Truth about blogs and books. Since I’m starting blogging I went to a lot of blogger events in Argentina and I always enjoyed the most those where there were different kind of people in.

3- As I said on the post, there are a lot of blogs where you can learn about blogging (even book blogging) just for free and in your home if you are in a difficult financial situation.

4- I would´ve liked reading some input about the questions I asked.

Thanks for your comment, and probably it´s just we are thinking from two very different standpoints

Mandy,

I appreciate so much your answers (at 4 am!!!).

About your question I strongly recommend you our most famous author Jorge Luis Borges. He writes poetry, short stories and essays and was an eternal candidate for the Literature Nobel Prize (which wholeheartedlt deserved, but never won).

If you want to read something “easy” and interesting, I suggest you try with short stories were he anticipates Internet:
– The book of sand (El libro de arena), a short story in a book with the same name.
– From the book Fictions (Ficciones): The Babel Library (La biblioteca de Babel) and The garden of the paths that biffurcate (El jardín de los senderos que se bifurcan).

About Internet I discovered this year a short story by Augusto Monterroso, an author from Guatemala, that anticipates Facebook in 1959. Its title is Two of each three and it´s in the book called Complete works and other short stories. This quote took away my breathe:

Everybody endlessly telling their story, everybody asking for compassion.
(“Todos contando interminablemente su historia, todos pidiendo compasión.” )

By the way, at Spain´s booth at BEA I found a guide from the America reads Spanish campaign that promote spanish-speaking authors in US. In the 2007 edition PDF you can see what works are translated into English.

Thank you so much for your comment and your email 🙂

July 2nd, 2012 at 13:00
10

Sarah,
Thanks for your answer, I’d love to know a little bit more about canadian books in your own words.

Cecelia,
You know what? All people here asked me “What did bloggers say when you told them that you were from all the way in Argentina???” I just said “Nothing”.

I think in New York there are people from all over the world. so unless you have two heads nothing calls for much attention 😀

I get a lot of short stories in children books, but I don’t remember any short stories book for adults and it was so weird for me! US literature of 20th Century has several well known authors on this genre as Faulkner, Carver or Asimov.

Thanks for your answers, I appreciate them.

July 2nd, 2012 at 13:02
11

Janicu,

I just took a quote from your post because it was the most synthetic and concise thought I found about BBC. I’m not pointing you in a bad way.

I mentioned “Learned on line” because I strongly feel that blogging (and book blogging) is like riding a bike: the best way to learn how to do it is getting on.

So for me the instance of deciding to pay to go to a conference is more like a “check list” and a networking moment.

I say “Check list” because I think if you just started blogging yesterday maybe you get lost. So I think that people who have a little more experience may contrast what is doing ok, what is useful information, and what are things that aren’t useful.

On the other hand, I think that networking means opening my head and my ears to all kind of people, from bloggers to publishers.

I agree with you about authors self-promotion, in fact the first people who talks to me at BBC was Susan Ee promoting her book… and the second was the guy from Amazon who was with her.

My English isn’t so good (my boyfriend translated this post and corrected my responses before posting them), so when they started pitching the book I think that I needed to call to David Hasselhoff or Batman to rescue me!! Finally it was my boyfriend 😛

But I try to think about this problem: if authors don’t know how to speak blogger language, it would be a wonderful opportunity for bloggers to show that we can (and want to) teach how they should do it.

I don’t think the authors are bad and selfish people who were at BBC to ignore us intentionally. Simply they didn’t know how to talk to bloggers and maybe they didn’t know that they didn’t know. Am I being clear?

I try to be more understanding with people because I see their proactive interest on us.

Here in Argentina I had always to do the opposite way and several times I was treated like if PR people were wasting their time hearing a blogger (I must say that didn’t happened with argentinian publishers, my headaches were mostly with retail or goverment PR people).

So I feel respected by publishers and by BBC because I really know from what reality I came from…

BTW, I’m in Twitter (@dayanacba). But here you don’t need to meet anybody upfront when you go to an event, people just talk to you and try that all other people in the room know that you are from other place. I guess it´s just something cultural and different for us, but we were ok.

For next BBC I propose more toilets and more men! 😀

Rita,
Tonight I was listening some audios from Blogher 2011 and they were so interesting! I loved Cyberbullying and Bad blogger pitches.

