I remember that event at Bear Pond! And I'm in the photo, and all I can think is how short my pre-quarantine hair was, ouch.
We published a book this summer and did quite well with online-only events, though about half of the additional events we had lined up for the authors' book tour were canceled, not even held online. Some of them were for small orgs that didn't have the capacity to go online. Some of the bookstore events we might have expected to book never materialized. Our book has sold well but we don't have any good apples-to-apples comparisons because all of our books are so different.
I would actually counter that I do think book club meetings will go back in person just fine. I enjoy doing my Bear Pond one online but I know we're all eager to be back in the space. I almost always bought a book or two at those meetings - and now of course do not, because there's no post-meeting browsing.
I suspect that we'll see a mix of things, especially with book club meetings. I was specifically thinking of a couple that have sprung up with people from around the country, and the ability to do it from home makes it useful when you can't easily get together because of distance. I guess ones that are rooted with a bookstore might eventually return, but I imagine that it won't be as high of a priority for the store, but that'll depend on a lot of factors.
That makes sense - I'm actually running one now with friends in 5 different states, which has been a lot of fun. I was chatting with someone from the humanities council the other day who said they've done extremely well with online book discussion groups, too.
I remember that event at Bear Pond! And I'm in the photo, and all I can think is how short my pre-quarantine hair was, ouch.
We published a book this summer and did quite well with online-only events, though about half of the additional events we had lined up for the authors' book tour were canceled, not even held online. Some of them were for small orgs that didn't have the capacity to go online. Some of the bookstore events we might have expected to book never materialized. Our book has sold well but we don't have any good apples-to-apples comparisons because all of our books are so different.
I would actually counter that I do think book club meetings will go back in person just fine. I enjoy doing my Bear Pond one online but I know we're all eager to be back in the space. I almost always bought a book or two at those meetings - and now of course do not, because there's no post-meeting browsing.
It was a good event!
I suspect that we'll see a mix of things, especially with book club meetings. I was specifically thinking of a couple that have sprung up with people from around the country, and the ability to do it from home makes it useful when you can't easily get together because of distance. I guess ones that are rooted with a bookstore might eventually return, but I imagine that it won't be as high of a priority for the store, but that'll depend on a lot of factors.
That makes sense - I'm actually running one now with friends in 5 different states, which has been a lot of fun. I was chatting with someone from the humanities council the other day who said they've done extremely well with online book discussion groups, too.