Author Events and Expectations

Posted May 21, 2015 by Hayley Botnen

Before moving out to Boston, I had never been to an author event. There were a couple in my old town, but they weren’t authors I was interested in, so I never went. Since moving out here, I’ve had the opportunity to go to three different events (and The Horn Book Awards, but I don’t count that).

I’ve been a little spoiled though because the first event I went to was amazing. I wrote about the experience on this blog. I went to listen to Lois Lowry speak about The Giver. It was so much fun. I only had a short wait in a line to get my book signed, and then she spoke for an hour about her life and what inspired her to write The Giver. As someone who wants to write, I love hearing what inspires other authors.

The other two events I’ve since gone to were hosted by the same book store. The first was to see Kiera Cass, author of The Selection series. My roommate and I got to the event pretty early, so we went next door to grab a quick bite to eat. Then we stepped into the store to purchase a book for the signing before listening to Cass’ talk. They were sold out of The Heir which was the book Cass was on tour for. The downstairs where Cass’ talk was held was packed. It was obvious that the store had underestimated Cass’ popularity. Cass spent half an hour answering questions from the crowd. It was excellent. She was hilarious and eloquent, and it was a great experience. However, I felt like the talk was too short. I expected that they had cut her off early to get through the signing line before they closed.

When I returned the next week to see Sarah Dessen, the event was ticketed. Unfortunately, my roommate and I arrived a little bit late because of traffic, but when we arrived, Dessen was reading from her book Saint Anything. She finished and took a few questions from the crowd. I expected this event to run longer because it was earlier in the day, and Dessen is (arguably) a more popular author. However, she was given the same short amount of time to talk, and then she had a signing line.

While I enjoy meeting authors, I actually just want to listen to them talk about their process and their lives. Now that I’ve gone to a few events, I find myself wondering, do I just have no idea how these events are supposed to be run? Is my disappointment due to my own expectations or do these events seem shorter than they should be? I will definitely keep catching events with my favorite authors, but I’d love to get some additional input. What do you think? Let me know in the comments!

Happy Summer!

–       Hayley