I’m feeling really welcome with your comments now, girls! 🙂

July 2nd, 2012 at 13:05
12
Bekka @ Pretty Deadly Reviews

About the debut authors questions: There are entire websites, book tours, and challenges devoted to reading, helping, and promoting debut authors.

July 2nd, 2012 at 13:05
13

Hola Dayana y gracias por este “blog post” (no se como se dice “blog post” en espanol). Y gracias por escribirlo en ingles, tambien. It makes it much easier for me to read and comment on. 🙂

First, I want to apologize on my own behalf and on behalf of all other book bloggers for not making you feel particularly welcome. This, unfortunately, is a cultural tendency common to much of the US and to New York City in particular. At such events, where people don’t already know you or expect you to be there, many have difficulty reaching out and making others welcome. For my part, I am sorry I didn’t meet you at BBC, as I would have loved to speak with you! (and to learn more about Argentinian authors: for example, I recently read Angela Gorodischer’s Kalpa Imperial, and really wish more of her work was available in English or easier to find in the US, even if in Spanish). So I am sorry that you didn’t feel particularly welcomed.

For my part, I think the biggest problem with BBC was one of focus: BBC’s programming (explicitly and implicitly) was on promoting upcoming books to bloggers, which was not what many of us wanted from this event. That, I think, is the result of the North American reality: book bloggers are a recognized component of the publishing industry here. We may be under-valued, we may be misunderstood, but we are accepted nevertheless. As a result, it is relatively easy for us to get review copies and interact with publishers and authors. So for many of us (particularly those of us who focus on niche genres), programming designed to promote books/authors to bloggers is of little value: we get promoted to every day without needing to spend money. So our goals for the event (that we paid for) did not align with the program put together by the organizers.

To your other (fascinating) questions: in North America, at least, I don’t think book blogs are dying at all, but I think they are definitely maturing. This means many of the least professional, poorly run book blogs are fading away and what is left are those that are competently run, well-written, and with solid audiences. That kind of consolidation is only natural as the field matures. Readers still read book blogs, which means that book blogs will continue to exist.

To your point on artistic vs commercial books, this is something that the genre I specialize in wrestles with constantly. I blog about science fiction, fantasy, and horror. It features heavily commercial, popular titles (e.g. media tie-in books), and incredibly artistic, literary titles (e.g. one of Argentina’s own: Angela Gorodischer, as an example). I don’t think there’s an ideological difference between a book blogger who writes about commercial/popular titles, and one who writes about literary titles. I do think there is a difference in taste: some bloggers (like some readers) might not want to read commercial/popular titles, while others might not want to read literary titles. This means that – to some extent – there are different audiences for the books, and as a result different audiences for the blogs that write about them. But there may be significant overlap, since the borders are indistinct at best.

To your question about different genres, I got the impression at both BBC and BEA that programming and exhibitors focused heavily on only several genres. My own genre (SF/F/H) was heavily under-represented (especially when one considers sales), as was mystery and to a lesser extent romance. YA was clearly the flavor of the month. This is a consequence of cycles in the broader North American publishing industry, and is not (I think) indicative of any broader trend in reading habits. It is more an indication of where industry professionals think “interesting stuff is happening.” I don’t believe one can judge the health of a genre based on its representation (or lack thereof) at BEA. At least, I hope one can’t. 🙂

Thank you again for your blog post: you raise lots of interesting questions, and I hope that next time you come to NY we will help you to feel more welcome!

July 2nd, 2012 at 13:11
14

Thanks for sending me an email about this! I wish there was a much bigger focus on networking as well. I felt like I got to talk to the bloggers I’m already friends with and a few authors, but as far as talking to industry professionals, there was none of that.

Yeah, I felt the same way about the variety, or lack thereof, of the books. It was mostly YA dystopian, which I’m not the biggest fan of. I get that that’s what is popular, and that’s what is going to get the buzz.

I definitely need to read and review/discuss more classics. Thank you for pointing that out! I take part in Debut Author Challenge, so that’s how I fit in the new authors. The Apocalypsies (debut YA 2012 authors) had an event at BEA, but as far as adult debut/new authors, I don’t think I heard anything. But I am more drawn to the YA side of the house.

The panel that I was looking forward to but was most displeased with was the one about social networking. They basically said that Facebook and Twitter are the way to go, and if you must, Tumblr. I get that simplicity is good, but I would have liked to hear some better ways on how to promote my blog via social networking. I felt like the people up there were just totally unprofessional about their topic and I really was looking for some valuable information.

July 2nd, 2012 at 15:50
15

I just realized Liz wasn’t talking about my panel. Dayana, can you delete my previous comment? Thanks, Mandy

July 2nd, 2012 at 19:57
17

i would love to continue this conversation, however, you have so many good questions it’s difficult to focus on one in particular. Plus i dont speak Spanish. perhaps one question per blog post at a time? you have valid points that need to be explored. I would love to work with you to get a different cultural viewpoint.

July 2nd, 2012 at 20:51
18

Chris,
Hola! Cómo estás? Gracias por pasar por acá y escribir un poquito en español 🙂

In spanish we just use “Post” to mention an article (we use a lot of anglicisms in spanish-speaking blogging).

Thanks for mentioning the issue about “the warm welcome”, as I said before it was just something culturally different for us and if we spend a wonderful time at US despite that, it means that you are kind people but not as proxemic as us.

It was wonderful your input about US publishing industry. I’ll try to order my thoughts about what you said:

– Here in Argentina with niche genres happens exactly the same, but in a smaller market and in a reality where books are expensive in relation with the average population income (i. e. I’ve reviewed children books for 3 to 5 years old that costs $10 dolars when an average income per person is $600-$700 dollars a month. Here publishers are launching Fifty shades of Grey and it costs $25 dollars).

Independent publishers (comic books, for instance) have a hard time trying to produce because production and distribution costs are high, even worst if you aren’t from Buenos Aires. We have a saying “God is everywhere but his office is in Buenos Aires”. Sad but true, whatever you do in inland of the country isn’t uncommon that would be ignored or devaluated just because it isn’t from the capital of the their universe 😀 Due to this I try to put my two cents prommoting people from my province.

– It´s wonderful to know that blogs aren’t dying there.
Here, Twitter and Facebook seduced several bloggers and they abandoned their blogs. In my opinion these people have a need for quick promotion and fast rewards, acceptance and feedback so they preferred to run out to these places. I think there are too much ego issues in the argentinian blogosphere.

– Commercial vs artistic: I feel in the US you respect more the ideological diversity of the readers. In this blog I’ve wrote a post defending popular and commercial music because people instead criticize the piece itself says stupid things about the people who consume this kind of art. I think we need to mature and relax about cultural consumptions.

– In Argentina YA doesn’t exist. I mean, there are books that may be recognized as things that in US are tagged as YA, for instance I bought Ally Condie’s Matched here (I didn’t like it, by the way), but our categories in fiction are just children-Teenager literature (Literatura infanto-juvenil, also named by the acronym LIJ) and adult books. And of course then you find romance, historic novels, etc.
Here are really strong non fiction books (mainly politics, history, psicology, business, and of course self help).

I’ll try to find a book by Gorodischer, I haven’t read anything from her yet (I’m not a sci fi girl, so I just read short stories by Isaac Asimov).

Thanks for your comment 🙂

Liz,
I also felt a little bit overwhelmed by YA and dystopian books, I love diversity so it would be great to see things in other genres.

Maybe indie publishers or less mainstream genres have an interesting opportunity here knowing that you are eager about new things.

Pammypam,
Well, I shot these questions here because I was “incubating” them during the journey 😀

It would be terrific do different posts to discuss these issues from different countries reality, probably would be best at Guillermo’s blog since that one is in english.

Thank you for your comment!

July 2nd, 2012 at 22:07
19

That quote wasn’t from my blog I think. I think you meant the Book Smugglers.

I am confused about your answer, but I think I understand the general idea. I think we just have different expectations from the BEA blogger con so we’re seeing things differently. 🙂

P.S. I read Susan Ee’s book and I really liked it. It’s a nice one if you like young adult books and paranormal stories.

P.P.S I went to Argentina for my honeymoon. It was lovely but definitely very expensive to fly there and back!

July 2nd, 2012 at 22:10
20

Janicu,
Ohh, my bad! Yes, I thought it was your blog, sorry.
Argentina now is really expensive, so we found US cheaper in several items (clothing, shoes, electronics, some kinds of food). And there were things that had very similar prices like car rental, hotels, have dinning in restaurants…

July 2nd, 2012 at 23:20

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